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Legislative session ends with several bills that had bipartisan support

A bill on juvenile crime, a budget adjustment that includes tax cuts and children's mental health bills are among some of the accomplishments this session.

HARTFORD, Conn. — The 2022 legislative session ends at midnight on Wednesday. Despite being a shorter session than usual, lawmakers were still able to pass several significant pieces of legislation.

The state senate voted to pass a juvenile bill in the final hours of the legislative session. While it was a bipartisan bill that got support from both parties in both chambers, Democrats and Republicans agreed there is more work to do.

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"On one hand I'm happy to see that there's some reform happening but it deals more with symptoms of crime rather than going to the root cause of crime," said senate minority leader State Sen. Kevin Kelly.

"I am supportive of the efforts made by senate republicans I think it's exactly where the conversation should've started, and I think we would've had an even better bill than we wound up with," said State Sen. Gary Winfield, co-chair of the judiciary committee.

With a focus on repeat offenders, the bill would allow the judicial system to track those juveniles with GPS monitoring. It also creates stricter penalties for car break-ins and thefts that are no longer based on the value of the car.

"You can have an expensive car but that car doesn't mean much to you, but you can have a car that's not that expensive but it's the only way you can get to work, it's the only way you get the kids to school, whatever the case may be so I think it's a better way of thinking about the impact of committing that crime," Winfield said.

The bill goes to Gov. Ned Lamont next, and he's expected to sign it. He's also expected to sign a budget adjustment that includes $600-million worth of tax cuts made possible by a surplus. That includes extending the gas tax holiday until December 1 and freezing the car tax in dozens of communities. It got bipartisan support in the Senate but passed along party lines in the House.

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"I think overall there was a missed opportunity here with this budget. Having $4.8 million of surplus that we couldn't make a systemic change to our income tax structure and reduce taxes on lower and middle-class people, I think was a big failure," said house minority leader State Rep. Vincent Candelora.

Republicans also argue that the surplus could've been used to address issues like crime.

"We had the opportunity to fund ways to alleviate crime and it didn't happen it wasn't in the budget," Kelly said.

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Even with disagreements, many bills passed with bipartisan support including a comprehensive package of children's mental health bills that expands resources, amid what's been described as a crisis.

"We really focused on children. All the way from birth all the way to 18, really thinking about covid and the impact it's had," said house speaker State Rep. Matt Ritter.

Gaby Molina is a reporter and anchor at FOX61 News. She can be reached at mmolina@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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