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House of Representatives
HB5400 / File No. 252 1
General Assembly File No. 252
February Session, 2026 House Bill No. 5400
House of Representatives, March 30, 2026
The Committee on Public Safety and Security reported through
REP. BOYD of the 50th Dist., Chairperson of the Committee on
the part of the House, that the bill ought to pass.
AN ACT REVISING THE DEFINITION OF "POLICE PATROL
VEHICLE".
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (a) of section 29 -6d of the 2026 supplement to 1
the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu 2
thereof (Effective October 1, 2026): 3
(a) For purposes of this section and section 7-277b: 4
(1) "Law enforcement unit" has the same meaning as provided in 5
section 7-294a; 6
(2) "Police officer" means a sworn member of a law enforcement unit 7
or any member of a law enforcement unit who performs police duties; 8
(3) "Body-worn recording equipment" means an electronic recording 9
device that is capable of recording audio and video; 10
(4) "Dashboard camera" means a dashboard camera with a remote 11
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recorder, as defined in section 7-277b; 12
(5) "Digital data storage device or service" means a device or service 13
that retains the data from the recordings made by body-worn recording 14
equipment using computer data storage; and 15
(6) "Police patrol vehicle" means any state or local police vehicle . 16
[other than] "Police patrol vehicle" does not include an administrative 17
vehicle in which an occupant is wearing body-worn camera equipment, 18
a bicycle, a motor scooter, an all -terrain vehicle, an electric personal 19
assistive mobility device, as defined in subsection (a) of section 14-289h, 20
or an animal control vehicle. 21
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2026 29-6d(a)
PS Joint Favorable
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HB5400 / File No. 252 3
The following Fiscal Impact Statement and Bill Analysis are prepared for the benefit of the members of
the General Assembly, solely for purposes of information, summarization and explanation and do not
represent the intent of the General Assembly or either chamber thereof for any purpose. In general,
fiscal impacts are based upon a variety of informational sources, including the analyst’s professional
knowledge. Whenever applicable, agency data is consulted as part of the analysis, however final
products do not necessarily reflect an assessment from any specific department.
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact: None
Municipal Impact: None
Explanation
The bill, which revises the definition of "police patrol vehicle," has no
fiscal impact.
The Out Years
State Impact: None
Municipal Impact: None
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OLR Bill Analysis
HB 5400
AN ACT REVISING THE DEFINITION OF "POLICE PATROL
VEHICLE".
SUMMARY
Under existing law, each state and local law enforcement unit must
require the use of dashboard cameras with a remote recorder in each
police patrol vehicle used by any of the police officers it employs (CGS
§ 29 -6d(c)). This bill specifies that a “police patrol vehicle ” does not
include (1) administrative vehicles with a body camera -wearing
occupant, (2) bicycles, ( 3) motor scooters, ( 4) all -terrain vehicles, ( 5)
electric personal assistive mobility devices, and (6) animal control
vehicles. In effect, a “police patrol vehicle” is any state or local police
vehicle besides these excluded vehicles.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2026
BACKGROUND
Related Bill
sHB 5291, § 15, favorably reported by the Public Safety and Security
Committee, has identical provisions.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Public Safety and Security Committee
Joint Favorable
Yea 28 Nay 1 (03/17/2026)