The finance, revenue and bonding and appropriations committees have a 3 p.m. start time today. Both committees have lengthy agendas.
The finance committee is set to take up several issues that are important to cities and towns. The bills, which are supported by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, include a measure that would give cities and towns the option of adopting a local hotel tax.
The committee could also discuss whether to tax marijuana and controlled substances.
The appropriations committee is expected to vote on a bill that deals with domestic violence. The bill would ensure that money from the marriage license surcharge is given to the Department of Social Services and the Department of Public Health. The departments split $19 between shelter services for domestic violence victims and rape crisis services. The bill would require those funds to be distributed in a timely manner.
The bill would also allow tenants who are domestic violence victims to defer one month’s rent without violating their rental agreement, and it would allow domestic violence victims to terminate leases with five days’ written notice if they provide documentation of domestic violence.
Also on the appropriations committee agenda is a bill that would require everyone, regardless of age, to to take a novice motorcycle training course before getting a motorcycle endorsement. Successfully completing such a class would allow the Department of Motor Vehicles to waive the road rest for someone applying for such an endorsement.
Currently, only 16 and 17 year olds are required to take a training class before applying for a motorcycle endorsement.
The state Department of Transportation’s beginner Connecticut Rider Education Program cost $200 for a minimum of 15 hours of instruction. Classes are held throughout Connecticut, including Tunxis Community College in Farmington and Naugatuck Valley Community College in Waterbury.
Rep. Timothy Larson, D-East Hartford, proposed the training requirement being considered by the appropriations committee today after talking with Stephanie Pelletier. Pelletier’s 19-year-old son, Nicholas Cohen, died in May 2008 after he collided with a minivan.