UCONN STATE LAW EXEMPTIONS

Topic:
HIGHER EDUCATION; STATUTES;
Location:
UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT;


May 1, 2008		2008-R-0243
UCONN STATE LAW EXEMPTIONS

By: Rute Pinhel, Research Analyst Ryan F. O'Neil, Research Assistant

You asked for a list of the state laws from which UConn is exempt.

We performed a statutory search for explicit state law exemptions for the university. Table 1 lists the results by subject area.

Table 1: UConn State Law Exemptions

*Topic*	*Citation*	*Description*
Agriculture	CGS § 22-9	Exempts UConn's farms from the state-owned institutional farms operated by the agriculture commissioner.
Capital improvements	CGS §§4b-1, 23, 55, 58	UConn, instead of the Department of Public Works (DPW), is authorized to supervise UConn 2000 construction projects and hire design and construction firms.
Capital improvements	CGS §§ 4b-51(a), 52(a)(1)	By law, the higher education constituent units, other than UConn, have charge and supervision for the remodeling, alteration, repair, construction, or enlargement of any real asset up to $2 million, with the DPW commissioner's approval. UConn is authorized to oversee alterations, repairs, or additions of enumerated UConn 2000 projects regardless of their costs and without prior approval by the commissioner.

Table 1: -Continued-

*Topic*	*Citation*	*Description*
Capital improvements	CGS § 4b-101a	State agencies that award building construction contracts must make annual status reports to the governor and the legislature. UConn is exempt from this reporting requirement but must submit semiannual reports as required by the UConn 2000 Act.
Capital improvements	CGS § 22a-1f	Exempts UConn projects to convert an existing building to educational rather than commercial or office uses from environmental impact evaluations.
Capital improvements	CGS § 22a-12(b)	Exempts UConn projects to convert a commercial or office structure to an education structure from review and comment by the Council on Environmental Quality.
Capital improvements	CGS § 25-68c	Exempts UConn projects to convert a commercial or office structure to an educational structure from the Department of Environmental Protection commissioner's authority to regulate state agency actions affecting floodplains.
Liability protection	CGS §4-141	By law, state officers and employees are protected by the state against personal liability for actions in the course of their duties. The law excludes from this liability protection UConn medical and dental interns, residents, and fellows assigned to a university-affiliated hospital through integrated residency programs, if their assigned hospitals provide them with the same professional liability protection they provide to their full-time physician employees.
Local ordinances	CGS § 32-664	The law subjects the Rentschler Field facility in East Hartford to local noise ordinances. It applies to the stadium, related parking facilities, project construction, and site preparation, but not to UConn sporting events.
Medical devices	CGS § 19a-490d	Exempts the UConn Health Center dental clinics and divisions and the UConn School of Dental Medicine and its dental clinics from the requirement that health care facilities with public employees use only safe needle devices until manufacturers design and make needles with self-contained secondary, precautionary-type sheathing devices for dental medicine.
Security standards	CGS §§ 4b-132, 133	Excludes UConn and other higher education constituent units from the facilities occupied by state agencies for which the DPW commissioner (1) must establish and publish security standards or (2) may conduct or require a security audit.

Table 1: -Continued-

*Topic*	*Citation*	*Description*
State-owned property	CGS § 4b-21	Exempts UConn from the procedures other state agencies and officials must follow when conveying state land.
Zoning regulations	CGS § 8-3g	Prohibits local zoning regulations from barring a UConn construction project in an area zoned for commercial buildings.

RP:ts