October 31, 2012 |
2012-R-0365 | |
MUNICIPAL MANDATES | ||
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By: Rute Pinho, Associate Analyst | ||
You asked whether the legislature enacted any new municipal mandates during the 2012 session.
According to a June 2012 report prepared by the Connecticut Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR), the legislature enacted one public act, An Act Concerning Educational Reform (PA 12-116), that is projected to have a “moderate” impact on municipalities and 20 that “likely can be absorbed without a additional appropriation but which have minimal fiscal impact.” (The ACIR report also identifies 14 public acts that reduced existing mandates.) Attachment 1 lists these 21 public acts, briefly describes each mandate, and provides ACIR's description and OFA's fiscal analysis of it.
ACIR is required to annually report to the legislature on each state mandate enacted during any regular or special session (CGS § 2-32c). Such reports are available at ACIR's website or through the Legislative Library.
Attachment 1: Municipal Mandates Enacted in 2012
Public Act No. |
Title |
Summary of Mandate Provisions |
ACIR Description |
OFA Analysis of the Mandate's Fiscal Impact to Municipalities |
An Act Concerning Educational Reform |
Among other things, requires towns, boards of education, or school superintendents to: ● Require their K-3 teachers to take a teacher reading exam ● Disseminate certain information on school options ● Implement a new uniform system of accounting for school revenues and expenditures ● Establish school governance councils for certain low-performing schools ● Make payments to state and local charter schools ● Meet certain conditions for low-performing school districts to receive increased Education Cost Sharing grants ● In conjunction with a new teacher evaluation and support pilot program, provide training for all evaluators and orientation to all teachers ● Incorporate evaluations into decisions about granting tenure |
New mandate |
See Fiscal Note for detailed description of costs | |
An Act Concerning the Jeopardy Collection of Taxes |
Requires local tax collectors to notify in writing the (1) taxpayer and (2) municipality's chief elected official or chief executive officer when beginning a jeopardy tax collection proceeding. |
Minimal mandate |
Cost to municipalities less than $1,000 | |
An Act Concerning College Readiness and Completion |
Among other things, requires public high schools to align their curricula with the Connecticut State University System and community-technical colleges by the fall semester of 2016 |
Minimal mandate |
No anticipated cost to local and regional school districts | |
An Act Concerning Family and Medical Leave Benefits for Certain Municipal Employees |
Reduces the number of work hours school paraprofessionals in educational settings need to qualify for family and medical leave benefits |
Minimal mandate |
Potential minimal cost | |
An Act Concerning Insurance Coverage for the Birth-to-Three Program |
Changes requirements for individual and group health insurance policies that provide coverage for medically necessary intervention (birth-to-three) services as part of an individualized family service place |
Minimal mandate |
No fiscal impact | |
An Act Concerning the Appointment of Primary Polling Place Officials |
Among other things, requires registrars of voters to train prospective primary polling place officials on how to perform their duties |
Minimal mandate |
Minimal cost, to the extent that a municipality does not currently train its polling officials | |
An Act Concerning Voting Rights |
Requires registrars to designate locations for election day registration, appoint election officials to serve at these locations, and train and supervise them |
Minimal mandate |
Cost to municipalities, varying by the type of election and its population | |
An Act Concerning Department of Transportation Project Delivery and Project Labor Agreements for Certain Public Works Projects |
Authorizes the state, its agencies and political subdivisions to require a project labor agreement (PLA) for public works projects when they determine it is in the public's interest to do so. It requires these entities to determine if a PLA is in the public's best interest before entering into a design-build contract of at least $10 million to (1) build a new school or (2) renovate or reconstruct an existing public school. |
Minimal mandate |
No fiscal impact | |
An Act Concerning the Coastal Management Act and Shoreline Flood and Erosion Control Structures |
Requires a municipal zoning commission to (1) approve a coastal site plan for a shoreline flood and erosion control structure under certain circumstances and (2) propose structure alternatives or mitigation measures and techniques if it denies such applications for certain reasons. |
Minimal mandate |
Potential significant costs | |
An Act Concerning Eyewitness Identification Procedures |
Requires municipal police departments to (1) adopt procedures for photo and live lineups in accordance with Police Officer Standards Council and State Police policies and guidelines and (2) provide training in the administration of these procedures |
Minimal mandate |
No fiscal impact | |
An Act Concerning Domestic Violence |
(1) Requires local law enforcement agencies to follow certain procedures when receiving a complaint regarding the violation of a restraining order and (2) requires the operational guidelines they develop for arrest policies in family violence matters to meet the standards set out in the act |
Minimal mandate |
No fiscal impact | |
An Act Concerning Workers' Compensation for Firefighters |
Extends workers' compensation coverage for mental or emotional impairment to a volunteer or paid uniformed municipal firefighter diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder that originates from the firefighter witnessing the death of another firefighter while engaged in the line of duty |
Minimal mandate |
Potential fiscal impact | |
An Act Establishing a Fine Art Secured Lending License |
Creates a new fine art secured lending license issued by towns and cities with provisions and requirements similar to those for pawnbrokers |
Minimal mandate |
Revenue gain of less than $5,000 for municipalities | |
An Act Concerning Persons Aggrieved by Decisions of Municipal Land Use Boards and the Penalties for Violating Municipal Blight Ordinances |
Requires towns that have housing blight ordinances to include in their implementing regulations provisions mandating (1) written notice to the property's owner and occupant of a violation and (2) a reasonable opportunity to remediate the conditions before any enforcement action |
Minimal mandate |
No fiscal impact | |
An Act Enhancing Emergency Preparedness and Response |
Requires municipalities to notify the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) whenever they do road work (1) over five miles long or (2) in a commercial area |
Minimal mandate |
No fiscal impact | |
An Act Concerning the Private Rental Investment Mortgage and Equity Program |
Requires Department of Economic and Community Development approval for dissolving municipal redevelopment agencies that planned and implemented state-assisted projects. |
Minimal mandate |
No fiscal impact | |
An Act Concerning Individualized Education Programs and Other Issues Relating to Special Education |
Makes several changes in the state's special education law |
Minimal mandate |
Potential minimal cost | |
An Act Concerning Revisions to the State's Brownfield Remediation and Development Statutes |
Establishes a process municipalities must follow to nominate a brownfield site for acceptance in the Liability Protection Program |
Minimal mandate |
Potential revenue gain | |
An Act Concerning the Administration of Medicine to Students with Diabetes, the Duties of School Medical Advisors, the Availability or CPR and AED Training Materials for Boards of Education and Physical Exercise During the School Day |
Requires: ● school boards to implement a plan for managing students with glycogen storage disease enrolled in schools in their jurisdictions ● public schools to include a total of 20 minutes of physical exercise in each regular school day for students in kindergarten through grade five |
Minimal mandate |
No fiscal impact | |
An Act Implementing the Provisions of the State Budget for the Fiscal Year Beginning July 1, 2012 |
Requires: ● each school-based health center that receives operational funding from the Department of Public Health to establish a communications agreements with the school's local or regional board of education ● municipalities to include the Judicial Branch's form on community-based resources for people involved in foreclosure mediation with any statement sent to a homeowner about a public sewer, water service, or property tax arrearage ● municipal police departments to record and retain certain traffic stop data using a specific form ● local and regional boards of education, in collaboration with the Board of Regents and the UConn Board of Trustees, to develop a plan to align Connecticut's common core state standards with college-level programs at Connecticut public higher education institutions |
Minimal mandate |
No fiscal impact | |
An Act Implementing Certain Provisions Concerning Government Administration |
Requires any municipality that receives certain GIS data from electric companies to demonstrate that it has appropriate procedures to keep it confidential |
Minimal mandate |
No fiscal impact |
Source: Connecticut Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, State Mandates on Municipalities: Actions in 2012, June 2012; Public act summaries and fiscal notes