Vehicle smoking bill makes final cut; time runs out for witches
HARTFORD, Conn. --A bill that would stop smokers from lighting up in the car with little kids inside is moving through the legislature.
But another aimed at restoring the good name of convicted witches from Colonial times must wait for another year.
The Judiciary Committee, facing its deadline Monday, dealt with a bevy of bills on everything from new rules for sex offenders to breath alcohol testing in bars. The panel voted 29-14 in favor of legislation that would forbid smoking in a motor vehicle when traveling with a child 6 years or younger, or weighing less than 60 pounds.
The bill, first proposed last year, is modeled after Connecticut's child restraint system law.
Sen. Edward Meyer said about 100 children appeared before the Select Committee on Children earlier this year to support the bill. He said their appearance at the state Capitol swayed some lawmakers.
"(We) heard so much enthusiasm, testimony in support of this bill when we were a little bit cynical about it in the first place," said Meyer, D-Guilford.
Violators of the legislation would face an infraction.
Lawmakers ran out of time Monday to act on a resolution stating that those convicted and their descendants should be freed from the stigma of the witchcraft accusations. The family of one woman hanged in Hartford in 1692 has helped to push for the legislation.
According to legislative research, it is believed that nine women and two men were convicted and hanged in the mid-1600s in Connecticut for witchcraft. Others were banished, indicted or fled the colony.
Rep. Michael Lawlor, the Judiciary Committee's co-chairman, said he expects the issue will be brought back up next year.
"Although that's an interesting bill and important in its own way, compared to some of the other things we're having to do, we were trying to prioritize it," said Lawlor, D-East Haven. "This was the first time that it came up on the radar screen and next year, I'm sure the legislature will take it up again and give it some more discussion."
"It's been 350 years, I don't think another year will hurt," he added.
The committee also passed a bill, 42-0, that creates a procedure for compensating people who've been wrongfully convicted and incarcerated in Connecticut. Claims would be presented to the state's Office of Claims Commissioner, who would review the complaint and recommend an amount to the General Assembly.
The bill originally set $100,000 a year for every year someone is wrongfully imprisoned -- the highest rate in the nation, Lawlor said. But that provision was stripped because some lawmakers felt it was not enough money.
Last year, the legislature awarded $5 million to James Tillman, an East Hartford man who served more than 18 years in prison for a rape that DNA evidence determined he did not commit. In return, Tillman agreed to drop any other claims against the state.
The committee also passed Gov. M. Jodi Rell's bill imposing tougher rules for sex offenders, a bill that provides incentives to bars that offer breath alcohol testing devices to their patrons, and legislation forbidding discrimination based on a person's gender identity or gender expression.
Much of the legislation awaits further action in the Senate or House of Representatives. This year's legislative session ends on May 7. 