Acts Affecting Municipalities

This report provides highlights of new laws (public acts) affecting municipalities and municipal employees enacted during the 2007 regular and special legislative sessions. In each summary we indicate the public act (PA) number. The report does not cover special acts, some of which affect municipalities, and public acts that only affect a single municipality.

Not all provisions of the acts are included here. Complete summaries of all 2007 public acts passed will be available in the fall when OLR's Public Act Summary book is published; some are already on OLR's webpage: http: //www. cga. state. ct. us/olr/publicactsummaries. asp.

Readers are encouraged to obtain the full text of acts that interest them from the Connecticut State Library, the House Clerk's Office, or the General Assembly's website: http: //www. cga. state. ct. us/default. asp.

PA 07-141 makes a number of changes to the laws under which municipalities may take property for development. Some of the major changes include:

1. prohibiting taking property by eminent domain for the primary purpose of increasing local tax revenues,

2. requiring the town legislative body to approve proposed takings by a two-thirds vote of its members for takings under the municipal development and MAA statutes,

3. allowing owners to ask the Superior Court to enjoin a taking if the implementing agency did not follow the correct statutory procedures,

4. giving the former owner of property taken by eminent domain the right of first refusal to buy it back if it is not used for its intended purpose or another public purpose,

5. basing compensation on the average value of two independent appraisals for takings under a

6. redevelopment plan and requiring compensation equal 125% of that value in some cases, and

7. requiring relocation benefits paid to property owners and tenants when the actions of a state or municipal agency force them to relocate to be the higher of those under state or federal law when their property is acquired or taken under these statutes.

The act prohibits towns from taking property under the general municipal powers statutes for private commercial development and, in doing so, allows takings for this purpose only under the development statutes described above.

By law, redevelopment agencies can take property in areas that are deteriorated or deteriorating, or that meet certain other criteria. Under
PA 07-207 an area is considered “deteriorated” and “deteriorating” if at least 20% of the buildings there contain one or more specified building deficiencies or environmental deficiencies, such as conditions from a defect that are not correctable by normal maintenance or extensive minor defects that collectively harm the surrounding area.

The act also sets conditions under which the state's property rights ombudsman must hear appeals regarding a redevelopment agency's offer of compensation for property taken by eminent domain. It also requires the ombudsman to study the feasibility of calculating relocation assistance for businesses displaced by eminent domain for the loss or gain in good will associated with the displacement of the business.

Beginning in FY 09-11,
PA 07-250 authorizes up to $ 50 million per three-year cycle in business tax credits for rehabilitating historic property used for residential and commercial purposes. The credit equals 25% of the total three-year credit allocation or, if a portion of the units are affordable to low- and moderate-income people, 30%. No single project can receive more than 10% of the three-year allocation.

The act specifies eligibility criteria and the process for obtaining the credit.

(Effective upon passage and applicable to income years starting on or after January 1, 2008, except for a monitoring requirement, which is effective July 1, 2007. )

By law, the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) prepares an annual index used to designate the state's most fiscally distressed towns (i. e. , public investment communities (PICs)). The legislature uses the PIC designation as an eligibility criterion for several programs.

PA 07-10 requires OPM to prepare the index using more recent demographic data and also (1) requires OPM to adjust a town's population estimate if more than 40% of its population resides in a state or federal institution and (2) provides a five-year grace period for towns that no longer meet the designation criteria, allowing them to remain eligible for grants under other programs.

(Effective July 1, 2007, except for the provision repealing the original PIC program, which takes effect upon passage)

PA 07-3, June Special Session has many provisions that affect education funding. With regard to the Educational Cost Sharing (ECS) grant starting in FY 08, the act:

2. increases the minimum ECS grant from 6% to 9% of the foundation for most towns and to 13% for the 20 school districts with highest concentrations of low-income students;

3. raises the guaranteed wealth level from 1. 55 to 1. 75 times the median town wealth, thereby increasing the state share of education funding; and

On the other hand, the act eliminates the density supplement to the ECS grant, which provides additional aid to towns with higher-than-average population densities. The act phases in full funding of the new ECS grants and specifies the schedule for doing so

The act requires schools and districts that are designated as “in need of improvement” under Connecticut law and require corrective action under the federal No Child Left Behind Act to be placed on a list of low achieving schools and districts and subjected to intensified supervision and direction by the State Board of Education. SBE must monitor progress in these schools and districts and notify boards about their progress in meeting any improvement benchmarks. If a low achieving district fails to make sufficient progress toward the benchmarks and fails to make adequate yearly progress (AYP) under NCLB for two years, the SBE, after consulting with the governor and the district's chief elected officials, can ask the General Assembly to adopt legislation allowing the SBE or another authorized entity to control the district.

The act requires the Comptroller to withhold any grant funds that a town is required to appropriate to a board of education due to low academic achievement in the school district.

The funds must be transferred to SDE for expenditure on behalf of the identified school district to implement any of the measures above that SBE requires and to offset any other local education costs that the commissioner deems appropriate to achieve school improvements. The funds must be awarded by the commissioner to the board of education for the identified school district on the condition that it spends the funds in accordance with his directives.

1. caps state education grants to towns for transportation, health, and other services through FY 09 at the levels appropriated in the budget;

2. for each fiscal year starting with FY 08, entitles each priority school district to a priority school district (PSD) grant of at least $ 150 per student;

3. increases grants to receiving districts in the state interdistrict school attendance program (Open Choice) from $ 2,000 to $ 2,500 for each out-of-district student;

4. increases the charter school per-student grant from the current level of $ 8,000 to $ 8,650 in FY 08 and $ 9,300 in FY 09;

5. increases the state's per-student grant to districts operating vocational agriculture (vo ag) centers from $ 700 to $ 1,355 for each secondary school student enrolled in the center on the preceding October 1;

6. increases operating grants to interdistrict magnet schools over four years and revamps the formula for distributing the grants; and

7. increases the number of youth service bureaus (YSBs) eligible for SDE grants and establishes a YSB enhancement grant.

PA 07-66 requires suspensions to be served in-school unless the school administration determines, at the required informal suspension hearing, that the student (1) poses such a danger to persons or property or (2) is so disruptive of the educational process, that he or she must serve the suspension outside of school. Prior law defined in-school suspension as exclusion from classroom activity, but not from school, for up to five consecutive days. The act extends this to 10 consecutive days. Under existing law, an exclusion from school privileges for more than 10 days constitutes an expulsion.

1. expands a ban on applying lawn care pesticides to school playing fields and playgrounds to schools with students through grade eight;

2. extends, for one year, an exemption for pesticides applied on these grounds according to certain integrated pest management plans;

3. expands a school superintendent's ability to authorize emergency applications of lawn care pesticides in health emergencies to any public school, apparently with students through grade eight, instead of just a public elementary school; and

4. makes the Department of Environmental Protection responsible for administering and enforcing school pesticide applications.

PA 07-227 extends confidentiality requirements to cover more types of personally identifiable information maintained by libraries open to the public. It also updates laws governing the State Library, local public libraries, the State Library Board, and the state librarian.

PA 07-87 allows municipalities and regional school districts to issue bonds for school construction projects with a maximum term of 30 rather than 20 years. The 30-year bonds are allowed only for projects for which the General Assembly authorized grant commitments on or after July 1, 1996, thus barring municipalities and regional school districts from refinancing earlier projects for a longer term. The act also increases regional school districts' flexibility in issuing bonds to refinance outstanding debt (“refunding bonds”).

PA 07-2, June Special Session requires local school boards to provide to all parents and guardians information on state-sponsored health insurance programs for children, regardless of their child's insurance status.

PA 07-4, June Special Session limits the districts' obligation to offer the information to parents and guardians whose children are identified as uninsured.

PA 07-208 requires school districts applying for school construction grants for new schools or major school alterations, extensions, renovations, or replacements to include security infrastructure for any entrances involved in the project plans. It establishes a competitive grant for FY 08 to cover some of the costs of improving security infrastructure in schools, installing security systems in schools' primary entryways, purchasing portable security devices, and training school personnel to use the devices and the infrastructure.

Finally, the act requires colleges, universities, and private occupational schools to (1) by October 1, 2007, have emergency response plans and (2) by that date and annually thereafter, submit these plans to the public safety and emergency management and homeland security commissioners and local first-responders.

PA 07-186 authorizes 30-year general obligation bonds to fund $ 2 billion of the unfunded liability of the Teachers' Retirement System (TRS), the bond issuance cost, and up to two years' of bond interest. It exempts the bonds from the state's debt limit.

While the bonds are outstanding, the act automatically appropriates the actuarially required annual state contribution to the Teacher's Retirement Fund (TRF). The act guarantees TRS members who retire on or after September 1, 1992 an annual cost of living adjustment (COLA). It also reduces promised retirement COLAs for members who join TRS on or after July 1, 2007.

ENERGY AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Comprehensive Energy Legislation

PA 07-242 has many provisions that affect municipalities. It broadens and increases the state's “green building” requirements. Specifically, it applies these standards to (1) new school construction projects authorized by the legislature on or after January 1, 2009 that cost $ 5 million or more and (2) school renovation projects authorized by the legislature on or after this date costing at least $ 2 million. The act increases, by two percentage points, but not more than 100%, the reimbursement rate under the school construction grant program for those projects subject to the green building requirements. (Another act eliminates this funding. )

The act allows municipalities, by vote of their legislative bodies, to establish “energy improvement districts” and prescribes how they can be formed and gives municipalities a wide range of powers to aid districts, including guaranteeing each district's bonds, issuing general obligation bonds to support the district, and appropriating funds for the district's use.

The act requires the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative to develop standards for promoting renewable resources that apply to each municipal electric utility in the state.

The act requires the state Department of Education to, among other things, encourage and solicit school districts, schools, and other public educational institutions to participate in a statewide compact fluorescent light bulbs fundraiser.

The act requires Connecticut Innovations, Inc. (CII), in consultation with the Department of Public Utility Control (DPUC), and the departments of Education and Emergency Management and Homeland Security, to establish a municipal renewable energy and efficient energy generation grant program and authorizes up to $ 50 million in bonding for the program, with the proceeds going into a separate account within the Clean Energy Fund.

The act exempts from municipal debt limits bonds issued for electric demand responses, conservation and load management, distributed resources, and renewable energy projects.

Finally, the act bars municipalities, other than those with municipal electric utilities, from condemning or restricting the operation of any existing energy facility (e. g. , power plants, transmission lines, and fuel storage facilities) that DPUC determines is a critical, unique, and unmovable part of the state's infrastructure, without getting the written approval of DPUC, OPM, CEAB, and the Siting Council stating that the taking would not harm the state's or region's ability to provide a particular energy resource to its citizens.

PA 07-253 requires companies, other than cable TV companies and their affiliates, that provide video programming to be certified by the DPUC. It subjects the companies that provide these competitive video services (“providers”) to some of the requirements that apply to cable TV companies, notably requirements regarding community access and customer information. The act subjects providers to the 5% gross earnings tax that applies to cable TV companies and direct broadcast satellite companies. It provides that this tax is in lieu of the property tax for the company's tangible personal property.

The act establishes two nonlapsing accounts in the General Fund, one to provide property tax relief for municipalities and the other to provide funding for community access and for education technology. It funds the first account with up to $ 5 million per fiscal year from the gross earnings tax. It funds the second account with a new tax on the gross earnings of cable TV, direct broadcast satellite, and the providers.

(Effective October 1, 2007, except that the gross earnings tax provisions are effective July 1, 2007. )

PA 07-222 requires each telecommunications services provider, by January 1, 2008, to submit to the council, at its request, all information on (1) locations in the municipality that do not have coverage or have inconsistent coverage and (2) the provider's existing and projected demand for coverage in the municipality. This information can be used only to prepare the assessment.

The act requires the Siting Council, by January 1, 2008, to develop a telecommunications coverage assessment for a municipality upon its request. The assessment must (1) identify locations in the municipality that do not have coverage or have inconsistent coverage and (2) analyze existing and projected demands for coverage in the municipality.

The act requires the council to request a municipality that is the proposed site of a tower to submit its location preferences or criteria to the council within 30 days after a tower application is filed with the council. The council must consider the location criteria and preferences that the municipality submits or those that were in its zoning regulations as of the date of the application.

(Effective upon passage, with the assessment changes applicable to assessment period beginning on or after July 1, 2007. )

1. requires registrars of voters to randomly audit votes after any election or primary, permits expanded audits when discrepancies are found, and permits the secretary of the state to adopt regulations to implement random auditing and establish guidelines for expanded audits;

2. requires a recount when there is a discrepancy in the votes that could affect the outcome of the election or primary;

3. allows candidates or voters aggrieved by an audit to file a complaint within seven days after the audit closes;

4. generally makes registrars of voters responsible for conducting elections by removing duties from other municipal officials; particularly town clerks;

5. eliminates a requirement for registrars to be stationed at the polling place during polling hours;

6. makes several procedural changes to reflect the change from lever voting machines to optical scan voting tabulators; and

7. establishes a new procedure for resolving a tie vote in a primary for state and local office. (Various effective dates)

PA 07-105 expands the state's Animal Population Control Program. It also requires the agriculture commissioner to distribute a standard dog licensing form to municipal pounds, pet shop operators, grooming facilities, or dog training facilities that offer to make it available to dog owners. Under prior law, the commissioner distributed this form only to veterinarians.

(Effective October 1, 2007, except a conforming change is effective upon passage. )

PA 07-85 specifies when public and private water companies must submit maps of new well fields to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), amends aquifer protection agencies' hearing and decision schedules, authorizes municipalities to fine people who violate municipal aquifer regulations, and makes minor changes.

PA 07-59 creates a process to address dogs that damage people's pets and other animals that is similar to the law's process for dogs and other animals that bite people.

The act exempts from its provisions dogs that a state or local police agency owns if they (1) are under the direct supervision, care, and control of an assigned police officer; (2) have received yearly vaccinations; and (3) are subject to routine veterinary care.

PA 07-233 changes the state's policies and programs for cleaning up and redeveloping brownfields. Among other things, it allows the state's development finance agency to issue bonds on towns' behalf for remediating and reusing these sites for homes, apartments, stores, and other mixed uses. It sets conditions under which tax assessors can reduce the assessment of contaminated property.

In creating a mandatory recycling program for discarded computers and televisions.
PA 07-189 requires municipalities to provide for the convenient recycling of the devices generated within their borders and arrange for bringing the devices to DEP-approved recyclers.

The act prohibits, starting January 1, 2011, anyone (1) from knowingly discarding a device at a solid waste disposal facility other than a transfer station and (2) charging a fee to state residents bringing seven or fewer devices to a collector (apparently a transfer station or solid waste hauler) at any one time.

(Effective October 1, 2007, except for the provision requiring DEP to adopt regulations, which takes effect July 1, 2007, and the provision allowing the commissioner to take part in a regional organization or compact, which takes effect upon passage. )

PA 07-177 allows municipalities that acquire and install certain on-board oil refining systems to have their costs reimbursed from the Local Capital Improvement Program Fund. The refining systems must consist of filtration and evaporation canisters that remove solid and liquid contaminants from lubricating oil.

PA 07-131 increases grant ceilings for, and makes adjustments to, the Open Space and Watershed Acquisition Grant Program. It also creates a loan program to help municipalities purchase agricultural land and requires the Department of Agriculture commissioner to administer a program that provides eligible municipalities with loans to purchase agricultural land.

PA 07-4, June Special Session requires towns and school boards to retrofit certain full-size school buses with emissions-reducing equipment by September 1, 2010, as long as the work can be done within the grant amounts the act establishes. DEP must provide the grants from available appropriations. It makes the retrofitting and registration requirements contingent on whether the state can develop contracts setting price levels for the purchase, installation and warranty of the equipment for less than the act's grant amounts. However, the DEP commissioner must reimburse towns and school

boards that retrofit their buses voluntarily, even if the state contracts do not cover all their costs.

PA 07-74 allows the Department of Agriculture, upon a municipality's written request, to enter into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the municipality authorizing the municipal health department or similar agency to collect sea water samples for shellfish harvest water classification. It specifies duties with respect to the MOU and sampling and allows the municipality to assist the department with sample collection under certain circumstances.

(Effective upon passage, except for a provision concerning buoys, which is effective July 1, 2007. )

PA 07-231 requires the public health commissioner, by December 31, 2008, to establish and define discharge categories for alternative on-site sewage treatment systems that have a daily capacity of 5,000 gallons or less. It gives the commissioner jurisdiction over such systems once he has done so.

PA 07-154 requires the DEP commissioner to create a municipal stormwater authority pilot program in four municipalities adjoining Long Island Sound by September 1, 2007, and authorizes her to provide up to $ 1 million in grants to the participating towns. Each stormwater authority may adopt regulations to implement a stormwater management program and may, with the commissioner's approval, enter into contracts with any municipal or regional entity to accomplish its purposes.

The act defines unimproved land, for purposes of the commercial real estate conveyance tax, as farm, forest, or open space, and reduces the conveyance tax on the sale of such property from 1% from
0. 5%. The act does not limit farm, forest, or open space land to such property in the “490” program or require that it continue to be used as farm, forest, or open space land after it is conveyed. It is unclear how this provision relates to the 490 program's conveyance tax penalty.

By law, regional water pollution control authorities finance their water pollution control projects with a combination of grants and loans from the Clean Water Fund. Under prior law, starting in FY 07, eligible projects could receive only loans, and not grants. The act repeals this provision, allowing regional authorities to continue to receive project grants.

Finally, the act extends the length of time in which a special services district must repay its debt obligations from one to seven years after it incurs them.

(Effective upon passage, except that a reporting requirement for municipalities in the pilot program and the special services district provision take effect September 1, 2007, and the conveyance tax provision takes effect July 1, 2007. )

By law, a commission that oversees a local housing authority must include at least one member who is a tenant of the authority. A tenant can serve as a commissioner if he or she resided in a unit owned or managed by the authority for at least one year. PA 07-4, June Special Session allows people receiving housing assistance administered by the Department of Economic and Community Development to serve as a commissioner regardless of whether they reside in authority-owned or –managed units. These people would include, for example, include those residing in privately owned units and whose rents are being subsidized by the authority.

PA 07-26 increases, from 90 to 180 days, the maximum waiting period a municipality may impose by ordinance before a demolition permit can be issued for a building or structure.

PA 07-4, June Special Session provides grants to towns establishing zones where developers can build mixed income housing. It specifies criteria for establishing these zones and procedures for accessing the grants. Among other things, towns must significantly increase the housing density permitted in the affected areas. All towns qualify for grants to develop the zones' regulations. Those that officially adopt them qualify for a grant equal to $ 2,000 for each unit that could be built in the zone. These towns qualify for additional grants after they issue building permits for units actually built there. The grant equals $ 2,000 for each multifamily, duplex, and townhouse unit and $ 5,000 for each single-family detached unit.

(Effective July 1, 2007, except for that the provisions establishing the commission take effect upon passage. )

PA 07-121, with some exceptions, subjects scrap metal processors to the laws that apply to junk dealers, including municipal licensing. By law, a junk dealer is someone in the business of dealing and trading in junk, old metal, scrap, rags, waste, paper, or other secondhand articles.

PA 07-239 establishes an incentive program to encourage the provision of municipal services on a regional basis. It requires the Office of Policy and Management secretary to review, within available appropriations, (1) regional tax-based revenue sharing programs and (2) the establishment of regional assets districts.

The act imposes sanctions on municipalities that fail to amend their local plans of conservation and development every 10 years, as required by law.

(Effective July 1, 2007, except the sanctions for failing to amend local plans of conservation and development are effective July 1, 2010. )

Prior law subjected anyone who “sells or offers for sale” any lot subdivided based on a planning commission's conditional subdivision approval before receiving its final approval to a fine of up to $ 500 for each lot sold or offered for sale.

PA 07-182 instead subjects anyone who “transfers title” to such a lot before receiving final approval to a $ 1,000 fine for each title transferred. Thus, it permits a person to sell such a lot or offer it for sale, but not close on the sale until receiving final approval.

The act also gives the buyer of a lot that is subject to conditional subdivision approval a limited right to rescind the sale contract within three days of receiving notice of the planning commission's final approval. The buyer may rescind the contract if the final approval includes new amendments or conditions that he or she finds unacceptable. Both the final approval and the rescission must be in writing.

The act specifies that it does not authorize marketing a lot before conditional approval is granted or renewed for it.

PA 07-102 requires a planning commission to accept an application it has received to subdivide or resubdivide land regulated as an inland wetland or watercourse by a local wetland agency, and process it on the commission's schedule set in existing law. By law, the commission must consider the wetland agency's report in making its decision. The act requires the commission, if it imposes terms and conditions that are not consistent with the wetland agency's final decision, to state its reasons for being so on the record.

The act imposes the same requirements on zoning commissions when they act on site plan applications that are also subject to a wetlands agency jurisdiction.

PA 07-60 allows an appeal of a zoning decision on a special permit or special exception to go to the Superior Court for the judicial district where the property is located, notwithstanding any right to appeal the decision to the local zoning board of appeals. By law, zoning regulations can require a special permit or special exception for certain classes or kinds of buildings or land uses in a zone.

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

Liens against Discrimination Awards

PA 07-44 prohibits towns from claiming or applying liens against any money received as a settlement or award in a housing or employment discrimination case by a beneficiary of (1) the former town General Assistance program, (2) state aid in a state humane institution, or (3) several other assistance programs.

PA 07-232 requires DOT to notify, and consider recommendations from, state and local officials before any railroad line is reactivated in their jurisdiction. It requires the commissioner, or a designee, to determine if a public hearing is required with respect to the safety of rail crossings along the reactivated line. The commissioner must hold a hearing if a state or municipal official requests one. The hearing must be held at least 90 days before the rail line is reactivated.

The act also extends the transportation commissioner's authority to declare transportation emergencies to cover state- or municipally owned airports.

PA 07-184 gives the probate court administrator additional powers over probate courts and probate court judges. Under certain circumstances, it authorizes him to reassign pending cases to a special assignment probate judge or another probate judge and designate a special assignment probate judge to help the judge conduct his or her business.

The act increases the minimum requirements for probate court facilities, requires the probate court administrator to notify a town if the court does not comply with minimum standards, gives the town the chance to submit a compliance plan, and requires probate court regulations to be submitted to the Judiciary Committee for approval.

PA 07-196 raises the threshold, from $ 200,000 to $ 1 million in annual revenues, for a municipality, special services district, or local agency to comply with the auditing requirements of the Municipal Auditing Act. That act requires each covered agency to be audited annually by an independent auditor and file the audit with the Office of Policy Management for its review.

(Effective July 1, 2007 for the auditing act changes and October 1, 2007 for the special district changes. )

With a few exceptions,
PA 07-218 requires towns to hold a public hearing on the proposed sale, lease, or transfer of town land or buildings before approving any of these transactions. This requirement applies to property whose fair market value exceeds $ 10,000 or lease renewals that would change how a property is used. It also applies whenever the town proposes to sell parkland, open spaces, or playgrounds, regardless of the land's fair market value.

PA 07-129 limits the programs that must be licensed as youth camps to those that (1) operate only during school vacations or on weekends and (2) serve children ages three through 15. And it excludes certain Boys and Girls Clubs' programs from licensure.

The act (1) requires youth camps, nursing homes, and day care providers to provide potassium iodide to their residents, enrollees, staff, and others present, at the Department of Public Health commissioner's direction, during a public health emergency and (2) makes changes to related notice requirements.

(Effective October 1, 2007, except for the changes in youth camp licensing, which are effective September 1, 2007. )

Other Miscellaneous Provisions

Prequalification Requirements for Municipal Contractors.
PA 07-202 makes numerous substantive and technical changes in the laws regarding the prequalification of contractors and substantial subcontractors who work on state administrative services and state and municipal building construction contracts that are at least partially state-funded, including increasing, from two to five years, the maximum amount of time a contractor may be disqualified from bidding on a Department of Administrative Services contract. It makes a public agency potentially ineligible for state funds if it accepts a contractor's bid without (1) proof that he or she is prequalified and (2) a statement of his or her qualifications.

The act requires surety contracts for public building construction contracts with the state or a municipality estimated to cost more than $ 500,000 to contain certain language.

(Effective October 1, 2007 for the prequalification provisions, upon passage for other provisions)

PA 07-213 (1) removes the Department of Public Works commissioner's 20-year limit on leases of state property to municipalities; (2) requires local agencies to file their regular meetings agendas with the town clerk or the clerk of a multi-town district or agency, whichever is applicable; and (3) shortens the time the comptroller and the treasurer have to process certain grant payments to municipalities. The act also increases the maximum exemption for labor and material bonds on state or municipal construction contracts valued at more than $ 100,000. Under prior law, contractors and subcontractors did not have to furnish the bond when labor and material costs were $ 50,000 or less. The act raises the exemption to $ 100,000.

PA 07-167 establishes a 12-member task force, including a representative of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, to study the issue of abandoned motor vehicles. The task force must report its findings and recommendations to the Transportation Committee by February 1, 2008.

PA 07-52 increases the fine for violating laws relating to the provision and use of parking spaces designated for handicapped people. Previously, violations were infractions with a minimum fine of $ 85. The act eliminates the designation as an infraction and increases the fine to $ 150 for a first violation and $ 250 for a subsequent violation.