HOUSING AND SMALL BUSINESS

By:

Joseph Holstead, Research Analyst

2002-R-0647

July 12, 2002

Table of Contents

Notice to Readers 4

I: HOUSING 5

Summary 5

Housing Authority Procurement and Security Deposit Guarantee Program 5

Affordable Housing Land Use Appeals Procedure 6

Disposition of State Assisted Housing Properties 6

Banking Act Affecting Housing 7

Prepaid Finance Charges 7

Credit Union Modernization 8

Consumer Credit and Money Transmitter Licenses 10

Bank Account Executions and the Opening of Judgments of Strict Foreclosure 10

Other Housing Related Acts 11

Water Supply Plans and Water Diversions 11

Variations and Exemptions from the State Building and Fire Safety Codes 11

Qualifications of Local Building Officials 12

Innkeepers and Guests 12

Well Driller, Pharmacists...home improvement contractors 13

II. ACTS AFFECTING SMALL BUSINESSES 13

Summary 13

Business Occupational Requirements 13

Continuing Professional Education Requirements for Electricians and Plumbers 13

Licensing of Architects and Certification of Buildings in Certain Use Groups 14

Reporting...Certain Continuing Education for Pharmacists 14

Well Drillers, Pharmacists... 14

Consumer Protection 15

Reporting of Prescription Errors... 15

Well Drillers, Pharmacists...Health Clubs 15

Economic Development 15

Clarifying the Penalty on Application for Financial Assistance from

quasi-public agencies 15

Labor 16

Employing 15-year olds 16

Minimum Wage Increase

Land Use and Environment 16

Actions of Zoning Commissions on Petitions 16

Appeals of Site Plan Decisions 16

Water Supply Plans and Water Diversion 17

Public Health 17

Crematories 17

Use of Automatic Injectables 17

Wine and Alcohol 18

Advertisement of Manufacturers Rebates for Alcoholic Liquor 18

Farm Wine Manufactured in Connecticut 18

Well Driller, Pharmacists...liquor permits 18

NOTICE TO READERS

In its 2002 regular session and June Special Session, the General Assembly enacted new laws and changed existing programs affecting housing and businesses. This report provides brief highlights of acts that affect housing and small businesses. Section I covers acts affecting housing, including relevant banking laws.

Several acts affect businesses in general, but it is difficult to determine which laws exclusively affect small businesses since neither federal nor state law establishes a uniform definition of small business. In section II, we summarize certain acts that, in our judgment, affect small businesses more than large ones.

These summaries are in lay terms and are not intended to be legal interpretations. We encourage readers to obtain the full text of acts that interest them from the Connecticut State Library or the House Clerk's Office. Complete summaries of all public acts passed during the 2002 session will be available in early fall when OLR's Public Act Summary book is published or via our web page (www. cga. state. ct. us/olr).

I. ACTS AFFECTING HOUSING

SUMMARY

The General Assembly enacted three major housing bills into law:

1. An Act Conforming Housing Authority Procurement Procedures to Federal Requirements and Concerning the Security Deposit Guarantee and Grant Program (PA 02-79/HB 5138),

2. An Act Concerning the Affordable Housing Land Use Appeals Procedure (PA 02-87/HB 5434), and

3. An Act Concerning Disposition of State-assisted Housing Properties in Default (PA 02-99/ HB 5103).

These acts, four banking acts, and several others that affect housing are discussed below.

HOUSING

Housing Authority Procurement Procedures to Federal Requirements and Concerning the Security Deposit Guarantee and Grant Program

This act makes (1) people with state or federal housing subsidy certificates eligible for the security deposit guarantee and grant program and (2) local housing authorities' purchasing procedures consistent with federal laws.

Under prior law, a person was eligible for a security deposit guarantee if he either (1) was on public assistance or (2) had a documented financial need and was experiencing a housing crisis. Under the act, eligible people must be either (1) on public assistance or have a documented financial need and (2) have a housing crisis or a state Rental Assistance Program (RAP) or federal Section 8 housing certificate or voucher. Possession of a RAP or Section 8 certificate indicates that a person meets the low-income guidelines of those programs, but documented "financial need" is not defined in prior law or the act.

The act makes the criteria for security deposit grants the same as the criteria for security deposit guarantees. It also makes related changes, such as allowing the social services commissioner to set priorities for allocating security deposit guarantees between certain eligible people.

The act makes state housing authority purchasing and procurement procedures consistent with federal law in three ways. It:

1. raises the spending threshold that triggers bidding requirements from more than $ 25,000 to more than $ 100,000 (federal threshold) and specifies that the requirements apply only to housing project construction work, supplies, or personal property;

2. imposes federal competitive proposal requirements for purchases at or below $ 100,000; and

3. removes procurement of professional services from bidding requirements and places it under federal competitive proposal requirements.

Under prior law, all contracts or purchases of more than $ 25,000 had to follow a competitive bidding process, and no distinction was made between construction work and professional services. Prior law allowed an authority to waive the bidding process for contracts up to $ 30,000 by a vote of the authority board if it stated that the waiver was in the public interest. (PA 02-79, effective July 1, 2002)

Affordable Housing Land Use Appeals Procedure

This act makes several changes to the affordable housing appeals procedure law. It extends, from three to four years, the length of an appeals procedure moratorium a town can obtain. It also extends, by one year, any moratorium in effect on the act's effective date (October 1, 2002). By law, a town qualifies for a moratorium by obtaining a certification from the economic and community development commissioner showing it meets a specific threshold of affordable housing units created since 1990.

The act also adds deed-restricted mobile manufactured homes and accessory ("in-law") apartments to the list of affordable housing units that count toward a town earning an exemption from the appeals procedure. The deed restriction must be recorded on the land record and for at least 10 years require the units to be sold or rented at prices so that low- and moderate-income individuals or families will pay no more than 30% of their income for them. It requires the commissioner to produce, pursuant to regulations, model deed restrictions that satisfy these requirements.

Finally, the act eliminates the owner-occupied requirement for local-option property tax credits triggered by an affordable housing deed restriction. (PA 02-87, October 1, 2002)

Disposition of State-Assisted Housing Properties in Default

This act allows the economic and community development commissioner to operate a housing project and receive state and federal funds on its behalf when he acquires the project to preserve the state's interest under the contract that initially funded it. It also allows, rather than requires, him to adopt regulations implementing the department's statutory purposes.

The act sets a condition under which the commissioner must construct or renovate housing near the former Rice Heights public housing project in Hartford. The 388-unit project was demolished to make way for about 80 new homes, most of which are to be sold to the project's former tenants. The commissioner must develop the housing if the proposed number of new units at the site is reduced to make way for a new school. Former Rice Heights tenants must get priority for the housing.

The act sets a very narrow exception under which a public housing authority commissioner can serve as its executive director. The law requires a housing authority to wait at least two years before hiring someone who served as one of its commissioners. This requirement applies to any position. The act allows a current commissioner to serve as the authority's director if the authority was awarded "Moving to Work" status on January 19, 2001 under a federally funded program designed to help families living in government-funded housing secure better paying jobs. The commissioner can serve as director only until October 1, 2003. (PA 02-99, effective upon passage except for the provision regarding the economic and community development commissioner's power, which takes effect July 1, 2002)

BANKING ACTS AFFECTING HOUSING

Prepaid Finance Charges

By law, a lender making a high-cost home loan may not require the borrower to pay charges as a condition of the loan before closing ("prepaid finance charge") totaling more than 5% of the loan's principal amount or $ 2,000, whichever is greater. The act expands the definition of prepaid finance charge to include any charge the borrower pays either (1) by cash or check before or at the loan consummation or credit extension or (2) by withholding funds at any time from the transaction's proceeds. The law already includes a lender or broker's commission or fee for selling prepaid credit life, accident, health, disability, or unemployment insurance or other goods and services that the customer pays for with the loan or credit proceeds and finances as part of the principal amount. Prior law defined a prepaid finance charge as a charge imposed as an incident to, or condition of, a loan or credit extension, including (1) loan fees, (2) points, (3) commission, (4) brokers' fees or commissions or (5) transaction fees.

The act removes the exclusion of the time-price differential from the definition of prepaid finance charges and instead exempts (1) premiums, fees, and other sums paid to, or escrowed by, a government agency and (2) interim interest. It defines "interim interest" as the interest the borrower pays during the period at or before consummating a closed-end loan, so long as the borrower starts paying off the loan within 62 days.

By law, high-cost home loan payment schedules may not consolidate more than two periodic payments and pay them in advance from the proceeds. The act allows such payment schedules if a government agency is required to escrow the funds. It makes a conforming change to a provision prohibiting a secondary mortgage broker or lender from imposing loan fees, points, commissions, or transaction fees determined in accordance with the Connecticut Truth-in-Lending Act, except the time-price differential, to prohibit all prepaid finance charges which, when added to the broker's fee or commission, total more than 8% of the loan principal. (PA 02-12, effective on passage)

Credit Union Modernization

Mortgage loans. The act allows Connecticut credit unions to make mortgage loans to their members. It defines "mortgage loan" for this purpose as a closed-end loan or line of credit (1) secured wholly or substantially by a lien on, or interest in, real estate; (2) including a leasehold interest; and (3) secured by a one-to-four family residence that is a member's primary residence; or (4) by any other real estate, so long as the credit union's loans to a mortgagor secured by other real estate total no more than $ 50,000. The act exempts from its restrictions mortgage loans that the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs (now called the Secretary) guarantees, commits to, or insures. It allows credit unions to make mortgage loans secured by a leasehold interest, so long as the leasehold estate's term, excluding any renewal, does not expire before the loan matures. It defines "real estate" for mortgage loan purposes to include land, any structure, and other improvements or equipment permanently attached to the land or structure.

Prior law required a person familiar with real estate values in the community where the real estate is located to appraise or evaluate it before the credit union granted a mortgage. The act specifies that the credit union's governing board or its designee approve the appraiser before he makes his assessment, but it permits using an appraisal by someone who appraised the property for a government agency that plans to insure or guarantee it.

The act adds new requirements to the other provisions of mortgage law. First, it requires mortgage loans a Connecticut credit union makes (1) secured by a first lien or interest to mature not more than 42 years after they were made and (2) to finance a manufactured home or secured by a subordinate lien to mature not more than 20 years after they were made. It defines "manufactured home" as a movable dwelling containing living facilities suitable for one family to live in year-round, including permanent facilities for eating, sleeping, cooling, and sanitation, as long as the purchaser uses the dwelling as a residence and will, within 90 days after purchase, situate it in a manufactured housing community or other semi-permanent site in Connecticut.

Second, the act requires Connecticut credit union mortgage loans to have their principal and interest paid in at least consecutive semiannual installments, with payments sufficient to pay off the entire loan within 42 years from the first payment and the first payment within 24 months of the date of the loan. But the semiannual payment requirement does not apply to (1) consumer revolving loan agreements; (2) alternative mortgage loans; (3) loans secured by residential real estate that can be demanded at any time; (4) building construction loans, with the commissioner's approval, that will mature within 24 or 36 months; and (5) any other loan or class of loan the commissioner chooses.

The act exempts Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured loans from its mortgage loan restrictions, but subjects those loans to two additional limitations: (1) for first mortgages on real estate, the insurance contract must provide that the federal government fully guarantee that principal and interest will be paid in the event of loan default or foreclosure and (2) if the credit union has a commitment for FHA insurance, it may grant the borrower an installment construction loan if the total of all installments is no more than the greater of 80% of the real estate's value each time the credit union makes an advance or the final loan's proportion to the real estate's final estimated value, except that the final advance may make the total of all advances equal to the total loan amount. Prior law prohibited the installment total from exceeding the greater of 50% of the real estate's value or the final loan's proportion to the final estimated property value. The act prohibits the credit union from making the final advance on an insured loan until the FHA inspects and approves the construction.

The act allows Connecticut credit unions to invest in mortgages otherwise prohibited under its restrictions if (1) its governing board or board-appointed committee reviews the loan's or overall loan program's nonconforming aspects and finds the loan or program prudent under the circumstances and (2) the total of its outstanding nonconforming loans is no more than 8% of the credit union's total assets. It requires the credit union to record its decision on the loan or program's prudence and its reasons in the application file. A nonconforming loan can be removed from the assets limitation when the borrower repays the loan or the nonconforming aspects no longer exist. (PA 02-83, effective October 1, 2002)

Consumer Credit and Money Transmitter Licensees

This act, amongst other things, expands license requirements for mortgage lenders and brokers and requires originators to be registered. It increases the banking commissioner's authority with respect to mortgage lenders and brokers, sales finance companies, small loan lenders, debt adjusters, and consumer collection agencies. It increases these parties' license fees and changes their application deadlines and frequency. The act imposes mortgage licensee net worth and experience requirements and updates the bond requirements for first mortgage lenders, money transmitters, and consumer collection agencies. (PA 02-111, effective October 1, 2002)

Bank Account Executions and the Opening of Judgments of Strict Foreclosure

This act automatically opens strict foreclosure judgments when a mortgagor/debtor files a bankruptcy petition under Chapter 13 of the federal Bankruptcy Code, so long as full ownership of the property has not already passed to someone else. The act states that the only portion of the foreclosure judgment that can be set aside is the setting of "law days," which is the period within which a debtor must repay the debt or lose all rights to the property.

The opening of the judgment appears to trigger the federal bankruptcy law's automatic stay provision, thus permitting the bankruptcy court to give the debtor/mortgagor more time to work out a repayment or reorganization plan. By law, a creditor may obtain a court-ordered judgment against someone who owes him money (debtor) in certain circumstances. The creditor can execute or serve this order on any banking institution (banks, savings and loans, and credit unions; hereafter "bank") where the debtor has an account. The act increases, from $ 800 to $ 1,000, the amount the bank must leave in the account if the debtor recently received by electronic direct deposit "readily identifiable" exempt federal veterans' or Social Security benefits. It also makes child support payments the state collects and electronically deposits into a parent's bank account subject to the same protection. (PA 02-93, effective January 1, 2003, except the bankruptcy filing provisions are effective upon passage)

OTHER HOUSING RELATED ACTS

Water Supply Plans and Water Diversions

This act, among other things, (1) changes the conditions under which local health directors may issue a permit for a new well on residential property within 200 feet of a public water supply and allows them to issue permits to replace wells under the same conditions and (2) requires the DPH commissioner to adopt regulations clarifying the conditions under which well permit exceptions can be granted when premises are connected to a public water supply.

Variations and Exemptions from the State Building Code and the Fire Safety Code

By January 1, 2003, this act requires the state building inspector and state Codes and Standards Committee to create a list of state building code exemptions, variations, and equivalent or alternate compliance that the building inspector granted for existing buildings (as opposed to new construction) in the previous two calendar years. It requires the state fire marshal to create a similar list for the state fire safety code by the same date. The building inspector must create his list in conjunction with the public safety commissioner. The officials must update the lists every two years.

By April 1, 2003, the act requires the commissioner, within available appropriations, to take appropriate actions to publicize the building code list, send it to local building officials, and educate these officials and the public on how to use it. The state fire marshal must do the same for the fire code list with regard to local fire marshals.

The act gives local building officials 15 business days to send to the state building inspector, by first class mail, applications people submit for building code exemptions, variations, or alternate or equivalent compliance, and their comments on the merits of the applications.

In a process paralleling that for building code applications, the act conforms the law to practice by requiring local fire marshals to send to the state fire marshal applications for fire code exemptions, variations, or alternate or equivalent compliance, and comments on the merits of the applications. It requires fire marshals to send the applications to the state fire marshal, by first class mail, within 15 business days of getting them.

By law, the state building inspector and state fire marshal may grant code exemptions, variations, or alternate or equivalent compliance where strict compliance is considered unwarranted or would entail practical difficulty or unnecessary hardship. (PA 02-72, effective October 1, 2002)

Qualifications of Local Building Officials

This act allows the public safety commissioner to determine and substitute equivalent experience for the statutorily specified experience required to become a local or assistant building official. The statutorily specified experience for local building officials is at least five years in construction, design, or supervision. For assistant building officials, it is at least three years.

By law, these officials must be informed on a wide range of building and construction issues. They must also be licensed (or certified, where applicable), unless they are provisionally appointed for no more than 90 days to complete training and licensure requirements. To obtain the credential, an applicant must pass a written examination and complete an educational training program. (PA 02-115, October 1, 2002)

Innkeepers and Guests

This act establishes a statutory rule for determining when a person is a "transient occupant" in a hotel or motel or similar lodging as that phrase is used in landlord and tenant law. Under the act, anyone who occupies such an establishment for less than 30 days is deemed transient, unless he uses it as his primary residence from the beginning of the occupancy. Occupancy of 30 days or more is deemed non-transient, unless the establishment is not the occupant's primary residence. Occupancy of 90 or more days is non-transient regardless of whether the occupant has another residence. Non-transient occupants are protected under landlord and tenant laws, but transient occupants are not; thus, they are subject to, for example, lockout as opposed to eviction. (PA 02-30, effective October 1, 2002)

Well Driller, Pharmacists, Electronic Shelf-Price Labeling, Health Clubs, the Liquor Control Act, Building Permits for Tradespersons, Home Improvement Bonds, Lemon Law Funding and Shorthand Reporters

This act, amongst other things, increases, from $ 10,000 to $ 15,000, the maximum bond the consumer protection commissioner may impose on a registered home improvement contractor as a result of a disciplinary action. (PA 02-82, effective October 1, 2002)

II. ACTS AFFECTING SMALL BUSINESS

SUMMARY

The General Assembly enacted several laws that affect businesses in general, but it is difficult to determine which laws exclusively affect small businesses since neither federal nor state law establishes a uniform definition of small business. The Small Business Administration, the federal government's principal source of financing for small businesses, defines small business in various ways depending on the nature of the business. Generally, manufacturers are small if they have 500 or fewer employees; retailers and service businesses are small if their annual revenues are below $ 17. 5 million.

Below, we summarize several acts that, in our judgment, affect small businesses more than large ones. We based our selection largely on the type of businesses being affected. For example, we selected acts dealing with specific businesses, such as day care centers, or businesses mostly owned by sole proprietors, such as those owned by plumbers and electricians. OLR report 2002-R-0620 summarizes acts affecting business, regardless of size or type.

BUSINESS OCCUPATIONAL REQUIREMENTS

Continuing Professional Education Requirements for Electricians and Plumbers

This act requires the consumer protection commissioner to adopt regulations to (1) establish requirements for accredited continuing professional education for electricians and plumbers, (2) establish qualifying criteria for accredited continuing professional education programs, (3) establish qualifying criteria for acceptable certificates of continuing education, and (4) provide for waiving continuing education requirements for good cause. The commissioner must do so with advice and help from the licensing boards for these trades.

The act requires electricians and plumbers, at times prescribed in regulation by the commissioner, to prove that they have met any continuing education requirements. (PA 02-142, effective upon passage)

Licensing of Architects and Certification of Buildings in Certain Use Groups

This act revises an exemption from the requirement that building plans be sealed by a licensed architect for structures smaller than 5,000 square feet so that the exemption applies only when the entire structure, not just the portion to which the plans apply, is under 5,000 square feet. (PA 02-59, effective October 1, 2002)

Reporting of Prescription Errors and Requiring Certain Continuing Education for Pharmacists

The act requires that at least five of the 15 continuing education hours pharmacists must take each year be obtained by attending a live presentation, and at least one of the five live hours be on pharmacy or drug law. (PA 02-48, effective October 1, 2002)

Well Driller, Pharmacists, Electronic Shelf-Price Labeling, Health Clubs, the Liquor Control Act, Building Permits for Tradespersons, Home Improvement Bonds, Lemon Law Funding and Shorthand Reporters

Amongst other things, this act:

1. prohibits plumbers, electricians, sheet metal workers, and other specified tradesmen from starting to work on a project, unless the required state and local building or construction permits relating to their trade have been obtained;

2. exempts registered well drillers working in their trade from the law concerning home improvement contractor registration (the law already exempts licensed professionals and tradesmen, provided they are working in their field);

3. specifies that to receive a pharmacist's license, an individual must have earned a degree from a college or school of pharmacy that was an entry-level professional pharmacy degree when he graduated; and

4. eliminates an avenue to licensure as a shorthand reporter based on experience. (PA 02-82, effective October 1, 2002)

CONSUMER PROTECTION

Reporting of Prescription Errors and Requiring Certain Continuing Education for Pharmacists

This act requires the consumer protection commissioner to adopt regulations requiring pharmacies to establish quality assurance programs designed to detect, identify, and prevent prescription errors.

In addition, the act requires each pharmacy (1) to post signs and include notices on receipts or in prescription packaging informing consumers of a way to report prescription errors and (2) keep records about prescriptions errors. (PA 02-48, effective October 1, 2002)

Well Driller, Pharmacists, Electronic Shelf-Price Labeling, Health Clubs, the Liquor Control Act, Building Permits for Tradespersons, Home Improvement Bonds, Lemon Law Funding and Shorthand Reporters

Amongst other things, this act:

1. allows people making a claim for payment from the Connecticut Health Club Guaranty Fund to prove club membership using other forms of proof than their health club contract, if the consumer protection commissioner finds the alternative form of proof suitable;

2. creates a new exemption from the item pricing law for stores that are using an approved electronic shelf labeling system;

3. imposes the $ 3 surcharge used to fund the operation of the Lemon Law program on each type of vehicle and transaction covered by the program; and

4. increases, from $ 10,000 to $ 15,000, the maximum bond the DCP commissioner may impose on a registered home improvement contractor as a result of a disciplinary action. (PA 02-82, effective October 1, 2002)

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Clarifying the Penalty on Applications for Financial Assistance from Quasi-Public Agencies

This act establishes a procedure to ensure that businesses receiving state economic development assistance comply with the terms and conditions of their assistance agreements. The procedure requires state agencies providing this type of assistance to notify businesses when they fail to comply with the agreements and to recover the assistance if the businesses subsequently fail to comply. Economic development agencies, such as the Deparment of Economic and Community Development, must also include job creation and retention goals in agreements when the primary aim of state assistance is to create or retain jobs and recover the assistance if the businesses fail to meet those goals.

It also requires the agencies to impose liens on any security they required as a condition for receiving assistance. (PA 02-86, effective July 1, 2002 for economic development agencies and liens on security, and October 1, 2002 for compliance notification).

LABOR

Employing 15-year Olds

This act extends the expiration date of the law allowing 15-year-olds to work certain days and hours as baggers, cashiers, or stock clerks in stores (such as supermarkets and department stores) for five more years, from September 30, 2002 to September 30, 2007. (PA 02-44, effective October 1, 2002)

Minimum Wage Increase

This act increases the minimum wage from $ 6. 70 to $ 6. 90 on January 1, 2003 and to $ 7. 10 on January 1, 2004. In both cases, if 100. 5% of the highest federal minimum wage is higher than these amounts, the federal wage becomes the minimum wage.

The act extends, from December 31, 2002 to December 31, 2004, the sunset date of the tip credit, which gives employers an offset against the minimum wage for certain employees. As a result of the increase and the tip credit extension, the minimum wage for hotel and restaurant employees will be $ 4. 88 and $ 5. 02 in 2003 and 2004, respectively. For bartenders, it will be $ 6. 33 in 2003 and $ 6. 52 in 2004. (PA 02-33, effective July 1, 2002)

LAND USE AND ENVIRONMENT

Actions of Zoning Commissions on Petitions

This act removes the limits on the kinds of actions zoning commissions can take on a request to change a zoning regulation or zoning map's boundaries. Prior law allowed them only to adopt or deny these requests. (PA 02-77, took effect June 3, 2002)

Appeals of Site Plan Decisions

Among other things, this act explicitly allows anyone aggrieved by a zoning commission's decision to approve or deny a site plan to appeal the decision directly to the Superior Court. (PA 02-74, this provision took effect June 3, 2002)

Water Supply Plans and Water Diversion

This act amongst other things:

1. requires water companies' supply plans, beginning January 1, 2004, to include an evaluation of source water protection measures for all sources of water supply;

2. changes the deadline for entities required to submit information on their water diversions to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) from July 1, 2002 to no later than six months after DEP publishes notice of the deadline and a form on which to submit the information;

3. changes the conditions under which local health directors may issue a permit for a new well on residential property within 200 feet of a public water supply and allows them to issue permits to replace wells under the same conditions;

4. requires the DPH commissioner to adopt regulations clarifying the conditions under which well permit exceptions can be granted when premises are connected to a public water supply.

(PA 02-102, effective October 1, 2002, except for the water diversion data submission deadline change, which is effective on passage)

PUBLIC HEALTH

Crematories

This act requires the Department of Public Health (DPH) to inspect crematories annually and issue and renew inspection certificates. It also sets a $ 250 certificate renewal fee. By law, DPH must also approve plans for new crematories and inspect and approve them before they can begin operating. The initial inspection and approval fee is $ 1,000. (PA 02-67, effective October 1, 2002)

Use of Automatic Injectables

This act requires the public health commissioner to adopt regulations prohibiting child day care centers and group day care homes, beginning January 1, 2003, from denying services to a child because he has a known or suspected allergy or a prescription for an automatic prefilled cartridge injector or similar device that administers medication to treat allergic reactions and calls for specific regulations. (PA 02-84, effective October 1, 2002)

WINE AND ALCOHOL

Advertisement of Manufacturers' Rebates for Alcoholic Liquor Products

This act allows liquor retailers to advertise the availability of a manufacturer's rebate or a product's net price. The advertisement must contain the selling price before the rebate is deducted, the amount of the rebate, the net price, and the date the rebate offer expires. All statements must be made in the same font size, color, and style.

The act defines "advertise" as making any statement in connection with the solicitation of business by a liquor retail permitee. It includes statements in newspapers or other publications. "Manufacturer's rebate" means the amount payable through an offer by a liquor seller other than the retailer to refund all or a portion of the selling price to a consumer. "Net price" means the final price paid by the consumer after deducting the rebate amount of the rebate. (PA 02-22, effective July 1, 2002)

Farm Wine Manufactured in Connecticut

This act allows a farm winery to sell wine produced by another Connecticut farm winery. Prior law allowed farm wineries to sell only their own products. By law, a "farm winery" is a business that is located on a farm and that manufactures and sells wine. It may sell wine and beverages distilled from grape and other fruit products, such as brandy, grappa, and eau-de-vie. (PA 02-25, effective October 1, 2002)

Well Driller, Pharmacists, Electronic Shelf-Price Labeling, Health Clubs, the Liquor Control Act, Building Permits for Tradespersons, Home Improvement Bonds, Lemon Law Funding and Shorthand Reporters

This act, amongst other things, allows, rather than requires, the Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) to suspend the liquor permit of someone whose license has been suspended or revoked by the Gaming Policy Board or the Division of Special Revenue. (PA 02-82, effective October 1, 2002)

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