by Mia Palazzo
HARTFORD, CT — Paying for college could get a bit easier after a proposal to expand the Roberta B. Willis Scholarship program cleared the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee Monday. The committee also advanced bills concerning environmental restrictions, tax exemptions, and disaster savings accounts.
Substitute for Senate Bill No. 5, An Act Concerning Higher Education Affordability and Accountability, would set need-based grants at $4,500 per student and require the Office of Higher Education to distribute the awards before the semester in which students use the funds.
In the 2024 fiscal year, 11,452 students received need-based awards, at average award amounts of $3,209 for full-time students and $1,621 for part time students. The cost of increasing awards to these students to the bill’s levels is estimated to be $13.4 million annually, according to the Office of Fiscal Analysis.
The committee passed the measure by a 38-16 vote.
The committee also advanced Substitute for Senate Bill No. 9, which addresses environmental planning and restricts the use of neonicotinoids and second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides.
Neonicotinoids are a class of synthetic pesticide chemically related to nicotine that have a neurotoxic effect on insects. They are effective against pests but there also is concern about potential harm to non-target species like bees.
That proposal also passed on a 38-16 vote.
Two bills that could affect those who served in the military passed the committee on unanimous 54-0 votes. Senate Bill No. 376, which would eliminate service during time of war as a requirement for certain veterans’ benefits, and Substitute for Senate Bill No. 1276, which proposes expanded property tax exemptions for permanently and totally disabled veterans and for surviving spouses of service members killed in action, both passed unanimously.
In other votes, the committee also passed Substitute for Senate Bill No. 1401, which would permit individuals to establish disaster savings accounts with no limit on cash contributions and allow employers to contribute without seeking reimbursement. That proposal passed the committee 41-13.