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sSB219 / File No. 122 1
General Assembly File No. 122
February Session, 2026 Substitute Senate Bill No. 219
Senate, March 23, 2026
The Committee on Banking reported through SEN. MILLER of
the 27th Dist., Chairperson of the Committee on the part of the
Senate, that the substitute bill ought to pass.
AN ACT CONCERNING CIVIL PENALTIES FOR CERTAIN
VIOLATIONS RELATING TO RENTAL SECURITY DEPOSITS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subdivision (1) of subsection (j) of section 47a-21 of the 2026 1
supplement to the general statutes is repealed and the following is 2
substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2026): 3
(j) (1) Except as provided in subdivision (2) of this subsection, the 4
commissioner may receive and investigate complaints regarding any 5
alleged violation of [subsections] subsection (b), (d), (h) or (i) of this 6
section. For the purposes of such investigation, any person who is or 7
was a landlord shall be subject to the provisions of section 36a-17. If the 8
commissioner determines that any landlord has violated any provision 9
of this section over which the commissioner has jurisdiction, the 10
commissioner may, in accordance with [section] sections 36a -50 and 11
36a-52, order such [person to] landlord to pay a civil penalty, cease and 12
desist from such practices and [to] comply with the provisions of this 13
section. 14
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This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2026 47a-21(j)(1)
BA Joint Favorable Subst.
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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 makes clarifying changes, resulting in no fiscal impact to the
state.
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OLR Bill Analysis
sSB 219
AN ACT CONCERNING CIVIL PENALTIES FOR CERTAIN
VIOLATIONS RELATING TO RENTAL SECURITY DEPOSITS.
SUMMARY
Existing law authorizes the Department of Banking commissioner to
order a civil penalty of up to $100,000 for violations of any provision of
the statutes within his jurisdiction or any regulation, rule, or order
adopted or issued under these statutes . This bill explicitly authorizes
him, after an investigation, to order this penalty for certain violations of
the security deposit laws, in addition to issuing cease and desist orders
for violations of these law s, as existing law authorizes. (The law also
authorizes specified penalties for security deposit law violations (see
BACKGROUND).)
Existing law authorizes the banking commissioner to receive and
investigate complaints about certain alleged violations of the security
deposit laws. These laws apply to residential landlords and generally
(1) cap maximum allowable security deposits, (2) require deposits be
placed in an escrow account, (3) set the interest rate on security deposits,
(4) require landlords to pay tenants annual interest on security deposits,
and (5) set timeframes for paying security deposits and interest at the
end of tenancy.
By law, the commissioner does not have jurisdiction when the
landlord (1) fails to annually pay the tenant interest on a security deposit
or (2) has a good faith claim for actual damages of which the tenant
received written notice. The latter includes situations where a landlord
refuses or fails to return all or part of the security deposit because he or
she has a good faith claim for these damages. By law, anyone can take
legal action in court to reclaim any part of their security deposit that
may be due, and this does not stop tenants or landlords from recovering
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other damages to which they may be entitled.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2026
BACKGROUND
Penalties for Security Deposit Law Violations
The law makes any landlord who fails to return a tenant’s security
deposit (less the value of any itemized damages) within the statutory
timeframe liable for twice the security deposit amount. Any landlord
who fails to pay the tenant the accrued interest on a security deposit is
liable for the greater of $10 or twice the accrued interest.
Landlords are also subject to specified penalties under the security
deposit laws if they knowingly and willfully:
1. fail to pay all or part of a security deposit due when the tenancy
ends (a fine of up to $250 for each offense);
2. violate the escrow account requirements (a fine of up to $500, up
to 30 days in prison, or both for each offense if at the time of the
offense the landlord leased four or more residential units); or
3. fail to make the required interest payments on security deposits
(a fine of up to $100 for each offense).
COMMITTEE ACTION
Banking Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 13 Nay 0 (03/10/2026)