New CT laws come into force on October 1st

CT (WFSB) – Several new state laws will go into effect on Tuesday, October 1st.

The laws will impact a wide range of issues and people, from law enforcement to veterans to home health workers to your child's time on social media and the rest of the internet.

Starting Tuesday, police officers will no longer be allowed to use body cameras to interrupt their interactions with the public. They can only do this if they believe that continuing to record could hinder an investigation.

A new law requires home health aides to collect more information about patients' backgrounds and share it with staff assigned to the client, as well as report threats.

This change comes after visiting nurse Joyce Grayson was killed during an appointment at a home in Willimantic in October 2023.

An important law for parents concerns online data protection. The law focuses on protecting children's data online by prohibiting websites from storing their data for targeted advertising and other content.

Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff was one of several lawmakers who pushed for this level of online security to keep children away from illegal drugs, pornography, gambling and other online content.

“Our social media companies have been a huge failure, our search engines have also been a huge failure, and Congress has failed to pass a national privacy law that actually has any traction.” States are stepping up their actions and that's why you're seeing that Places like Connecticut pass these laws,” he said.

“It's scary, I think social media shouldn't have access to children or young people's data. This is a problem for adults. They are still learning to cope with life and all the adversities that come with it, and we need to help keep them safe,” said Ashley Hilton, mother of five.

Other laws include requiring anyone who intentionally harms or kills a police officer to pay restitution to the department, and dog racing is banned statewide.

To view the full list of laws in effect, click HERE.

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