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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 7033
January Session, 2025
AN ACT PROHIBITING A MUNICIPALITY FROM IMPOSING ANY
PENALTY ON HOMELESS PERSONS FOR PERFORMING ACTIVITIES
OF DAILY LIVING ON PUBLIC LAND.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2025) (a) As used in this section: 1
(1) "Homeless person" has the same meaning as provided in 42 USC 2
11302, as amended from time to time; 3
(2) "Motor vehicle" has the same meaning as provided in section 14-1 4
of the general statutes; 5
(3) "Public land" means any property that is owned or leased, in 6
whole or in part, by any state or local government entity or any property 7
upon which there is an easement for public use and that is held open to 8
the public, or any federal land where local law enforcement has 9
jurisdiction to enforce local laws, including, but not limited to, plazas, 10
courtyards, parking lots, sidewalks, the outside area of public 11
transportation facilities and services, public buildings, shopping 12
centers, underpasses and lands adjacent to roadways and parks. "Public 13
land" does not include any school grounds; 14
(4) "Recreational vehicle" has the same meaning as provided in 15
section 14-1 of the general statutes; 16 Substitute Bill No. 7033
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(5) "Activities of daily living" includes, but is not limited to, sleeping 17
or resting, eating or preparing food, seeking shelter from extreme 18
weather, accessing medical care and using hygiene facilities; and 19
(6) "Adequate alternative indoor space" means a space that is legally 20
and physically accessible to an individual and that does not require such 21
individual to sacrifice any other personal right afforded to such 22
individual under federal, state or local law. 23
(b) No municipality may enact any ordinance and no person may 24
take any action that infringes upon the right of homeless persons to use 25
public spaces without discrimination based on housing status in 26
accordance with this section, including the right to: (1) Conduct 27
activities of daily living on public land, provided such activities do not 28
obstruct the normal movement of pedestrian or vehicular traffic in such 29
a manner that creates a hazard to others, or on private property with the 30
permission of the property owner, unless sufficient adequate alternative 31
indoor space is available to the homeless persons in a given jurisdiction 32
and has been offered to the individual, including transportation for the 33
individual and such individual's belongings; (2) use and move freely in 34
places of public accommodation without discrimination based on actual 35
or perceived housing status; (3) be free from civil or criminal sanctions 36
for soliciting, sharing, accepting or offering food, water, money or other 37
donations in public places; (4) privacy of one's personal property stored 38
in public places to the same degree of privacy as property in a private 39
dwelling, which shall not be subject to unreasonable search and seizure; 40
(5) pray, meditate, worship or practice religion in public spaces; and (6) 41
occupy a motor vehicle or a recreational vehicle, provided such vehicle 42
is parked (A) on public property and is not parked in a position that 43
obstructs the normal movement of traffic or creates a hazard to other 44
traffic upon the highway, or (B) on private property with the permission 45
of the private property owner. 46
(c) Any person or municipality that violates any provision of this 47
section shall be assessed a civil penalty of not less than fifty dollars and 48
not to exceed one hundred dollars, to be fixed by the court, for each 49 Substitute Bill No. 7033
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offense. The Attorney General, upon the request of any aggrieved 50
person, shall institute a civil action in the Superior Court to recover such 51
penalty. 52
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2025 New section
Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
In Subsec. (b), "individual" was changed to "person" for consistency and
in Subsec. (b)(5), the phrase concerning discrimination was deleted as
duplicative.
HSG Joint Favorable Subst.