Office of Legislative Research

NOTICE TO READERS

These summaries are intended to be brief descriptions of the most significant, far-reaching, and publicly debated acts adopted by the General Assembly in its 2002 Regular Session. Not all provisions of the acts are included, and the governor has not signed all those listed. The Major Public Acts are posted on the intranet at http: //cgalites/olr/ and on the Internet at http: //www.cga.ct.gov/olr/.

The Office of Legislative Research also produces a number of specific reports highlighting legislation in various subject areas, including acts affecting children, senior citizens, the environment, and business. Our 2002 Public Act book, which contains detailed summaries of all public acts, will be available in early fall.

Business and Labor

Children and Families

Education

Environment

Health & Human Services

Local Government

Responding to Terrorism

State Government

This act increases the minimum wage from $6.70 to $6.90 on January 1, 2003 and to $7.10 on January 1, 2004. In both cases, if 100.5% of the highest federal minimum wage is higher than these amounts, the federal wage becomes the minimum wage.

The act extends, from December 31, 2002 to December 31, 2004, the sunset date of the tip credit, which gives employers an offset against the minimum wage for certain employees. As a result of the increase and the tip credit extension, the minimum wage for hotel and restaurant employees will be $4.88 and $5.02 in 2003 and 2004, respectively. For bartenders, it will be $6.33 in 2003 and $6.52 in 2004.

Currently, the commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) and the executive directors of the Connecticut Development Authority (CDA) and Connecticut Innovations, Inc. (CII) must submit an impact statement to the Connecticut Transportation Strategy Board (CTSB) for any project new to the state or for new construction that seeks funding from any of them. Beginning January 15, 2003, this act (1) limits this requirement to projects that meet the State Traffic Commission’s threshold requirements for a major traffic generator and (2) requires submission of the impact statement before DECD, CDA, or CII approves the project.

The current impact statement must indicate whether the project conforms to the CTSB’s strategy. The act requires, in addition, that each statement (1) describe how the project addresses the CTSB’s goals and (2) include any other information the CTSB requires, including (a) the size of any facility proposed in connection with the project and its hours of operation, (b) a projection of whether the project is likely to increase daily vehicle trips, including truck traffic, and (c) the availability of public transportation to and from the project.

The act requires the CTSB to give the submitting agency any findings or recommendations about the project. The act specifies that it is not to be construed to require any delay in implementing a project. And it requires the CTSB, subject to state Freedom of Information Act requirements, to protect any confidential information and trade secrets it receives in connection with an impact statement.

Two 2002 acts rewrote the rules on commercial, financial, consumer and other leases.

General Lease Rules. This act codifies the law on leasing goods, fills gaps, and clarifies ambiguities in the Uniform Commercial Code Article 2 on sales and common law contracts and remedies rules. It affects leases (1) that give the lessee possession and the right to use the goods for a period of time in return for rent; (2) made by lessors who are not the fundamental supplier of the leased goods as a means of financing their acquisition (finance leases); and (3) between a merchant and a consumer in which the lessee takes the lease primarily for a personal, family, or household purpose (consumer leases).

The act provides certain protections for consumers, such as provisions on unconscionable leases, choice of law, and options to accelerate. It establishes criteria for creating and interpreting lease contracts; specifies how a contract must be performed and how it can be modified, rescinded, or waived; establishes criteria for identifying the goods subject to the contract; specifies who can insure the goods and who bears the risk of loss; and imposes express and implied warranties.

The act defines conditions for performance and repudiation of a lease contract, as well as the responsibility of parties when performance is impaired. It creates an extensive structure of remedies if the lessor or lessee defaults.

Consumer Leases. This act establishes minimum requirements for consumer leases. It defines a “consumer lease” as one involving personal, family, or household goods that lasts at least four months with a total obligation of up to $150,000. Among many things, the act:

1. establishes the point in time at which a consumer lease is signed, completed, or terminated;

2. prohibits consumers from waiving rights established by the act—except to settle a dispute;

3. requires consumer leases to be carried out in good faith and prohibits unconscionable conduct;

4. sets rules about property traded in or payments made before a lessor has given the lease its final approval;

5. prohibits lessors from taking a security interest in the consumer’s other property to secure a lease;

6. allows a consumer to recover actual and statutory damages for specified violations; and

7. eliminates the requirement that motor vehicle lessors disclose the “lease rate” of an automobile lease, the lease amount financed, and the lease finance charge.

(sHB 5248, effective July 1, 2003, except repeal of the motor vehicle lease rate calculation and disclosure provisions takes effect on July 1, 2002)

This act authorizes the insurance commissioner to adopt regulations establishing security and privacy standards for consumer information that are consistent with the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Modernization Act of 1999 and applicable to people and other financial institutions regulated under Connecticut’s insurance laws. The federal law requires all financial institutions, including insurance companies, to disclose to customers their policies and practices for protecting the privacy of nonpublic personal information. Customers must receive the disclosure when they purchase the insurance and at least annually thereafter. The policies must also allow customers to “opt-out” of information-sharing arrangements with unaffiliated third parties.

The act permits financial institutions to share personal customer information with affiliates. It imposes criminal sanctions on anyone (including firm employees) who obtains or attempts to obtain customer information relating to another person from any financial institution by making false or fraudulent statements to an employee of that financial institution.

This act establishes a Connecticut Uniform Electronic Transaction Act (CUETA) based on the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws’ model act. The model act provides uniform rules governing electronic commerce transactions.

CUETA establishes a legal foundation for the use of electronic communications in transactions where the parties have agreed to conduct business electronically. It validates the use of electronic records and signatures and places electronic commerce and paper-based commerce on the same legal footing. An “electronic record” is one created, generated, sent, communicated, received, or stored electronically. Emails, faxes, and Internet messaging are examples of electronic records. “Electronic signatures” are electronic sounds, symbols, or processes that people attach to or logically associate with a record to indicate their signature. CUETA supersedes and repeals the 1999 electronic records and signature law.

1. modifying the process for organizing and establishing a Connecticut credit union;

3. authorizing credit unions to invest their surplus funds in additional securities, funds, obligations, and real estate;

4. increasing the authority of credit unions’ governing boards and executive, supervisory, and credit committees;

5. expanding the role credit union service organizations play in assisting credit unions and their members;

6. requiring credit unions to have policies addressing conflicts of interest and insider transactions;

The act also (1) applies banking law principles of receivership and insolvency to credit unions; (2) allows the banking commissioner to apply for an injunction, receiver, or conservator for a credit union under certain circumstances; (3) allows a share account holder to pledge his credit union interest to another person, and (4) applies to credit unions current banking law provisions on adverse claims.

This act allows a seller and real estate licensee to satisfy fully any duty to disclose to a purchaser the presence of hazardous waste facilities in a one-to-four family house by giving him written notice of the availability of the list of hazardous waste facilities kept by municipal clerks. The duty to disclose is satisfied even if the required list (1) has not been submitted, received, or made available or (2) contains an error, omission, or inaccuracy. The act prohibits anyone from interpreting it to impose liability on a seller or real estate licensee for failing to disclose the existence of hazardous waste facilities. It also specifies that sellers and licensees are not required to compile or contribute to compilation of the list.

The act eliminates the right of a real estate purchaser or lessee, while making a bona fide offer, to ask the owner or his agent in writing if they know whether the occupant is, was suspected to be, or has been, infected with HIV.

1. increases the classification of and maximum penalty for sex crimes involving minors under age 16;

2. requires courts to include a five-year period of special parole in any sentence for first-degree aggravated sexual assault;

3. extends, from two to 30 years after the victim reaches age 18 or up to five years from the date he notifies the police or a prosecutor of the crime, the statute of limitations for prosecuting sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, or sexual assault of a minor, except when the offense is a class A felony;

4. extends, from 17 to 30 years after age 18, the civil statute of limitations for a minor victim of sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, or sexual assault to file a personal injury action based on the crime;

5. eliminates the statute of limitations for bringing a personal injury action to recover damages caused by sexual assault when the party legally at fault for the injury is convicted of first-degree sexual assault or first-degree aggravated sexual assault for such conduct;

6. makes numerous changes to the mandated reporter statutes, including adding to the list of such reporters and requiring those who fail to report to attend a training program;

7. establishes a 23-member advisory committee to make recommendations on the need for a sexual offender risk assessment board and the process for reporting people in state custody or receiving state service who are at risk of engaging in illegal sexual behavior;

8. prohibits courts from entering orders or judgments or approving settlements that prevent or restrict anyone from reporting to the Department of Children and Families commissioner or a law enforcement agency allegations of sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, or sexual assault of a minor that were the subject of a personal injury action for damages; and

9. makes a teacher’s personal misconduct records public and subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act without his consent.

(sHB 5680, effective October 1, 2002 except (1) the provisions extending the criminal statute of limitations is effective upon passage and applicable to crimes committed on and after that date; (2) provisions eliminating secrecy in personal injury actions involving minor victims and establishing an advisory committee are effective upon passage; (3) the two civil statute of limitations provisions are effective upon passage and applicable to any cause of action arising from an incident committed prior to, on, and after that date; and (4) the provision on privileged communication is effective July 1, 2002)

This act makes it a crime for an athletic coach or a person who provides intensive, ongoing instruction to engage in sexual intercourse or have sexual contact with someone receiving that coaching or instruction who is either a secondary school student receiving coaching or instruction in school or under age 18.

The act makes sexual intercourse under these circumstances second-degree sexual assault, punishable by one to 10 years in prison (with a nine-month mandatory minimum), a fine of up to $10,000, or both. It makes sexual contact under these circumstances fourth-degree sexual assault, punishable by up to one year in prison, a fine of up to $2,000, or both.

The act adds intramural or interscholastic coaches to the list of mandated child abuse reporters, which also includes schoolteachers, principals, and school paraprofessionals. It raises the penalty for any mandated reporter who fails to report from up to $500 to between $500 and $2,500.

This act requires people to honor documents an adult executes designating another adult to make certain decisions on the maker's behalf and giving the designee limited rights or responsibilities. The act applies to documents used:

1. in psychiatric hospitals, when informed consent for medical treatment is required from someone other than the patient;

2. in nursing homes, when private visitation and room transfer decisions are made;

3. in health care settings, when medical personnel (a) need information about a patient's wishes from people other than the patient or (b) plan to withdraw life support;

The act also allows a person who is the only owner of a motor vehicle to designate in writing on the registration certificate a beneficiary who will assume ownership on his death.

The act requires the Judiciary Committee to meet and deliberate the public policy reasons for permitting or prohibiting the marriage or civil union of two people of the same sex. The committee must report to the General Assembly by January 1, 2003.

(HB 5763, effective October 1, 2002, except the provision requiring the Judiciary Committee to deliberate and report to the legislature is effective upon passage and the provisions concerning motor vehicle transfers are effective January 1, 2003)

This act permits judges and family support magistrates to order divorced or divorcing parents, parents whose marriage is annulled, and parents who never married to support their children until they reach age 23 for up to four full academic years when they attend college or vocational programs after high school. Courts can do this only if they find it more likely than not that the parents would have provided this support if the family remained intact. The act specifies other circumstances courts must consider and conditions the parents and students must satisfy.

The act states that it does not (1) create a right of action by a child for parental support for higher education or (2) require support for graduate or post-graduate education. It applies to cases where the first child support order is entered on or after October 1, 2002.

This act (1) makes violating a family violence restraining order a crime; (2) increases the penalty for violating a protective order; (3) subjects restraining order violators to enhanced penalties as persistent offenders; (4) requires state marshals to give copies of ex parte restraining orders to police officials; and (5) requires courts to give certain information to people who apply for restraining orders.

This act requires all school boards to develop a policy (1) addressing bullying and (2) ensuring that time is available during each school day for students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. The act states that it is not to be construed to require anyone to recite the pledge.

The act defines bullying as repeated, overt acts by one or more students on school grounds or at a school-sponsored activity that are intended to ridicule, humiliate, or intimidate another student. Each district's bullying policy must be developed for use starting February 1, 2003 and must, among other things:

1. permit anonymous reports of bullying by students and written reports by parents or guardians and require school administrators to investigate them;

2. require each school to maintain a publicly available list of the number of verified bullying acts that occurred there;

3. require notice to parents or guardians of all students involved in a verified act of bullying, which must describe the school's response and any consequences that may result from further acts of bullying; and

4. include an intervention strategy for school staff to deal with bullying and language about bullying in student codes of conduct.

(sHB 5425, effective July 1, 2002 for the bullying policy, October 1, 2002 for the Pledge of Allegiance policy)

This act establishes moratoriums on final approval of (1) proposals to build energy and telecommunications lines through Long Island Sound and (2) overland electric transmission lines from Bethel to Norwalk.

It establishes a one-year moratorium on consideration or final approval of applications (including pending applications) to build a gas pipeline, electric power line, or telecommunications line across the Sound. It exempts from the moratorium applications limited solely to maintaining, repairing, or replacing such lines now used to provide service to certain Connecticut customers. It specifically exempts the replacement of existing electric cables in the corridor from Norwalk to Northport, N.Y.

The act requires a task force led by the Institute of Sustainable Energy at Eastern Connecticut State University to complete a comprehensive environmental assessment and plan of the Sound's natural resources by the end of the moratorium period. When the assessment is completed, the act requires the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the Connecticut Siting Council, and any other state agency, to evaluate any application for an electric power line, gas pipeline, or telecommunications line crossing the Sound, additionally for its (1) likelihood, based on information contained in the assessment, to impair the public trust in Long Island Sound; (2) consistency with the assessment's recommendations; and (3) individual and cumulative environmental impact, as anticipated by the assessment.

The act requires the Siting Council to ask the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), within 15 days of the act's passage, not to approve any new electric power line, gas pipeline, or telecommunications crossing until the assessment is completed, and that FERC avoid environmental damage to the Sound to the greatest extent possible by considering the assessment's recommendations when licensing a project. If FERC does consider a gas pipeline application, the act requires the Siting Council and other state agencies with jurisdiction to review the project and recommend to FERC siting, construction procedures, and environmental mitigation measures that conform with the assessment, to the extent such information is available.

The act prohibits any state agency from granting final approval for applications, including pending applications, relating to existing electric transmission lines from Bethel to Norwalk, until February 1, 2003. But it allows routine maintenance and repair of such lines. It requires the Institute for Sustainable Energy to lead a working group to study the economic, environmental, reliability, operational, technical, power, and safety aspects of installing such lines and requires it to report its findings and recommendations by January 1, 2003. After this report is published, the act requires DEP and the Siting Council to determine whether any decision or opinion on any application is consistent with its findings. It bars any applicant who elects to proceed with his application despite the moratorium from accruing legal rights or financial entitlements.

This act limits, as of January 1, 2005, the use of emissions credit trading as a way of meeting DEP regulatory standards for sulfur dioxide emissions from older power plants. It allows trading only when (1) the DEP commissioner orders its use to offset excess emissions when he suspends the standards due to a shortage of low-sulfur fuel or (2) the restriction threatens the reliability of electricity supply. The act specifies that these provisions do not suspend any underlying DEP regulatory procedures or requirements regarding sulfur dioxide emissions.

The act also codifies with several changes, as of January 1, 2005, (1) the DEP’s regulatory emissions standards that go into effect on January 1, 2003 and (2) the provisions that allow the commissioner to suspend these standards.

The act specifies that its provisions do not impair the commissioner’s ability to waive, with regard to a “must-run” plant, any sulfur dioxide emissions limit or other permit limits, as are permitted under current state or federal law. A “must-run” plant is one ordered to run by the Independent System Operator, which, administers the New England power grid. The act allows the commissioner to attach conditions on such a waiver that he considers necessary to mitigate any adverse environmental or public health impacts.

The act broadens a provision that covers, with a charge imposed on electric bills, costs associated with employees dislocated by electric industry restructuring.

(sHB 5209, effective January 1, 2005 for the emissions provisions and January 1, 2004 for the dislocated employee provisions)

This act establishes a comprehensive scheme governing sale, use, distribution, disposal, and notice requirements for mercury and many products that contain it. It requires manufacturers to notify the DEP commissioner of their products' mercury content and imposes other notice requirements. It restricts the sale of a number of mercury-added products (those to which mercury has been intentionally added), phasing down their maximum allowable mercury content. Starting January 1, 2003, it generally bans the sale of mercury thermometers, mercury-containing novelties, and other products.

The act requires the commissioner to participate in and consult with a multi-state clearinghouse and to serve as its designated agent to help coordinate and carry out the act's requirements.

It requires mercury-added products and their packaging to be labeled as to their mercury content and requires manufacturers of these products to develop a system to collect and recycle them and report to DEP on its effectiveness. The collection requirements do not apply to certain products, including cosmetics and pharmaceuticals meant to be totally consumed during use, and photographic film and paper. The commissioner must review state mercury waste handling regulations and may, if necessary, amend them to facilitate collection.

The act allows the commissioner to implement an education, outreach, and assistance program for households and affected parties and to develop an awards program to recognize those who excel in reducing or eliminating mercury in air emissions.

(sHB 5539, effective July 1, 2002, with notice requirements taking effect January 1, 2003 and applying to mercury-added products manufactured after that date; collection requirements taking effect July 1, 2003 and applying to such products manufactured after that date; and labeling requirement and the first stage of the phase-down requirements taking effect July 1, 2004 and applying to mercury-added products manufactured after January 1, 2004).

This act requires the Department of Public Health (DPH) to establish a quality of care program for health care facilities. DPH must develop a health care quality performance measurement and reporting system initially applicable to hospitals. Other health care facilities come under the quality program as it develops in later years. A committee, chaired by the DPH commissioner, advises the program.

The act directs DPH to produce a report that compares the state’s hospitals based on quality performance measures. It requires all hospitals to implement performance improvement plans, which must be submitted annually to DPH as a condition of licensure beginning June 30, 2003. It allows DPH to seek and apply for funding to implement the quality of care program and requires it to do so when it receives this funding.

The act requires hospitals and outpatient surgical facilities to report adverse events to DPH. An “adverse event” is an injury caused by or associated with medical management that results in death or measurable disability.

(sHB 5715, effective October 1, 2002, except July 1, 2002 for the adverse event provisions).

This act requires the consumer protection commissioner to adopt regulations requiring pharmacies to establish quality assurance programs designed to detect and prevent prescription errors. It defines a “prescription error” as an act or omission of clinical significance in dispensing a drug that results in, or may reasonably be expected to result in, a patient’s injury or death. Pharmacies must report errors to the prescribing practitioner, the patient, or the caregiver or appropriate family member of a patient who is dead or cannot comprehend. In addition, the act requires each pharmacy to (1) post signs and include notices on receipts or in prescription packaging informing consumers of how to report prescription errors and (2) keep records about errors.

This act requires health insurers to offer policyholders and their dependents the option to continue group coverage during illness, injury, and certain disabilities, regardless of their eligibility for other group coverage. Insurers must provide the option to (1) employees who are out of work due to illness or injury and their dependents or (2) employees, their spouse, and dependents who are totally disabled on the date the group policy terminates.

Coverage due to illness or injury must continue through the illness or injury or for up to 12 months, beginning on the first day the employee is absent from work. Coverage for the totally disabled must continue for 12 months following the month the policy is terminated, if a claim for coverage is made within one year of the termination.

This act more than doubles the value of a car Food Stamp applicants and recipients can own. It requires the Department of Social Services (DSS) commissioner to allow them to own a car valued up to $9,500, instead of the current $4,650, by tying the limit to the one used for the state’s Temporary Family Assistance program (TFA, cash assistance for families). It also requires DSS to pursue the maximum Food Stamp benefit extension allowed for families leaving the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program (which funds the TFA program). Federal regulations allow states to extend benefits for these families for up to three months.

(PA 02-37, effective July 1, 2002 for the motor vehicle allowance and October 1, 2002 for the benefit extension)

This act requires the DSS commissioner to amend the state’s Medicaid plan to cover smoking cessation treatment ordered by a physician, advanced practice registered nurse, physician assistant, or other professional licensed to prescribe drugs. Prior law allowed the commissioner to include physician-ordered coverage in the plan, up to a $400 annual limit. The act requires the commissioner to submit her plan to the Human Services and Appropriations committees by January 1, 2003 and to implement it on July 1, 2003, if they approve it and funding is included in the FY 2003-04 budget.

This act makes several changes to the affordable housing appeals procedure law, including extending, from three to four years, the length of an appeals procedure moratorium that towns can attain. It also extends, by one year, any moratorium in effect on October 1, 2002. By law, a town qualifies for a moratorium by showing the DECD commissioner that it meets a specific threshold of affordable housing units.

The act also adds deed-restricted mobile manufactured homes and accessory (“in-law”) apartments to the list of housing units that count toward a town earning an appeals procedure exemption. The deed restriction must (1) be recorded on the land record; (2) last 10 years; and (3) require the units to be sold or rented at prices so that individuals or families, whose income is at most 80% of the median income, will pay no more than 30% of their income.

This act allows a town with relatively stable property values to earn an exemption from its next scheduled property revaluation if it is scheduled between October 1, 2003 to October 1, 2007. The act authorizes the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) to rescind exemptions and impose penalties if a review committee it establishes finds that a town did not comply with the act and used the exemption process to subvert revaluation requirements. The OPM secretary appoints the 11-member committee to review the accuracy of the statistical data and calculations towns use to certify revaluation exemptions. It consists of local assessors, representatives from towns of various sizes, people with expertise in statistical analysis, and an OPM employee.

1. with a few exceptions, requires public agencies that receive military discharge documents to keep them separate and apart from their other records and to keep them confidential for at least 75 years after the date they are filed;

2. gives the public access to the chief medical examiner’s reports, autopsies, and other scientific findings related to a person who was in state custody at the time of death;

3. gives members of the public the right to copy public records using hand-held scanners; and

4. allows municipalities to increase their optional property tax assessment reduction for low-income wartime veterans and their surviving spouses;

(sHB 5625, effective October 1, 2002, with the veterans’ property tax change effective July 1, 2002)

1. creates the crimes of terrorism and fabricating weapons involving chemicals, disease organisms, or radiation;

2. increases the penalty for hindering prosecution of a person who committed, for terrorist purposes, a class A or B felony or an unclassified felony for which the possible prison term is more than 10 years;

3. creates the crimes of (a) damage to public transportation property for terrorist purposes, (b) contaminating a public water or food supply for terrorist purposes, and (c) criminal misrepresentation;

4. increases the penalty for most computer crimes done to further terrorist purposes;

5. adds to the list of crimes that can be the subject of a grand jury investigation or a wiretap order felonies involving the unlawful or threatened use of physical force or violence with intent to intimidate or coerce civilians or a government unit;

7. provides that wiretap evidence obtained validly under federal law is admissible in state court regardless of state wiretap laws; and

1. requires the Department of Motor Vehicles, beginning January 1, 2003, to issue a commemorative license plate with a design that enhances public solidarity following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks;

2. waives tuition at the University of Connecticut, Connecticut State Universities, and community-technical colleges for surviving spouses and dependent children of Connecticut residents killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks or anthrax attacks occurring between September 11 and December 31, 2001;

3. exempts victims of these attacks and their estates from the state income tax for the 2001 tax year; and

4. requires the governor annually to proclaim September 11 as “Remembrance Day” for the purpose of memorializing those killed and injured in the September 11, 2001 attacks and honoring the service, sacrifice, and contributions of police, fire fighters, and others who responded to the attacks.

(sSB 102, effective on passage, with the license plate and Remembrance Day provisions effective on July 1, 2002)

1. vests the powers of the CRRA board of directors in members who take office on June 1, 2002;

2. increases, from two to five, the number of directors who must represent towns that are members of the authority;

4. creates a steering committee of directors who must establish and implement a financial restructuring plan for the authority between June 1 and December 31, 2002;

5. requires the CRRA board to report on its efforts to mitigate the effects of lost revenue from the CRRA-Enron-Connecticut Light and Power Company transaction and to send copies of audit reports to the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee;

6. authorizes the attorney general to supervise legal matters and claims related to the CRRA-Enron-Connecticut Light and Power Company transaction;

7. allows CRRA to borrow up to $115 million from the state, under certain conditions;

8. requires the state treasurer’s approval before CRRA can issue any debt backed by a state capital reserve fund;

9. requires, rather than permits, contracts for various authority functions to be awarded by competitive bidding or competitive negotiation and requires the board to develop written contract procedures that include standards for award procedures;

10. allows CRRA to become an electric supplier, if it gets a license from the Department of Public Utility Control;

11. requires CRRA performance incentive plans for its officers and employees to be (a) written, (b) based on the performance of the authority and the person, (c) applicable to all officers and employees, and (d) approved by the board;

12. prevents quasi-public agencies and state agencies from retaining a lobbyist but permits their directors, officers, and employees to lobby on the agencies’ behalf;

13. requires CRRA to post specified records and information on the Internet; and

14. requires the Program Review Committee to study whether CRRA’s powers and duties should be exercised by a state agency or a quasi-public agency.

(PA 02-46, effective upon passage for most provisions and January 1, 2003 for those on contracting, incentive plans, lobbying, and Internet postings)

This act increases the cigarette tax from 50 cents to $1.11 per pack of 20 (25 to 55.5 mills per cigarette), starting April 3, 2002.

This act establishes an alternative process for disposing of allegations of retaliation filed by employees of the state, quasi-public agencies, and large state contractors who have made whistleblower complaints against their employers. It requires the chief human rights referee to adopt regulations that establish the procedure for filing complaints, giving notice, and conducting hearings under the new process.

It creates a rebuttable presumption that any personnel action taken or threatened against a whistleblower is retaliatory if it occurs within one year of the complaint.

This act establishes a procedure to ensure that businesses receiving state economic development assistance comply with the terms and conditions of their assistance agreements. The procedure requires state agencies providing this assistance to notify businesses when they fail to comply with the agreements and to recover the assistance if the noncompliance persists. The act requires the agencies to impose liens on any security they required as a condition for providing assistance.

The act permits DECD, CDA, and CII to recover assistance from businesses that failed to meet their job creation and retention goals when it was in their power to do so. It also allows these agencies to modify the terms and conditions for their assistance when it is in the best interest of the state or local community. The modifications can include forgiving loan repayments, revising job creation and retention goals, and changing interest rates. They must notify the State Bond Commission about any changes.

(sHB 5402, effective July 1, 2002 with the notice and compliance provisions effective October 1, 2002)

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