Farley Santos

I hope you made it through the first heat wave of the summer without any issues. On a couple of days it reached over 100 degrees.

Now that the heat has broken -- at least for now -- I wanted to share with you the new laws that we passed during the recent legislative session that go into effect on July 1.

A new two-year state budget was also adopted by the legislature earlier this month and goes into effect July 1, the beginning of Connecticut's new fiscal year. This budget makes historic investments in our children through expanded funding for special education and childcare, as well as strengthening support for working families and ensuring the essential work of critical nonprofits continues.

In addition, the annual bond package for capital projects includes billions of dollars for local school construction, state transportation infrastructure, housing assistance, and many more important initiatives.

Our elections will be more secure and transparent as video recording technology will be added to every absentee ballot drop box in our state. This new law will record the drop boxes from the first day that ballots are issued up through when the clerk retrieves the final ballots – with recordings available to the public.

A landmark bill supporting public libraries struggling to afford the skyrocketing costs of e-books and digital audiobooks will also take effect July 1, establishing Connecticut as a national leader in the digital arena and marks a significant step toward transparency, equity, and sustainability in how libraries acquire and provide resources to the public.

In the classroom, our students will soon learn about three essential topics: civics, media literacy, and Asian American and Pacific Islander history. Based on bills passed in 2022 and 2023, students will gain an understanding of what it means to be an active and engaged citizen, how to analyze the modern media landscape, and the rich history of the AAPI community.

Many more bills are going into effect July 1, including one that reforms Connecticut's car towing system, and another that requires financial literacy instruction in school.

Here's a full list of laws going into effect July 1, 2025.

You can read more about new laws taking effect in Connecticut in this article from the CT Post.

Your calls and emails to me, as well as your testimony at our committee public hearings directly influenced many of these new laws. Please continue to share your views and make your voice heard at the Capitol.

Please take some time to read my 2025 Legislative Session Wrap-Up on Patch, which can be found here.

I’m incredibly proud of the work we accomplished to deliver record-breaking funding for Danbury. The kind of investment our city has never seen before. This was made possible through the tireless efforts of Mayor Alves, Sen. Kushner, Rep. Godfrey, Rep. Allie-Brennan, and myself, working together to make the case for Danbury at the State Capitol. 

The delegation, working hand-in-hand with Mayor Alves and other leaders in the House and Senate, worked tirelessly to secure an additional $23.66 million in aid for FY 2026 and another $23.66 million for 2027, as well as $7 million for the King Street Primary Safety improvements, for a total increase of $54 million.

This is historic state funding coming to the city, on top of the unprecedented funding we brought back to Danbury last year. That's direct support Danbury had never seen before.

Furthermore, I helped secure the following: 

A total of $300,000 will be awarded this year to the following six valued community organizations to help expand their services for children, teens, and families: 

• Friends of the Danbury Museum & Historical Society – $100,000
• Cultural Alliance of Western Connecticut – $50,000
• Danbury Grassroots Academy – $50,000
• Danbury Police Cadets – $50,000
• Dominican Community Center – $30,000
• Danbury Youth Soccer – $20,000

I also secured $400,000 in targeted funding for the following youth violence prevention and enrichment programs:

• Danbury Police Activities League (PAL) – $300,000
• City of Danbury Kids Summer Camp – $100,000

While some may try to distort these legislative wins with Chat-GPT generated misinformation and political noise, my conscious is clean in knowing how hard we fought to ensure Danbury finally got its fair share. And the results speak for themselves — we delivered for Danbury!

There’s still more work ahead, but I’m grateful to the people of Danbury for putting their trust in me to be their voice and advocate. I’ll continue showing up, fighting hard, and delivering results for the city I love!

The Eversource Electric Discount Rate expanded from two to five discount tiers. Under the new structure, customers are eligible for a 5%, 15%, 20%, 40% or 50% discount off their monthly electric bills if they meet household income requirements or receive a public assistance benefit for at least one household member and have a financial hardship status on their electric account.

Customers struggling to pay their energy bill are encouraged to connect with Eversource to get assistance. To find the right options, visit eversource.com/billhelp or call 800-286-2828.
 
There is a plan for everyone, including:  

• State and Other Assistance Programs
• Protection from Service Shut-Off
• Financial Assistance Programs and Payment Plans
• Energy Efficiency