Public Safety and Security Committee
General Law Committee
AN ACT CONCERNING BAZAARS AND RAFFLES
SUMMARY: This act changes, from the local municipality to the Department of Consumer Protection (DCP), the initial government entity to which an organization submits its bazaar or raffle permit application and fees. Under the act, DCP remits the appropriate portion of the fee payments and forwards the applications to the municipality, rather than the municipality submitting them to the state. By law and unchanged by the act, both the municipality and DCP retain the same application review powers and fee amounts.
The act extends to all organizations authorized to hold a bazaar or raffle the ability to hold the event in a municipality other than the one that granted the permit, if the nonpermitting municipality provides written approval. It specifically gives to the state's attorney's office with jurisdiction over the municipality where the event occurred responsibility for investigating violations.
The act (1) expands how organizations may advertise bazaars or raffles and (2) eliminates the requirement that these organizations submit a post-event verified statement to the municipality. By law, DCP must (1) examine the statement, (2) compare it to the organization's application, and (3) keep it on file and available for public inspection for one year.
The act also makes minor, technical, and conforming changes.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2014
BAZAARS OR RAFFLES IN OTHER MUNICIPALITIES
The act extends to all organizations authorized to hold a bazaar or raffle the ability to hold the event in a municipality other than the one that granted the permit, if the appropriate official in the nonpermitting municipality provides written approval. Prior law allowed only the following groups, with written approval, to hold events outside the permitted municipality: (1) organized churches, volunteer fire companies, or veteran groups, for bazaars and raffles and (2) federally tax-exempt organizations, for raffle drawings.
The act also allows a municipality's police chief, instead of just the municipality's chief executive officer, to provide written approval.
ADVERTISING
The act expands the ways organizations may advertise bazaars or raffles by eliminating prior law's advertising restrictions. Under prior law, organizations could not use a sound truck, billboard, or television to advertise a raffle's location, time, or prizes, but they could post one sign measuring up to 12 square feet on the premises where the event would be held or the prizes awarded and one where the prizes were displayed. In addition, nonprofit organizations could advertise (1) on their websites, (2) by email, or (3) on lawn signs on private property with the property owner's consent. The sign could not be larger than 18 by 24 inches and had to comply with any applicable local ordinance or planning or zoning regulation.
VERIFIED STATEMENT
Under the act, organizations holding bazaars or raffles must submit a post-event verified statement, which includes certain information on the event's results, to DCP rather than the municipality. Prior law required them to submit duplicate statements to the appropriate municipal official, who had to forward the original statement to DCP. Under the act, organizations must file a single statement and municipal officials no longer receive a copy. By law, DCP examines the statement and compares it to the organization's application. The act eliminates the municipality's duty to do so.
BACKGROUND
Organizations Qualified to Conduct Bazaars or Raffles
The law allows the following to conduct, operate, or sponsor bazaars or raffles if the municipality where they are located has adopted the Bazaars and Raffles Act: veterans, religious, civic, fraternal, educational, and charitable organizations; volunteer fire companies; and political parties and their town committees. Raffles may also be promoted and conducted if sponsored by towns acting through a designated centennial, bicentennial, or other centennial celebration committee.
OLR Tracking: DC: KD: JKL: am