Senator MD Rahman Leads Passage of Four Bills, Advancing Housing, Zoning, and Property Tax Reform

HARTFORD — Senator MD Rahman (D-Manchester), Senate Chair of the Planning and Development Committee, today led passage of four separate pieces of legislation, advancing bills to make building accessory dwelling units more affordable, strengthen municipal zoning enforcement, modernize Connecticut’s property tax assessment statutes, and provide Hartford with flexibility on an upcoming property revaluation.

“I’m proud of what we were able to accomplish today for Connecticut residents,” Senator Rahman said. “Too many families want to add a unit for an aging parent or a caregiver and run into costs that make it impossible before they even break ground. Removing these utility fee barriers is a practical step that gives families more options and helps us add housing where it’s needed most. The zoning enforcement bill gives our towns the tools they need to protect their communities, and the property tax revisions clean up statutes that haven’t kept pace with how our municipalities actually operate.”

House Bill 5288 removes a barrier that has made it harder and more expensive for homeowners to add a second unit to their property. Under current law, utilities could treat an accessory dwelling unit as a new residential connection and charge full connection fees. The bill prohibits that practice and, for the first time, extends that prohibition to investor-owned water companies. It also extends as-of-right ADU protections to municipalities that exercise zoning authority under a special act, closing a gap that had left some towns outside the state’s existing framework.

House Bill 5391 strengthens the enforcement tools available to municipalities when property owners violate local zoning regulations. The bill ensures that towns exercising zoning authority under a special act have access to the same criminal and civil penalties available to towns operating under the general statutes, including civil penalties of up to $2,500 for ongoing violations.

Senate Bill 362 makes a series of technical and substantive updates to Connecticut’s property tax assessment statutes, modernizing how motor vehicles are valued, updating procedures for veterans’ exemptions, and streamlining assessor certification and notification requirements.

“Owners of older vehicles have been paying taxes based on a floor that did not reflect what their car was actually worth,” Senator Rahman said. “This bill fixes that by allowing the assessed value of vehicles twenty years and older to drop below the previous minimum, so families are taxed on a value that is closer to reality.”

Senate Bill 359 allows the city of Hartford to defer its required property revaluation from the assessment year beginning October 1, 2026, to the assessment year beginning October 1, 2027, provided the deferral is approved by Hartford’s legislative body.