AN ACT CONCERNING USING ENERGY EFFICIENT WINDOWS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. Subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of section 10-283 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2005):

(a) (1) Each town or regional school district shall be eligible to apply for and accept grants for a school building project as provided in this chapter. Any town desiring a grant for a public school building project may, by vote of its legislative body, authorize the board of education of such town to apply to the Commissioner of Education and to accept or reject such grant for the town. Any regional school board may vote to authorize the supervising agent of the regional school district to apply to the Commissioner of Education for and to accept or reject such grant for the district. Applications for such grants under this chapter shall be made by the superintendent of schools of such town or regional school district on the form provided and in the manner prescribed by the Commissioner of Education. The application form shall require the superintendent of schools to affirm that (A) the school district considered the maximization of natural light and the use and feasibility of wireless connectivity technology in projects for new construction and alteration or renovation of a school building, and (B) the school district will use high energy efficient windows, meeting standards adopted by regulation pursuant to section 10-287c. Until such regulations are adopted, the school district shall, in its application, describe an industry standard for high energy efficiency that it will use in procuring high energy efficient windows for the project. Grant applications for school building projects shall be reviewed by the Commissioner of Education on the basis of categories for building projects and standards for school construction established by the State Board of Education in accordance with this section, provided grant applications submitted for purposes of subsection (a) of section 10-65 or section 10-76e shall be reviewed annually by the commissioner on the basis of the educational needs of the applicant. Notwithstanding the provisions of this chapter, the Board of Trustees of the Community-Technical Colleges on behalf of Manchester Community College may apply for and shall be eligible to receive grants for school building projects pursuant to section 10-264h.

Statement of Purpose:

To require windows in public school construction projects to be highly energy efficient.

[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]