New CT laws come into effect on October 1

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

The laws will affect a variety of topics and people, ranging from law enforcement, veterans, home health care workers, and your child’s time on social media and the rest of the internet.

Starting Tuesday, police officers will not be able to pause their body camera interactions with the public. They can only do this if they believe that an investigation could be hampered by continuing to record.

For home care workers, a new law requires them to gather more information about patients’ backgrounds and give it to employees assigned to the client, and to report threats.

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

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

Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff was one of many lawmakers who advocated for this layer of online safety as a means to keep children away from illegal drugs, pornography, gambling and other online content.

“Our social media companies have been a major failure at this, our search engines have also been a major failure, and Congress has failed to pass a national data privacy law that actually has teeth in it. States are acting and that’s why you’re seeing places like Connecticut passing these laws,” he said.

“It’s scary, I don’t think social media should have access to children’s or teenagers’ data. It is already a problem in adults. They are still learning to cope with life and all the hardships it brings, and we need to help keep them safe,” said Ashley Hilton, mother of five.

Other laws also include requiring those who intentionally harm or kill a police K9 to pay restitution to the department and banning dog racing across the state.

Click HERE for the full list of laws taking effect.

New laws coming into effect on October 1