New Laws in Effect As Of July 1st

As of July 1, 2009 a number of new laws took effect in Connecticut.
 
There are tougher penalties for drunken boaters involved in deadly crashes.  The new law re-categorizes an existing boating safety law and increases the penalty for violators by creating the crime of manslaughter in the second degree with a vessel (boat), which is a class C felony and similar to the motor vehicle law.
 
Another law requires a school board to have at each school in its jurisdiction, if funding is available, (1) an automatic external defibrillator (AED) and (2) school staff trained in its use and in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).  The law also allows school boards to accept donated AEDs under certain conditions.  It also requires each school to develop emergency action response plans for the appropriate use of school personnel to respond to individuals experiencing sudden cardiac arrest or similar life-threatening emergencies.
 Connecticut also has become the 16th state in the nation to adopt the Silver Alert system to help find missing adults with dementia and other cognitive impairments.  It’s a system built similar to the Amber Alert system for missing children.
 
Other new laws require nursing homes to provide annual training in pain recognition and management, allow physicians to prescribe long-term antibiotics for the treatment of persistent Lyme Disease, and raise the threshold for when small charities must be audited.
 
These are just a few of the newly created laws.  For a more complete list please visit the Connecticut General Assembly website here.