Substitute House Bill No. 6516
Substitute House Bill No. 6516
PUBLIC ACT NO. 97-300
AN ACT CONCERNING BACKGROUND CHECKS OF APPLICANTS
FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PERMITS AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF
CERTAIN SOLID WASTE FACILITIES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 22a-6m of the general
statutes is amended by adding subsection (d) as
follows:
(NEW) (d) In reviewing the application for a
permit, registration, certificate or other license
under the provisions of this title, the
commissioner may require the applicant or, if the
applicant is a business entity, any director,
officer, partner or owner of more than five per
cent of the total outstanding stock of any class
of the applicant's business to submit to state and
national criminal history records checks. The
commissioner may request a state criminal history
records check for each such applicant, director,
officer, partner or stockholder from the State
Police Bureau of Identification. The commissioner
may arrange for each such applicant, director,
officer, partner or stockholder to provide the
information necessary to conduct such criminal
history records checks to the State Police Bureau
of Identification which shall submit such
information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation
for a national criminal history records check. The
commissioner may charge each such applicant,
director, officer, partner or stockholder a fee
for the state criminal history records check which
shall not exceed the fee the State Police Bureau
of Identification is authorized to charge an
individual for performing the check and a fee for
the national criminal history records check which
shall not exceed the fee charged by the Federal
Bureau of Investigation for performing the check.
The commissioner shall collect such fees and
forward such fees to the Department of Public
Safety. The review by the commissioner of the
criminal history of each such applicant, director,
officer, partner or stockholder shall be limited
to information regarding criminal convictions
related to activities regulated under the
environmental protection laws of this state, any
other state or the federal government.
Sec. 2. Subsection (a) of section 22a-208a of
the general statutes is repealed and the following
is substituted in lieu thereof:
(a) The Commissioner of Environmental
Protection may issue, deny, modify, renew,
suspend, revoke or transfer a permit, under such
conditions as he may prescribe and upon submission
of such information as he may require, for the
construction, alteration and operation of solid
waste facilities, in accordance with the
provisions of this chapter and regulations adopted
pursuant to this chapter. The application fee for
a permit to construct pursuant to this section
shall be thirty thousand dollars for a resources
recovery facility; seven thousand five hundred
dollars for a transfer station; fifteen thousand
dollars for a biomedical waste treatment facility;
seven thousand five hundred dollars for a volume
reduction plant other than a resources recovery
facility; two hundred dollars for an asbestos
disposal approval; one hundred dollars for a
special waste approval; two hundred dollars for a
minor amendment to a solid waste disposal area;
four thousand dollars for a vertical expansion to
a solid waste disposal area; ten thousand dollars
for horizontal expansion to a lined solid waste
disposal area; seven thousand dollars for a new
bulky waste or other special waste disposal area,
as defined in regulations adopted by the
commissioner pursuant to section 22a-209; twenty
thousand dollars for a new lined ash or municipal
solid waste disposal area; and one thousand
dollars for a biomedical waste transporter, as
defined in regulations adopted pursuant to section
22a-209. The commissioner may adopt regulations,
in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54,
to prescribe the amount of the fees required
pursuant to this section. Upon the adoption of
such regulations, the fees required by this
section shall be as prescribed in such
regulations. Notwithstanding the provisions of
this section, the commissioner shall not issue (1)
a permit for a solid waste land disposal facility
on former railroad property until July 1, 1989,
unless the commissioner makes a written
determination that such facility is necessary to
meet the solid waste disposal needs of the state
and will not result in a substantial excess
capacity of solid waste land disposal areas or
disrupt the orderly transportation of or disposal
of solid waste in the area affected by the
facility or (2) an operational permit for a
resources recovery facility unless the applicant
has submitted a plan pursuant to section 22a-208g
for the disposal or recycling of ash residue
expected to be generated at the facility in the
first five years of operation. In making a
decision to grant or deny a permit to construct a
solid waste land disposal facility, including a
vertical or horizontal landfill expansion, the
commissioner shall consider the character of the
neighborhood in which such facility is located and
may impose requirements for hours and routes of
truck traffic, security and fencing and for
measures to prevent the blowing of dust and debris
and to minimize insects, rodents and odors. THE
COMMISSIONER SHALL NOT AUTHORIZE UNDER A GENERAL
PERMIT OR ISSUE AN INDIVIDUAL PERMIT UNDER THIS
SECTION TO ESTABLISH OR CONSTRUCT A NEW VOLUME
REDUCTION PLANT OR TRANSFER STATION LOCATED, OR
PROPOSED TO BE LOCATED, WITHIN ONE-QUARTER MILE OF
A CHILD DAY CARE CENTER, AS DEFINED IN SUBDIVISION
(1) OF SUBSECTION (a) OF SECTION 19a-77, IN A
MUNICIPALITY WITH A POPULATION GREATER THAN ONE
HUNDRED THOUSAND PERSONS PROVIDED SUCH CENTER IS
OPERATING AS OF THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS
SECTION. THE COMMISSIONER MAY MODIFY OR RENEW A
PERMIT FOR AN EXISTING VOLUME REDUCTION PLANT OR
TRANSFER STATION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE
PROVISIONS OF THIS CHAPTER, WITHOUT REGARD TO ITS
LOCATION. In making a decision to grant or deny a
permit to construct an ash residue disposal area,
the commissioner shall consider any provision
which the applicant shall make for a double liner,
a leachate collection or detection system and the
cost of transportation and disposal of ash residue
at the site under consideration.
Sec. 3. Section 22a-6o of the general statutes
is repealed and the following is substituted in
lieu thereof:
(a) Notwithstanding any provision of this
title or regulations adopted thereunder, no person
shall act or purport to act under the authority of
a license issued to another unless such license
has been transferred to such person in accordance
with this section and such transfer is not
inconsistent with the federal Clean Air Act, the
federal Water Pollution Control Act or the federal
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
(b) The licensee and the proposed transferee
shall register any such proposed transfer with the
commissioner within thirty days of the transfer of
ownership of the facility for which the license
has been issued. Such registration shall be on
forms to be prescribed by the commissioner and
accompanied by a fee established by the
commissioner to cover costs of processing the
transfer of license. Upon receipt of a
registration of a proposed transfer of license
pursuant to this section, if the commissioner
determines that the transferee is able to comply
with the terms and conditions of the license, the
commissioner shall send a notice to the licensee
and proposed transferee which confirms the
registration and acknowledges the applicability of
the license to the transferee.
(c) If the commissioner finds that the
information submitted for a registration of a
license transfer under this section is
insufficient for purposes of determining whether
the proposed transferee is able to comply with the
terms and conditions of the license, the
commissioner may require such transferee to submit
such additional information as the commissioner
deems necessary to make such determination,
INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY INFORMATION
NECESSARY TO COMPLETE A CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORDS
CHECK UNDER SUBSECTION (d) OF SECTION 22a-6m, AS
AMENDED BY SECTION 1 OF THIS ACT.
Sec. 4. This act shall take effect from its
passage, except that section 1 shall take effect
October 1, 1997.
Approved July 8, 1997