General Assembly |
File No. 519 |
January Session, 2011 |
House of Representatives, April 13, 2011
The Committee on Planning and Development reported through REP. GENTILE of the 104th Dist., Chairperson of the Committee on the part of the House, that the bill ought to pass.
AN ACT AUTHORIZING MUNICIPALITIES TO PUBLISH NOTICES ON THE INTERNET.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2011) As used in this section, "municipality" means any town, city or borough, consolidated town and city or consolidated town and borough. Whenever the provisions of any section of the general statutes require a municipality to publish a notice in a newspaper, such municipality may post such notice on such municipality's web site in lieu of publication in a newspaper, provided all other requirements of law with respect to such publication are met.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections: | ||
Section 1 |
October 1, 2011 |
New section |
PD |
Joint Favorable |
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
Municipalities |
Effect |
FY 12 $ |
FY 13 $ |
All Municipalities |
Savings |
Less than 50,000 |
Less than 50,000 |
Explanation
Annual savings of up to $50,000 per community would be expected in response to allowing posting of notices on the municipality's web site in lieu of publication in a newspaper. Simple notices may cost upwards of $30. More lengthy notices can cost in excess of $1,000.
The Out Years
The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would continue into the future subject to inflation.
OLR Bill Analysis
AN ACT AUTHORIZING MUNICIPALITIES TO PUBLISH NOTICES ON THE INTERNET.
This bill authorizes a municipality to publish any notice that statute requires be published in a newspaper on its website instead, if website publication meets all the law's requirements. For example, current law requires a planning and zoning commission and other local commissions to publish notice of a public hearing that is required or authorized for certain land use situations, twice in a newspaper having general circulation in the municipality in which the land is located (CGS § 8-7d). The bill allows the municipality to instead choose to publish the notice on its website.
The bill defines a “municipality” as any town, city, borough, consolidated town and city, or consolidated town and borough.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2011
COMMITTEE ACTION
Planning and Development Committee
Joint Favorable
Yea |
19 |
Nay |
1 |
(03/25/2011) |