Governor Rell’s Bill Would

Eliminate 130 Obsolete Laws

            Governor M. Jodi Rell today announced that her Administration has submitted testimony supporting her bill to repeal more than 100 obsolete laws from the Connecticut General Statutes, part of Governor Rell’s broader effort to streamline state government.

            The testimony was submitted to the Legislature’s Government Administration and Elections Committee in support of House Bill 6373, An Act Concerning the Repeal of Certain Obsolete Statutes.

            “These obsolete laws may not all cost taxpayers money, but we can certainly make do with less of them,” Governor Rell said. “My goals are simple: less confusion, less clutter, and less government. There are 14,000 pages of laws on the books – and every year we add an average of 200 new laws to the stack. Layers of laws have come at the expense of clarity and focus. The sheer volume – and the rate at which they are added – reflects government’s preference for adding layers instead of removing what is no longer needed.

            “Laws governing party-line telephones are antiquated at best in an age of iPods and cell phones,” the Governor said. “Similarly, laws governing the Vietnam Herbicides Commission (which went out of business in 1990) and the Lower Fairfield County Convention Center Authority (which never met) can be expunged without anyone missing them. As I said in my budget speech, we need a leaner state government – surely we can do with fewer pages on the law books.”

            Other outdated laws that would be repealed under the Governor’s bill:

• Appointments of police matrons to take charge of female prisoners (this law, enacted in 1893, predates the establishment of professional police departments)
• A law authorizing changes in political party rules (resulting from the redistricting of 1992)
• A provision encouraging the sheep industry in Connecticut (dating to 1919)