Connecticut judiciary hearing draws wide public comment on proposed hate-crime consolidation bill

Hartford ' Lawmakers and members of the public spent a full hearing on March 10 discussing the governor's bill (HB 68 72) to consolidate Connecticut's scattered hate-crime statutes into a single chapter and to add penalty enhancements for bias-motivated offenses. The bill drew support from state prosecutors and public-safety officials and pushed back hard from advocates, community members and civil liberties groups who warned vague language could chill protest and free speech.

Catherine Baer, executive assistant state's attorney and director of policy development at the Division of Criminal Justice, told the committee the state's current hate-crime laws are fragmented across more than 20 statutory sections and lack uniformity. "A comprehensive review and consolidation of our hate crime statutes into 1 chapter where they're actually called hate crimes with the inclusion of a penalty enhancement, a meaningful penalty enhancement, particularly with respect to our class a and b felonies, is long overdue," Baer said.

Ronnell Higgins, commissioner of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, said consolidation would help law enforcement and that Connecticut has seen an increase in reported bias incidents in recent…