SB 2 Connecticut Senate · 2026 Regular Session

AN ACT SUPPORTING LOCAL COMMERCE.

SB 2 exempts small businesses (with less than $10 million in annual revenue) from sales and use taxes on electricity and natural gas purchases. It redirects revenue from an additional 1% sales tax on meals: 50% to the state Tourism Fund and 50% to the municipalities where the meals were purchased. The bill aims to lower operating costs for small commercial and industrial businesses, which could reduce prices passed on to consumers. These changes directly affect small businesses and local governments through tax adjustments and new revenue allocation.

Issues: ✓ Budget & Taxes

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 4, 2026 Last action Apr 20, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

Committee Bill → FIN Joint Favorable Substitute · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was renumbered from a Committee Bill to a Substitute Bill, indicating it has been revised and approved by the joint legislative committee. The primary substantive change involves the reorganization of tax exemption criteria for gas and electricity, specifically adding a new category for commercial or industrial businesses with gross income under ten million dollars. Additionally, the text was restructured to consolidate vessel tax exemptions into a single continuous section, removing page breaks that previously split the relevant clauses.

Scope change

The scope of tax exemptions for gas and electricity was expanded to explicitly include commercial or industrial businesses with gross income not exceeding ten million dollars, whereas the previous version did not clearly define this income threshold in the same context.

ELIGIBILITY

Added a new eligibility criterion allowing commercial or industrial businesses with gross income under ten million dollars to qualify for specific gas and electricity tax exemptions.

TECHNICAL

Reorganized the legislative text to merge split sections regarding vessel sales tax exemptions into a single continuous paragraph for clarity.

Updated the bill header from 'Committee Bill No. 2' to 'Substitute Bill No. 2' and adjusted the page count from 18 to 17, reflecting the consolidation of text.

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Full legislative history

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Committee

Apr 1, 2026

Upper · Passed

Joint Favorable Substitute

upper

Mar 20, 2026

Committee

REF. TO JOINT COMM. ON Finance, Revenue and Bonding

upper

Mar 19, 2026

Upper · Passed

DRAFTED BY COMMITTEE

upper

Feb 4, 2026

Committee

REF. TO JOINT COMM. ON Finance, Revenue and Bonding

upper

33 primary · 0 co-sponsors

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