July 20, 2012 |
2012-R-0231 | |
2012 REGULAR AND JUNE SPECIAL SESSION BILL TRACKING REPORT | ||
| ||
By: Kristen L. Miller, Legislative Analyst II Ryan O'Neil, Research Assistant | ||
This report lists the bills considered during the General Assembly's 2012 regular session and June Special Session (JSS) whose provisions were enacted under another bill number.
The provisions of many bills that die in committee or on the calendar become law after the (1) original committee incorporates them in another bill that receives a favorable report or (2) concept is adopted as an amendment and incorporated in another bill. This report includes bills whose language may have changed in the final enactment from that of the original committee bill or file, but that represent the legislature's final action on the matter taken during one of the sessions referenced above.
During the two sessions, the content or concept of 92 bills and one resolution that started as separate legislation was later incorporated in other legislation that passed. Of those, the governor vetoed two, none of which were overridden. Table 1 lists the original bills in numeric order and shows the public act that included their provisions. Table 2 lists the bills by the committee of origin.
Table 1: Bill Tracking by Original Bill Number
Originated As Bill # |
Enacted as Public Act # |
Brief Explanation of Concept |
Extends the (1) Small Business Express Program and (2) Subsidized Training and Employment Program to more businesses and makes other programmatic changes | ||
Establishes a subsidized training and employment program for businesses hiring unemployed soldiers who served in Iraq or Afghanistan | ||
Makes administrative changes to the Main Street Investment Fund | ||
Authorizes First Five Plus economic assistance preference for businesses relocating overseas jobs to Connecticut | ||
Allows more businesses to qualify for assistance under existing bond-funded small business programs and reserves a portion of a bond authorization for businesses relocating at least 100 overseas jobs to Connecticut | ||
Requires the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) commissioner to promote the marketing of Connecticut-made products and (2) authorizes a method to identify and promote the state's “cultural treasures” | ||
Expands the information that must be disclosed on the residential property condition report | ||
Makes several changes to laws relating to school and school district accountability, teacher tenure and evaluation, Education Cost Sharing grants, the Connecticut Technical High School System, early childhood education, and reading proficiency, among other things | ||
Extends several deadlines for consensus revenue estimate submissions | ||
Applies Medicaid dental benefit limits regardless of the number of providers serving the recipient | ||
Makes changes in the Medicaid inpatient hospital rate setting laws related to the 2011 imposition of a hospital tax | ||
(1) Allows for a reduction in Medicaid payments to ICF-MRs, private facilities operated by regional education service centers for individuals with developmental disabilities, and residential care homes that experience significant decreases in their land and building costs and (2) addresses a rate freeze for the facilities | ||
Requires veterans who apply for or receive Medicaid to apply for any federal Veterans' Administration or Department of Defense benefits | ||
Increases assisted living pilot project slots from 75 to 125 | ||
Allows delegation of medication administration by registered nurses to homemaker-home health aides | ||
Requires people aging (age 65) out of the Medicaid Personal Care Assistance waiver to be transitioned to the Connecticut Home Care Program for Elders | ||
Makes the Bureau of Rehabilitative Services a stand-alone state agency and renames it the Department of Rehabilitation Services | ||
Repeals an obsolete “reliable transportation” pilot program and hospital rate setting provision | ||
Eliminates the minimum 1,248 state police staffing requirement and instead requires the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection commissioner to set a number based on standards the Program Review and Investigations Committee develops | ||
Adds a child psychiatrist to the membership of the Pharmaceutical and Therapeutics Committee | ||
Reduces, from $2,250 to $1,000, the amount of the annual bowling establishment alcoholic liquor permit fee | ||
Allows package stores to conduct fee-based wine education and tasting classes | ||
Allows more participants in an aircraft industry joint venture to claim the sales tax exemption for services they provide to each other and extends, from 30 to 40 years, the time period during which participants in such ventures may claim the exemption | ||
Specifies rules for determining tax liability on amounts deposited and distributed from manufacturing reinvestment accounts | ||
Requires the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) commissioner to conduct a hearing at an applicant's request on an application for a permit to conduct certain activities in tidal, coastal, or navigable waters and allows any person aggrieved by his decision on the application to appeal to Superior Court | ||
Requires the DEEP commissioner to conduct a hearing at an applicant's request for a water quality certification under the federal Water Pollution Control Act and allows any person aggrieved by his final decision to appeal to Superior Court | ||
Creates a manufacturer mercury thermostat collection and recycling program | ||
Requires health insurers to follow the recommendations of the American Cancer Society, rather than the American College of Gastroenterology, when determining the level of coverage to provide for colorectal cancer screening | ||
(1) Ties the inland wetland permit validity period to the length of time that the related development's project approval is valid, which can be up to 10 years and (2) makes other changes to the laws affecting municipal inland wetlands agencies and the permits they issue for regulated activities in inland wetlands and watercourses | ||
Adds armed forces members trained and certified as victim advocates or sexual assault prevention coordinators under the military's sexual assault prevention and response program to the definition of “sexual assault counselor” for purposes of laws requiring (1) communications between victim and counselor to be generally considered confidential and (2) mandated reporting | ||
Creates three separate, nonlapsing accounts in the General Fund: the (1) “Chargeable Transient Quarters and Billeting Account” to billet Armed Forces members at Camp Niantic, (2) “Governor's Guards Account” for the Governor's Guards programs, and (3) “Governor's Guards Horse Account” to offset costs of maintaining horses for the Governor's Guards programs | ||
Allows the Superior Court, instead of probate court, to finalize certain adoptions | ||
Provides the Department of Public Health with funds to study pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with streptococcal infections (PANDAS) | ||
Specifies that municipalities can regulate solid waste facility land use through zoning regulations but prohibits such regulations adopted under statute from banning facility construction, alteration, or operation | ||
Establishes the UConn-Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology program to help small manufacturers develop innovative advanced manufacturing technology | ||
Establishes the Community Choices program to assist the elderly, people with disabilities, and their caregivers in gathering information and making long-term care decisions | ||
Increases the capacity of the Katie Beckett Medicaid waiver program, which provides in-home care in lieu of nursing home care to individuals with severe disabilities | ||
Changes who a municipality may appoint as a municipal agent for the elderly and gives the agents discretion regarding their duties | ||
Establishes the Unemployed Armed Forces Member Subsidized Training and Employment Program to provide grants subsidizing businesses' costs of hiring unemployed veterans during their first 180 days on the job and authorizes $10 million in bonds for the program | ||
Establishes restrictions on using fertilizer, soil amendments, and compost containing phosphate and expands the projects eligible for Clean Water funding to include nutrient removal projects instead of only nitrogen removal projects | ||
Requires annual, rather than semiannual, internal audits of public higher education institutions' compliance with their faculty consulting policies adopted under the State Code of Ethics for Public Officials | ||
Requires online posting of state agency regulations | ||
Increases required didactic and clinical training for acupuncturist licensure applicants, and makes other changes affecting acupuncturist licensure and license renewal | ||
Requires the Department of Social Services (DSS) commissioner, to the extent federal law allows, to disregard a veteran's or surviving spouse's federal Aid and Attendance Pension benefits when calculating income for certain means-tested assistance programs | ||
Requires the labor commissioner to develop youth employment strategies | ||
Requires regional education service centers to maintain for four years fingerprints and other information regarding school employee criminal record checks | ||
Requires the Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority to study space and facilities needed to offer pre-K programs to three-and four-year-olds | ||
(1) Establishes a mechanism for suspending and resuming the electoral process for a board of education that is reconstituted by the education commissioner and (2) requires the commissioner to notify the secretary of the state and local election officials when he reconstitutes a local board of education and when it reverts to local control | ||
Creates a process allowing certain family child care providers to collectively bargain with the state | ||
Makes anyone who has or allows someone to use a roll-your-own cigarette machine a tobacco product manufacturer and thus, subject to existing laws and restrictions governing manufacturers who sell cigarettes in Connecticut | ||
(1) Makes it easier for homeowners to apply for the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority's Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program and (2) requires businesses to inform the attorney general when there is a data security breach | ||
(1) Requires the Health Information Technology Exchange of Connecticut (HITE-CT) annual report to include information on developing privacy practices and procedures to notify patients about the collection and use of patient health information in the statewide health information exchange and (2) specifies that HITE-CT employees are not state employees as defined in the state employee collective bargaining, retirement, or personnel administration laws | ||
(1) Eliminates the Underground Petroleum Storage Tank Clean-Up Review Board and makes DEEP its successor, (2) phases out the program as a financial assurance mechanism, (3) creates a priority system and procedure for (a) submitting applications and (b) payment or reimbursement, and (4) provides bond funds for payment or reimbursement of approved applications through FY 16 | ||
Requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to study, and recommend ways to develop, a program to sell license plates by Internet auction | ||
Requires DSS to reimburse independent pharmacies more than it reimburses chains for brand name drug costs when filling Medicaid prescriptions, subject to federal approval | ||
Allows DSS to provide chiropractic services to Medicaid recipients, provided it does not spend more than $250,000 annually for the coverage | ||
(1) Allows the Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority (CEFIA) to issue (a) “clean energy” bonds backed by Clean Energy Fund revenues, (b) bonds backed by the full faith and credit of any public or private body, (c) federally taxable bonds, and (d) bonds backed by one or more special capital reserve funds and (2) entitles CEFIA to part of the allocation of the state's private activity bonds cap | ||
Allows advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) to certify, sign, or otherwise document medical information in specified situations that previously required a physician's signature, certification, or documentation | ||
(1) Requires CEFIA to establish a property assessed clean energy program to provide loans for commercial property energy efficiency and renewable energy and allows municipalities to participate in it, (2) allows CEFIA to issue revenue bonds backed by Clean Energy Fund revenues, (3) entitles CEFIA to be part of the state's private activity bond cap allocation, and (4) subjects CEFIA directors and staff and people dealing with the authority to the same ethics laws as apply to other quasi-public authorities, among other things | ||
• Specifies that children under age seven cannot be charged with delinquency or participate in the Family With Service Needs Program • Expedites paternity determinations in child abuse and neglect cases | ||
Requires utilities to provide certain utility pole data to municipalities and certain regional organizations | ||
Validates an East Hartford bonding referendum | ||
Establishes a process for removing registrars of voters from office | ||
Requires registrars of voters to mail notices to newly convicted felons at the Department of Correction (DOC), rather than their last-known address, indicating that they will be removed from the voter registry list | ||
(1) Requires town clerks to submit local voting district returns and maps electronically, when possible; (2) establishes a $20 fine for town clerks who fail to comply with the law's filing deadlines and the act's electronic filing requirements; and (3) requires the secretary of the state to include in her biannual training conferences for registrars of voters and town clerks information on how to file voting district returns electronically | ||
Modifies the laws allowing municipalities to issue bonds to acquire or build sewer systems | ||
Makes changes to the Connecticut Health Insurance Exchange relating to the board members and staff, including making the Healthcare Advocate a voting board member | ||
Transfers the Office of Chief Medical Examiner to UConn Health Center for administrative purposes only | ||
Moves the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) from the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) to the Department of Labor for administrative purposes only | ||
Gives the DOC commissioner the discretion to release certain inmates from custody for nursing home placement for palliative and end-of-life care, under certain conditions | ||
Requires the DAS commissioner to investigate, determine, bill, and collect all charges for services covered under Medicaid or Medicare for people aided, cared for, or treated by the Department of Veterans' Affairs | ||
Prohibits the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) secretary from accepting or approving Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal System grant program applications | ||
Requires the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, rather than CHRO, to conduct a disparity study on the supplier diversity program and state contracting | ||
Requires the state comptroller to pay the fringe benefit differential for UConn Health Center employees | ||
Delays, from October 1, 2012 to October 1, 2013, the reporting deadline for the college transition pilot program | ||
Makes changes to the Housing For Economic Growth Program by, among other things, giving OPM more discretion over incentive housing zone adoption grants it awards to municipalities | ||
Requires resources recovery facility owners to pay for all testing costs and any other activity eligible for payment, instead of only certain testing costs | ||
Merges the Connecticut Development Authority (CDA) and Connecticut Innovations, Incorporated (CII), transferring CDA's statutory powers, obligations, and assets to CII | ||
Revises the membership of the Low Income Energy Advisory Board | ||
Aligns common core state standards with college-level programs and creates a pilot program to incorporate the standards into priority school district curricula | ||
Makes changes to the Judges' Retirement System similar to those made in the State Employees' Retirement System by the 2011 SEBAC agreement | ||
Allows a first selectman who also acts as a town's police chief to hold a liquor permit in that town | ||
Extends the $900 per month job expansion tax credit to more employers hiring people with disabilities and meeting other criteria | ||
Changes the account for depositing insurance fees and assessments related to captive insurers and the revenue generated from the 11% captive premium tax | ||
Replaces the statutory definition of and references to “high tide line” with one for “coastal jurisdiction line” | ||
Makes changes to the state's Coastal Management Act and the procedure for conducting certain activities waterward of the coastal jurisdiction line | ||
(1) Changes the criteria for the OPM secretary's analysis of state planning regions and extends certain deadlines concerning municipal notification about proposed planning regions and (2) makes the “Regional Performance Incentive Account” the funding source for bonus pool payments to planning regions that voluntarily consolidate | ||
Creates the “Militaries Facilities Account” as a separate, nonlapsing account in the General Fund and requires the Military Department to use it to maintain and renovate military facilities | ||
Requires the DECD commissioner, within existing resources, to establish a pilot program in one or more distressed municipalities to foster revitalization and stabilization in city neighborhoods by facilitating the acquisition and renovation of one- to four-family homes and prioritizing owner-occupancy | ||
Exempts certain tax-exempt organizations (those that primarily provide insurance to veterans and their dependents) from most state insurance laws | ||
Requires electors who move within the same municipality and want to transfer their registration to their new address to submit a new voter registration application | ||
Allows registrars of voters to appoint state electors, not only municipal residents, as primary polling place officials | ||
Eliminates certain campaign finance reporting requirements for specified candidates and committees and extends, by one week, the deadline for filing initial supplemental campaign finance statements | ||
Allows equestrian use at all multi-use trails in state parks and forests, unless the DEEP commissioner prohibits it after consulting with the Equine Advisory Council | ||
(1) Adds to the information health insurance-related entities, including third-party administrators, must provide DSS to help the department locate people enrolled in Medicaid who also have other insurance and (2) directs to DSS certain third-party beneficiary payments that would otherwise have been disbursed to policy holders when the insured is indebted to the department | ||
Requires the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station board to choose a vice president and allows the president and vice president to excuse members' absences | ||
Creates an advisory council on organ and tissue donation education and awareness | ||
Requires the State Board of Education to (1) encourage school districts to offer cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automatic external defibrillator (AED) training to students and (2) offer the districts curriculum materials to help with the training | ||
Establishes a variety of early reading programs to address achievement gaps and how to improve early grade reading instruction | ||
Establishes a separate board and a different budget process for the Connecticut Technical High School System | ||
12-116 § 9 and 12-198 § 5 |
Requires school districts to provide 20 minutes of physical activity per day for students in grades K-5 | |
Requires the individualized education program for a child identified as deaf or hearing impaired to include a language and communication plan | ||
(1) Increases, from $88 to $2,000, the application fee for new taxi companies; (2) requires applicants to have at least three taxis; (3) exempts taxis from child safety seat requirements; and (4) makes other changes to laws affecting taxis and taxi companies | ||
Raises the purchase card single purchase limit from $10,000 to $250,000 | ||
Allows the treasurer to make a payment from the Second Injury Fund under a stipulated agreement (to settle a workers' compensation claim) (1) when it is in the best interests of the injured employee's dependents or (2) for claims by an employer or insurer regarding death benefits for dependents, cost of living adjustments for dependents or claimants suffering long-term total disability, or cases of multiple employers where the Second Injury Fund makes payments to enable the employee full benefits | ||
Eliminates the requirement that public depositories provide collateral for deposits that are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or the National Credit Union Administration | ||
Creates a process allowing certain personal care attendants to collectively bargain with the state | ||
Modifies the definition of “trauma-informed care” by specifying that the services must be delivered by certain regional family violence organizations | ||
Expands the circumstances in which a wrecker can exceed statutory weight limits | ||
Requires the DMV commissioner to delay issuing a license for 90 days to people convicted for a second or subsequent time of driving without a license | ||
Allows certain taxpayers to receive property tax exemptions for particular grand list years even though they missed the statutory filing deadlines for them | ||
Conveys various parcels of state property | ||
Modifies state election laws affecting campaign finance, the Citizens' Election Program, and the State Elections Enforcement Commission, such as expanding reporting and attribution requirements for independent expenditures | ||
Requires the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) to study utility company reimbursements to customers for food and medications lost during any power outage that lasts longer than two days | ||
(1) Requires PURA to study and set standards for utility company emergency preparation and response, (2) requires the Department of Transportation and municipalities to notify PURA of certain projects, and (3) establishes a micro-grid grant and loan pilot program | ||
Proposes a constitutional amendment to (1) eliminate the requirement for electors to gather on Election Day to cast votes for state officers and General Assembly members and (2) remove restrictions on absentee voting |
Table 2: Bill Tracking by Committee
Originated As Bill # |
Enacted as Public Act # |
Brief Explanation of Concept |
AGING | ||
Requires the Department of Social Services (DSS) commissioner, to the extent federal law allows, to disregard a veteran's or surviving spouse's federal Aid and Attendance Pension benefits when calculating income for certain means-tested assistance programs | ||
APPROPRIATIONS | ||
Transfers the Office of Chief Medical Examiner to UConn Health Center for administrative purposes only | ||
Moves the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) from the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) to the Department of Labor for administrative purposes only | ||
Gives the Department of Correction (DOC) commissioner the discretion to release certain inmates from custody for nursing home placement for palliative and end-of-life care, under certain conditions | ||
Requires the DAS commissioner to investigate, determine, bill, and collect all charges for services covered under Medicaid or Medicare for people aided, cared for, or treated by the Department of Veterans' Affairs | ||
Prohibits the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) secretary from accepting or approving Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal System grant program applications | ||
Requires the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, rather than CHRO, to conduct a disparity study on the supplier diversity program and state contracting | ||
Requires the state comptroller to pay the fringe benefit differential for UConn Health Center employees | ||
Delays, from October 1, 2012 to October 1, 2013, the reporting deadline for the college transition pilot program | ||
Makes changes to the Housing For Economic Growth Program by, among other things, giving OPM more discretion over incentive housing zone adoption grants it awards to municipalities | ||
Requires resources recovery facility owners to pay for all testing costs and any other activity eligible for payment, instead of only certain testing costs | ||
BANKS | ||
(1) Makes it easier for homeowners to apply for the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority's Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program and (2) requires businesses to inform the attorney general when there is a data security breach | ||
Eliminates the requirement that public depositories provide collateral for deposits that are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or the National Credit Union Administration | ||
CHILDREN | ||
Allows the Superior Court, instead of probate court, to finalize certain adoptions | ||
COMMERCE | ||
Extends the (1) Small Business Express Program and (2) Subsidized Training and Employment Program to more businesses and makes other programmatic changes | ||
Establishes a subsidized training and employment program for businesses hiring unemployed soldiers who served in Iraq or Afghanistan | ||
Makes administrative changes to the Main Street Investment Fund | ||
Authorizes First Five Plus economic assistance preference for businesses relocating overseas jobs to Connecticut | ||
Allows more businesses to qualify for assistance under existing bond-funded small business programs and reserves a portion of a bond authorization for businesses relocating at least 100 overseas jobs to Connecticut | ||
Requires the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) commissioner to promote the marketing of Connecticut-made products and (2) authorizes a method to identify and promote the state's “cultural treasures” | ||
Allows more participants in an aircraft industry joint venture to claim the sales tax exemption for services they provide to each other and extends, from 30 to 40 years, the time period during which participants in such ventures may claim the exemption | ||
Specifies rules for determining tax liability on amounts deposited and distributed from manufacturing reinvestment accounts | ||
Establishes the UConn-Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology program to help small manufacturers develop innovative advanced manufacturing technology | ||
Merges the Connecticut Development Authority (CDA) and Connecticut Innovations, Incorporated (CII), transferring CDA's statutory powers, obligations, and assets to CII | ||
Extends the $900 per month job expansion tax credit to more employers hiring people with disabilities and meeting other criteria | ||
Changes the account for depositing insurance fees and assessments related to captive insurers and the revenue generated from the 11% captive premium tax | ||
EDUCATION | ||
Makes several changes to laws relating to school and school district accountability, teacher tenure and evaluation, Education Cost Sharing grants, the Connecticut Technical High School System, early childhood education, and reading proficiency, among other things | ||
Requires regional education service centers to maintain for four years fingerprints and other information regarding school employee criminal record checks | ||
Requires the Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority to study space and facilities needed to offer pre-K programs to three-and four-year-olds | ||
(1) Establishes a mechanism for suspending and resuming the electoral process for a board of education that is reconstituted by the education commissioner and (2) requires the commissioner to notify the secretary of the state and local election officials when he reconstitutes a local board of education and when it reverts to local control | ||
Requires the State Board of Education to (1) encourage school districts to offer cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automatic external defibrillator (AED) training to students and (2) offer the districts curriculum materials to help with the training | ||
Establishes a variety of early reading programs to address achievement gaps and how to improve early grade reading instruction | ||
Establishes a separate board and a different budget process for the Connecticut Technical High School System | ||
12-116 § 9 and 12-198 § 5 |
Requires school districts to provide 20 minutes of physical activity per day for students in grades K-5 | |
Requires the individualized education program for a child identified as deaf or hearing impaired to include a language and communication plan | ||
ENERGY | ||
(1) Requires the Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority (CEFIA) to establish a property assessed clean energy program to provide loans for commercial property energy efficiency and renewable energy and allows municipalities to participate in it, (2) allows CEFIA to issue revenue bonds backed by Clean Energy Fund revenues, (3) entitles CEFIA to be part of the state's private activity bond cap allocation, and (4) subjects CEFIA directors and staff and people dealing with the authority to the same ethics laws as apply to other quasi-public authorities, among other things | ||
Requires the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) to study utility company reimbursements to customers for food and medications lost during any power outage that lasts longer than two days | ||
(1) Requires PURA to study and set standards for utility company emergency preparation and response, (2) requires the Department of Transportation and municipalities to notify PURA of certain projects, and (3) establishes a micro-grid grant and loan pilot program | ||
ENVIRONMENT | ||
Requires the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) commissioner to conduct a hearing at an applicant's request on an application for a permit to conduct certain activities in tidal, coastal, or navigable waters and allows any person aggrieved by his decision on the application to appeal to Superior Court | ||
Requires the DEEP commissioner to conduct a hearing at an applicant's request for a water quality certification under the federal Water Pollution Control Act and allows any person aggrieved by his final decision to appeal to Superior Court | ||
Creates a manufacturer mercury thermostat collection and recycling program | ||
Specifies that municipalities can regulate solid waste facility land use through zoning regulations but prohibits such regulations adopted under statute from banning facility construction, alteration, or operation | ||
Establishes restrictions on using fertilizer, soil amendments, and compost containing phosphate and expands the projects eligible for Clean Water funding to include nutrient removal projects instead of only nitrogen removal projects | ||
(1) Eliminates the Underground Petroleum Storage Tank Clean-Up Review Board and makes DEEP its successor, (2) phases out the program as a financial assurance mechanism, (3) creates a priority system and procedure for (a) submitting applications and (b) payment or reimbursement, and (4) provides bond funds for payment or reimbursement of approved applications through FY 16 | ||
Replaces the statutory definition of and references to “high tide line” with one for “coastal jurisdiction line” | ||
Makes changes to the state's Coastal Management Act and the procedure for conducting certain activities waterward of the coastal jurisdiction line | ||
Allows equestrian use at all multi-use trails in state parks and forests, unless the DEEP commissioner prohibits it after consulting with the Equine Advisory Council | ||
FINANCE, REVENUE AND BONDING | ||
Extends several deadlines for consensus revenue estimate submissions | ||
Makes anyone who has or allows someone to use a roll-your-own cigarette machine a tobacco product manufacturer and thus, subject to existing laws and restrictions governing manufacturers who sell cigarettes in Connecticut | ||
(1) Allows CEFIA to issue (a) “clean energy” bonds backed by Clean Energy Fund revenues, (b) bonds backed by the full faith and credit of any public or private body, (c) federally taxable bonds, and (d) bonds backed by one or more special capital reserve funds and (2) entitles CEFIA to part of the allocation of the state's private activity bonds cap | ||
Allows certain taxpayers to receive property tax exemptions for particular grand list years even though they missed the statutory filing deadlines for them | ||
GENERAL LAW | ||
Reduces, from $2,250 to $1,000, the amount of the annual bowling establishment alcoholic liquor permit fee | ||
Allows package stores to conduct fee-based wine education and tasting classes | ||
Allows a first selectman who also acts as a town's police chief to hold a liquor permit in that town | ||
GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION AND ELECTIONS | ||
Requires annual, rather than semiannual, internal audits of public higher education institutions' compliance with their faculty consulting policies adopted under the State Code of Ethics for Public Officials | ||
Requires online posting of state agency regulations | ||
Requires utilities to provide certain utility pole data to municipalities and certain regional organizations | ||
Validates an East Hartford bonding referendum | ||
Establishes a process for removing registrars of voters from office | ||
Requires registrars of voters to mail notices to newly convicted felons at DOC, rather than their last-known address, indicating that they will be removed from the voter registry list | ||
(1) Requires town clerks to submit local voting district returns and maps electronically, when possible; (2) establishes a $20 fine for town clerks who fail to comply with the law's filing deadlines and the act's electronic filing requirements; and (3) requires the secretary of the state to include in her biannual training conferences for registrars of voters and town clerks information on how to file voting district returns electronically | ||
Revises the membership of the Low Income Energy Advisory Board | ||
Requires electors who move within the same municipality and want to transfer their registration to their new address to submit a new voter registration application | ||
Allows registrars of voters to appoint state electors, not only municipal residents, as primary polling place officials | ||
Eliminates certain campaign finance reporting requirements for specified candidates and committees and extends, by one week, the deadline for filing initial supplemental campaign finance statements | ||
Requires the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station board to choose a vice president and allows the president and vice president to excuse members' absences | ||
Raises the purchase card single purchase limit from $10,000 to $250,000 | ||
Conveys various parcels of state property | ||
Modifies state election laws affecting campaign finance, the Citizens' Election Program, and the State Elections Enforcement Commission, such as expanding reporting and attribution requirements for independent expenditures | ||
Proposes a constitutional amendment to (1) eliminate the requirement for electors to gather on Election Day to cast votes for state officers and General Assembly members and (2) remove restrictions on absentee voting | ||
HIGHER EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT ADVANCEMENT | ||
Requires the labor commissioner to develop youth employment strategies | ||
Aligns common core state standards with college-level programs and creates a pilot program to incorporate the standards into priority school district curricula | ||
HOUSING | ||
Requires the DECD commissioner, within existing resources, to establish a pilot program in one or more distressed municipalities to foster revitalization and stabilization in city neighborhoods by facilitating the acquisition and renovation of one- to four-family homes and prioritizing owner-occupancy | ||
HUMAN SERVICES | ||
Applies Medicaid dental benefit limits regardless of the number of providers serving the recipient | ||
Makes changes in the Medicaid inpatient hospital rate setting laws related to the 2011 imposition of a hospital tax | ||
(1) Allows for a reduction in Medicaid payments to ICF-MRs, private facilities operated by regional education service centers for individuals with developmental disabilities, and residential care homes that experience significant decreases in their land and building costs and (2) addresses a rate freeze for the facilities | ||
Requires veterans who apply for or receive Medicaid to apply for any federal Veterans' Administration or Department of Defense benefits | ||
Increases assisted living pilot project slots from 75 to 125 | ||
Allows delegation of medication administration by registered nurses to homemaker-home health aides | ||
Requires people aging (age 65) out of the Medicaid Personal Care Assistance waiver to be transitioned to the Connecticut Home Care Program for Elders | ||
Makes the Bureau of Rehabilitative Services a stand-alone state agency and renames it the Department of Rehabilitation Services | ||
Repeals an obsolete “reliable transportation” pilot program and hospital rate setting provision | ||
Establishes the Community Choices program to assist the elderly, people with disabilities, and their caregivers in gathering information and making long-term care decisions | ||
Increases the capacity of the Katie Beckett Medicaid waiver program, which provides in-home care in lieu of nursing home care to individuals with severe disabilities | ||
Changes who a municipality may appoint as a municipal agent for the elderly and gives the agents discretion regarding their duties | ||
Requires DSS to reimburse independent pharmacies more than it reimburses chains for brand name drug costs when filling Medicaid prescriptions, subject to federal approval | ||
Allows DSS to provide chiropractic services to Medicaid recipients, provided it does not spend more than $250,000 annually for the coverage | ||
(1) Adds to the information health insurance-related entities, including third-party administrators, must provide DSS to help the department locate people enrolled in Medicaid who also have other insurance and (2) directs to DSS certain third-party beneficiary payments that would otherwise have been disbursed to policy holders when the insured is indebted to the department | ||
Modifies the definition of “trauma-informed care” by specifying that the services must be delivered by certain regional family violence organizations | ||
INSURANCE AND REAL ESTATE | ||
Expands the information that must be disclosed on the residential property condition report | ||
Requires health insurers to follow the recommendations of the American Cancer Society, rather than the American College of Gastroenterology, when determining the level of coverage to provide for colorectal cancer screening | ||
Provides the Department of Public Health with funds to study pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with streptococcal infections (PANDAS) | ||
Makes changes to the Connecticut Health Insurance Exchange relating to the board members and staff, including making the Healthcare Advocate a voting board member | ||
Exempts certain tax-exempt organizations (those that primarily provide insurance to veterans and their dependents) from most state insurance laws | ||
JUDICIARY | ||
• Specifies that children under age seven cannot be charged with delinquency or participate in the Family With Service Needs Program | ||
Makes changes to the Judges' Retirement System similar to those made in the State Employees' Retirement System by the 2011 SEBAC agreement | ||
LABOR AND PUBLIC EMPLOYEES | ||
Creates a process allowing certain family child care providers to collectively bargain with the state | ||
Allows the treasurer to make a payment from the Second Injury Fund under a stipulated agreement (to settle a workers' compensation claim) (1) when it is in the best interests of the injured employee's dependents or (2) for claims by an employer or insurer regarding death benefits for dependents, cost of living adjustments for dependents or claimants suffering long-term total disability, or cases of multiple employers where the Second Injury Fund makes payments to enable the employee full benefits | ||
Creates a process allowing certain personal care attendants to collectively bargain with the state | ||
PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT | ||
(1) Ties the inland wetland permit validity period to the length of time that the related development's project approval is valid, which can be up to 10 years and (2) makes other changes to the laws affecting municipal inland wetlands agencies and the permits they issue for regulated activities in inland wetlands and watercourses | ||
Modifies the laws allowing municipalities to issue bonds to acquire or build sewer systems | ||
(1) Changes the criteria for the OPM secretary's analysis of state planning regions and extends certain deadlines concerning municipal notification about proposed planning regions and (2) makes the “Regional Performance Incentive Account” the funding source for bonus pool payments to planning regions that voluntarily consolidate | ||
PUBLIC HEALTH | ||
Adds a child psychiatrist to the membership of the Pharmaceutical and Therapeutics Committee | ||
Increases required didactic and clinical training for acupuncturist licensure applicants, and makes other changes affecting acupuncturist licensure and license renewal | ||
(1) Requires the Health Information Technology Exchange of Connecticut (HITE-CT) annual report to include information on developing privacy practices and procedures to notify patients about the collection and use of patient health information in the statewide health information exchange and (2) specifies that HITE-CT employees are not state employees as defined in the state employee collective bargaining, retirement, or personnel administration laws | ||
Allows advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) to certify, sign, or otherwise document medical information in specified situations that previously required a physician's signature, certification, or documentation | ||
Creates an advisory council on organ and tissue donation education and awareness | ||
PUBLIC SAFETY AND SECURITY | ||
Eliminates the minimum 1,248 state police staffing requirement and instead requires the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection commissioner to set a number based on standards the Program Review and Investigations Committee develops | ||
TRANSPORTATION | ||
Requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to study, and recommend ways to develop, a program to sell license plates by Internet auction | ||
(1) Increases, from $88 to $2,000, the application fee for new taxi companies; (2) requires applicants to have at least three taxis; (3) exempts taxis from child safety seat requirements; and (4) makes other changes to laws affecting taxis and taxi companies | ||
Expands the circumstances in which a wrecker can exceed statutory weight limits | ||
Requires the DMV commissioner to delay issuing a license for 90 days to people convicted for a second or subsequent time of driving without a license | ||
VETERANS' AFFAIRS | ||
Adds armed forces members trained and certified as victim advocates or sexual assault prevention coordinators under the military's sexual assault prevention and response program to the definition of “sexual assault counselor” for purposes of laws requiring (1) communications between victim and counselor to be generally considered confidential and (2) mandated reporting | ||
Creates three separate, nonlapsing accounts in the General Fund: the (1) “Chargeable Transient Quarters and Billeting Account” to billet Armed Forces members at Camp Niantic, (2) “Governor's Guards Account” for the Governor's Guards programs, and (3) “Governor's Guards Horse Account” to offset costs of maintaining horses for the Governor's Guards programs | ||
Establishes the Unemployed Armed Forces Member Subsidized Training and Employment Program to provide grants subsidizing businesses' costs of hiring unemployed veterans during their first 180 days on the job and authorizes $10 million in bonds for the program | ||
Creates the “Militaries Facilities Account” as a separate, nonlapsing account in the General Fund and requires the Military Department to use it to maintain and renovate military facilities | ||
KM:ro