Author: Maryanne Daly Doran

Clear that Snow From Your Car! Laws from New Year’s Past and Present

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Last week’s ice storm prompted a reminder of Connecticut's law which requires drivers to clear snow and ice from the roofs of their vehicles.  Connecticut is one of a handful of Northeast states with a law regarding snow and ice removal from vehicles. 

Although this law has been on the books for over 10 years, news outlets and police departments note that it bears repeating. Public Act 13-102 states that failure to remove accumulated ice/snow from a vehicle may result in fines that range from $75 to $1,250.  This should be deterrent enough to allocate the necessary time deicing and removing snow from cars.  

Speaking of....there are a number of laws that became active January 1st, 2024. Law are passed throughout the year at the state capital, but only a handful of the bills signed went into effect immediately.  Many kicked in Oct. 1, and more still become active on the first day of 2024. This year, new state statutes affect a wide variety of issues including early voting, minimum wage, online dating and healthcare records. 

Here are just a few summaries, and if you are interested in what happened before these were passed, check out our research guide which provides step-by-step guide on how to locate legislative history in Connecticut (nifty result, legislative history for PA 13-102 – see how it came to be!).  

Connecticut State Capitol Building at night in snow
Connecticut State Capitol Building, Hartford, Connecticut

Minimum Wage 

Connecticut's minimum wage will  increase effective January 1 from $15.00 to $15.69.  Made possible through legislation passed in 2019, which implemented five incremental increases in the minimum wage followed by future adjustments that are tied to the percentage change in the federal employment cost index. 

Artificial Intelligence (PA-23-16) 

This act concerning AI, automated decision-making and personal data privacy requires creation of an Office of Artificial Intelligence, and establishment of an AI task force and bill of rights. The law also requires Connecticut to examine the technology’s role and impact on state agencies. 

Under the same measure, the state will also work to protect the data privacy of individuals, including the case of targeted advertising. 

EARLY VOTING (PA 23-5)

Public Act 23-5 creates a framework for early, in-person voting requiring a 14-day early voting period for general elections, a seven-day period for most primaries, and a four-day early voting period for special elections and presidential preference primaries. Check out this Issue Brief from the Office of Legislative Research which explains Connecticut's Early Voting Law.
 
 ONLINE PRIVACY, DATA AND SAFETY PROTECTIONS (PA 23-56)

Makes various changes to laws on data privacy and related issues, including provisions on consumer health data, minors’ social media accounts and online services, online dating operators, and a task force on internet crimes against children. 

RESOURCES FOR PERSONS WITH AN INTELLECTUAL OR DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY (PA 23-137)

This act contains many supportive measures, including the creation of a plan to establish a Transitional Life Skills College program to support certain people with IDD who are transitioning out of high school or to independent living.
 
WORKERS' COMPENSATION FOR POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS INJURIES (PA 23-35)

Expands eligibility for workers’ compensation benefits for post-traumatic stress injuries to all employees covered by the workers’ compensation law. 

The Connecticut General Assembly site list all Acts effective January 1, 2024 with a nifty tool for filtering by date.  Check them out and don’t forget to remove ice from your vehicle! Drive safely! 

Martin Luther King Jr. Day – Connecticut’s Connection

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Martin Luther King Day is observed this Monday, January 15, 2024. The holiday commemorates the holiday serves as a time for reflection, community service, and the celebration of Dr. King’s contributions to the civil rights movement.

Although now a paid federal holiday, the path towards recognition took fifteen long years. On November 2, 1983, President Ronald Reagan signed H.R. 3706, a bill that established Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as a federal public holiday on the third Monday of January. On January 18, 1986, President Reagan signed Proclamation 5431 (100 Stat. 4396), marking the first observance of his birthday a national holiday. Each president since President Reagan has issued a proclamation recognizing MLK Day as a day to acknowledge and celebrate the visionary work of Dr. King.

Connecticut was one of the first states to recognize MLK day in 1973 on Sundays (P.A. 73-648). In 1977, it switched to January 15 (P.A. 76-267). In 1986, it changed MLK day to the first Monday on or after January 15 annually (P.A. 84-56). Individual municipalities could opt to recognize it or not.

Connecticut’s role in Martin Luther King Jr.’s formative years, where he spent summer working on a tobacco farm in Simsbury, Ct is little known, as this experience opened a teenage Martin Luther King Jr's eyes to a world beyond the Jim Crow South.  Years later, his autobiography noted his experiences in Connecticut which helped heighten his awareness of the cruel injustice of segregation.  Simsbury will celebrate MLK's legacy this on Monday, January 15, 2024.

UConn Law Library will be open on Martin Luther King Day.  As future attorneys, legislators, judges and community activists, you will have the responsibility to uphold the law, provide access to justice and ensure that the justice system is equitable.  Take time to contemplate Dr. King’s legacy and how your future practice will advance the principles he stood for.

 

Public Domain Day 2024

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“Public Domain Day” is celebrated on first day of the year. Although copyright laws vary by country, in the United States, works registered or first published in 1928 enter the public domain, as are sound recordings from 1923.

Much fanfare has accompanied the arrival of the first versions of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, the iconic cartoon character seen in the animated short films “Steamboat Willie” and silent film ‘Plane Crazy” as they enter the public domain in the U.S. January 1, 2024.  Duke University notes that Walt Disney Company still retains the copyrights to later versions.

Beloved childhood favorites such as the Millions of Cats (oldest picture book in print), House at Pooh Corner (introducing the Tigger character; the original Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) was opened up to free use in 2022.) and Peter Pan or the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up have also entered the public domain.  The class of 2024 represents both famous and obscure works that both evoke our earliest childhood memories and explore gripping social issues that remain significant today.

Examples are Virginia Woolf’s Orlando: A Biography (a groundbreaking novel known for its exploration of gender fluidity and sexuality), Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilisation by Margaret Mead (an influential work in anthropology which challenged Western perceptions of sexuality and influenced the nature vs. nurture debate that raged in the beginning of the 20th century and still rages today ), and Radclyffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness (a pioneering exploration of gender identity and lesbian love). Also noteworthy is W.E.B. Du Bois’s Dark Princess which explores themes of racism and international politics, and D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover which was banned for obscenity in the United States, Canada, Australia, India and Japan. Fun Fact, the movie on Netflix is based on this novel (talk about relevance…).

The University of Pennsylvania maintains a digital catalog of U.S. copyright entries to verify if material is available for public use.  Popular places to find digitized items in the public domain  include repositories like HathiTrust.  Groundbreaking social issues are explored in these works from 1928, after revisiting them, you may feel that little has changed since 1928.

Happy Holidays from UConn Law Library!

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Happy Holidays from UConn Law library!

The library will be closed from Saturday, December 23rd, 2023 through Monday, January 1st, 2024.

The library hours for January Interterm are as follows:

January Interterm

Tuesday, January 2nd, 2024 - Friday, January 12th, 2024

Monday - Thursday 8:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Friday 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Saturday & Sunday Closed

Looking forward to seeing you all in 2024!!

Christmas Carols, Cocktails and Copyright

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Last year’s holiday blog post featured the beloved film,  It’s a Wonderful Life, a movie that has fallen in and out of copyright several times. The elements of Christmas and copyright appear to be connected often, leading to more curiosity about all things copyright Christmas.  

Done with finals and care to go caroling? Want to bottle your own Christmas spirits with the image of Santa?  Planning to use holiday songs in some holiday-themed bingo? If caroling or holiday music bingo (holiday spirits optional) are on your agenda, know that not all festive tunes performed at Christmas are all free use for us to enjoy. While it is true that a neighborly sing along or family gathering doesn’t rise to the level of a public performance, requiring permission to use, it is interesting to note the songs which have entered the public domain, and which are under copyright and require permission.  

Perennial favorites such as Deck the Halls, The Twelve Days of Christmas, and Jingle Bells are all in the public domain. However, songs such as Frosty the Snowman, created in 1950 by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins remains protected by copyright.  

For a list of Christmas songs in the public domain, check out the list from PD Info or ChoralWiki. The United States Copyright Office Public Catalog shows all the copyrights registered with the US copyright office from 1978 onwards. 

Santa giving thumbs up

Although some festive songs are covered by copyright, it’s not widely known that the character of Santa himself is not copyrighted at all! The image of Santa Claus was designed for Coca Cola in 1931 by illustrator Haddon Sundblom and although Coca Cola owns the rights to the images produced by Sundblom, the character of Santa himself remains copyright free. While Coca-Cola played a role in making that version of Santa the one everyone recognizes, it did not invent it and holds no rights to it. 

Speaking of Santa images, if you are interested in crafting your own brew, with Santa Claus’ image, in both Ohio and D.C., it’s illegal to use Santa Claus’ image in advertising for alcohol, so keep the distribution amongst friends.  

If you are interested in more interesting facts and laws about Christmas, check out HeinOnline Blog for the Holidays with their blog post: The 12 Bizarre Laws of Christmas and Happy Holidays from UConn Law! 

Unwind with Crochet!

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Many law students have commented on the adorable, crocheted animals on display at the reference desk.  Created by librarians and staff at UConn Law through the library’s inaugural Crafting Club, we have fielded many questions on these creations and requests to learn to do the same!

Want to make one of your own? Did you know that in addition to being fun, that crocheting promotes mindfulness and wellbeing?  Crocheting promotes a sense of calm and relaxation, mindfulness, encourages creativity and self-expression and is a form of self-care.

UConn Law's Office of Student Affairs and UConn Law Library are partnering up to offer a mindfulness activity where you can learn to crochet, create and relax!

Crochet Workshop for UConn Law Students

Monday, 12/11

12:30-2pm

4th floor Lounge, Library (room 413)

Come join us to learn how to crochet an mini octopus ( adorably coined "Octopup" by librarian extraordinaire and newly minted crocheter,  Tanya Johnson) to take home with you!

Check out the image below of the two crocheted “Octopups”.  All supplies will be provided and no experience necessary! Stop by during Reading Period on December 11, and enjoy the therapeutic benefits of crocheting!

crocheted maroon and purple tiny octopuses

Connecticut’s Contribution to Thanksgiving

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Thanksgiving has origins in New England where it was centered and observed in various local and provincial celebrations.  Some sources state that Colony of Connecticut is given credit for initially adopting an annual day of general Thanksgiving.  The first proclamation was called for September 18, 1639, and two others were on record in 1644 and 1649. These are significant because civil authorities proclaimed this day of thanksgiving and focused on general blessings and thanks for well-being which was a step toward the holiday we know today.

Attempts to verify these claims of the Colony of Connecticut's role by locating and verifying primary sources initially proved to be challenging.  General "Googling"  and trusted databases failed to bring up any primary sources supporting this assertion. What's a law librarian to do?  Head to HeinOnline!

Alongside many offerings, HeinOnline features Prestatehood Legal Materials – a one-stop source of information about the primary sources of law during the colonial and territorial periods of states. The first proclamations of its sort were found in
The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, (1850-1890).

Here it was astounding to see the earliest records all the way back to August 16th, 1639 (and multiple variations of our present day spelling of “public”) where the Colony of Connecticut decided to name a day of Thanksgiving for general blessings:

"It was concluded that there be a publique day of thanksgiving in these plantacons uppon the 18th of the next month." 

On October 25, 1644 the court  ordered:

"Its ordered, there shalbe a publike day of thanksgiving through this Jurisdiction, uppon Wensday com fortnight."

Another order was declared on December 5, 1649:

It is ordered by this Courte, that there shall bee a publick day of Thanksgiving kept by all the Churches within this Jurissdiction that may bee seasonably acquainted therewith, uppon this day fortnight.

For more information on how Thanksgiving became an annual, national holiday as well as controversies surrounding it (albeit sans Connecticut Colony's contribution) head to the HeinOnline Blog: The History and Controversy of Thanksgiving.   Regardless, we hope you take a moment to enjoy Thanksgiving and contemplate Connecticut's historic contribution to the tradition we enjoy today.

Search result from HeinOnline's Prestatehood materials database.

International Education Week 2023

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UConn Law celebrates International Education Week this November 13-17.  International Education Week is a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education that is celebrated on campuses across the country.

At UConn School of Law, this week is a chance to celebrate our robust international student population, notably students in our LLM and Exchange programs, and the global perspective that they bring to the UConn Law community.  UConn Law also features 16 study abroad programs this week, which give law students the unique opportunity to study law in another country.

The Law School events for International Education Week are featured below and also on the events calendar on the public calendar - all are welcome to join and see how this year's theme of “International Education Is the Future" is so relevant on our vibrant campus!

Flyer with dates for International Education Week

Congo Week: Colonialism, Coltan, and Cell Phones

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Boy holding cell phone

If we are sitting on all this wealth, why are we so poor?  Maurice Carney

Young boys mining in Africa
Photo courtesy of Congoweek.org

UConn Law’s Black Law Students Association (BLSA), Energy and Environmental Law Society (EELS), Human Rights Law Association (HRLA) and National Lawyers Guild (NLG) are sponsoring the first annual Congo Week from October 15-20.

Congo Week's activities commemorate the millions of lives lost in the Congo Conflict while celebrating the enormous human and natural potential that exists in the country. The goal is to raise global consciousness about the situation in the Congo and advocate for peace, justice and human dignity in partnership with the Congolese people.   

Toni-Ann Gayle is the catalyst for organizing Congo Week at UConn Law. For Gayle, the global issues related to the Congo were important enough to seek the position of Community Service Chair at BLSA.  Last Semester, fellow law student Kwaku Aurelien from the NLG  moderated a symposium featuring Maurice Carney, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Friends of the Congo. This event highlighted the situation in the Congo, and was what sparked Gayle's interest in bringing Congo Week to UConn Law. 

The Congo holds the world’s largest deposits of coltan, an essential component for cellphones, play stations and other electronic devices. Gayle notes, “It is mind boggling for us to walk around, complicit in our lives, using our tablets, cell phones and laptops, without understanding the enormous human cost that gives us these conveniences.”   

Gayle urges UConn law students to recognize there are many things they can do to affect change in the lives of the Congolese.  One action item is the “Cell Out” - a digital moment of silence starting at 12 noon on Wednesday, October 18th. Gayle encourages all students to turn off their phone for at least one hour, refrain from texting and encourage those in your circle to do the same. Activities abound throughout the UConn Law campus to raise awareness of this global issue. This week of recognition exemplifies the mantra by Martin Luther King, Jr., which Gayle abides by everyday:

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”  

For more information on Congo week check out the following: 

Lake with Mountains
Lake Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo

Who Owns the Beach? New Exhibit at UConn Law Library!

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Star fish and ocean

“If a man with a family wants a nice, quiet place to swim on Long Island Sound, he’d better buy a cottage on the shore.” 1

Our Connecticut Beaches Exhibit at UConn Law Library shines a light on the obstacles in-and out-of-towners face just to have access to the beaches that border the Long Island Sound. The exhibit notes the efforts by many to open access to the beaches.

Hartford activist Ned Coll began his struggle to open beaches to all residents in the 1970s bringing children from Hartford to see the beach and sound which, for many, was the first time.  Andrew Kahrl's book, Free the Beach, available at UConn Law Library, documents Coll's crusade to open access to Connecticut's coast.  In 1995, Brenden Leydon sued the Town of Greenwich challenging their coding laws regarding access to their town beach. The Connecticut Supreme Court ultimately presided over this case where  Leydon v. Town of Greenwich relied on the First Amendment to the United States Constitution as well as the free speech clauses of the Connecticut Constitution. The Court held that the Greenwich Point Park was a “public forum” which must be open to “expressive activity” of any kind — and that to limit the park to non-residents would prevent them from exercising those rights.

The issue of coastal access reverberates today. As recently as 2023, the Connecticut legislature introduced Raised Bill 6650, in part, “To ensure that the development, preservation or use of the land and water resources of the coastal area proceeds in a manner consistent with the rights of private property owners and the capability of the land and water resources to support development, preservation or use without significantly disrupting either the natural environment or sound economic growth.”

Fairfield Beach crowd view
Colorized postcard of Fairfield Beach, c. 1932 permalink: http://hdl.handle.net/11134/80002:262 Fairfield Museum and History Center, Postcard Collection

Zoning and excessive non-resident fees are also part of the challenge. Non-residents and out-of-state visitors are dissuaded from coming to the beaches due to extremely high seasonal pass rates. One town beach charges a daily fee of $45 for non-residents weekday, $70 weekend, or $545 for the season. Residents pay $60 for a season pass.

On top of this, all beachgoers have strict restrictions on what is allowed on the beach: no dogs, no drinks, no floaties, no sports, among other items. This is done to avoid, as one town termed, the “Jerseyfication” of their beaches, meaning they did not want the character of their beaches and towns disrupted with the threat of “honky-tonk style” venues opening in their towns.

The reality, however, is that while their beaches aren’t being turned into such places, they also aren’t being fully enjoyed by all of Connecticut. New Journal author Paola Santos summarizes that in her article reflecting on beaches in her home state of California, “[i]n essence, too many public beaches in Connecticut have become country clubs.” Despite many attempts to change the situation over the years, little has changed.

This leaves us with a vital question: who really owns the beach? Visit our exhibit and decide for yourself.

Connecticut beaches are gated in ways that should be offensive to every resident of those towns. Quotes with beach backdrop.
https://thenewjournalatyale.com/2022/12/barred-waters/