General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 5255
February Session, 2010 *_____HB05255FIN___042010____*
General Assembly
Substitute Bill No. 5255
February Session, 2010
*_____HB05255FIN___042010____*
AN ACT CONCERNING MUNICIPAL MANDATE RELIEF.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2010) Notwithstanding any general statute, special act or charter, any municipality may, by ordinance, establish a schedule of fees and charge such fees to users of services provided by such municipality. As used in this section, "municipality" means any town, city or borough, consolidated town and city or consolidated town and borough and "services" means architectural and engineering services, traffic studies and safety inspections.
Sec. 2. Section 47a-42 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2010):
(a) Whenever a judgment is entered against a defendant pursuant to section 47a-26, 47a-26a, 47a-26b or 47a-26d for the recovery of possession or occupancy of residential property, such defendant and any other occupant bound by the judgment by subsection (a) of section 47a-26h shall forthwith remove himself or herself, such defendant's or occupant's possessions and all personal effects unless execution has been stayed pursuant to sections 47a-35 to 47a-41, inclusive. If execution has been stayed, such defendant or occupant shall forthwith remove himself or herself, such defendant's or occupant's possessions and all personal effects upon the expiration of any stay of execution. If the defendant or occupant has not so removed himself or herself upon entry of a judgment pursuant to section 47a-26, 47a-26a, 47a-26b or 47a-26d, and upon expiration of any stay of execution, the plaintiff may obtain an execution upon such summary process judgment, and the defendant or other occupant bound by the judgment by subsection (a) of section 47a-26h and the possessions and personal effects of such defendant or other occupant may be removed by a state marshal, pursuant to such execution, and [such possessions and personal effects may be set out on the adjacent sidewalk, street or highway] delivered to a storage facility designated by the chief executive officer for such purposes.
(b) Before any such removal, the state marshal charged with executing upon any such judgment of eviction shall give the chief executive officer of the town twenty-four hours notice of the eviction, stating the date, time and location of such eviction as well as a general description, if known, of the types and amount of property to be removed from the premises and delivered to the designated storage facility. Before giving such notice to the chief executive officer of the town, the state marshal shall use reasonable efforts to locate and notify the defendant of the date and time such eviction is to take place and of the possibility of a sale pursuant to subsection (c) of this section. Such notice shall include service upon each defendant and upon any other person in occupancy, either personally or at the premises, of a true copy of the summary process execution. Such execution shall be on a form prescribed by the Judicial Department, shall be in clear and simple language and in readable format, and shall contain, in addition to other notices given to the defendant in the execution, a conspicuous notice, in large boldface type, that a person who claims to have a right to continue to occupy the premises should immediately contact an attorney, and clear instructions as to how and where the defendant may reclaim any possessions and personal effects removed and stored pursuant to this section.
(c) Whenever the possessions and personal effects of a defendant are [set out on the sidewalk, street or highway, and are not immediately removed by the defendant, the chief executive officer of the town shall remove and store the same] removed by a state marshal under this section, such possessions and effects shall be delivered to the designated storage facility. Such removal, delivery and storage shall be overseen by the state marshal and shall be at the expense of the defendant, but (1) the landlord shall pay the cost of removal and delivery of the possessions and effects and shall submit receipts of such cost to the chief executive officer of the town, and (2) the town shall pay the cost of storage. To reclaim such possessions and effects, the defendant shall pay to the chief executive officer, not later than the date fifteen days after the date of the eviction, the cost of removal, delivery and storage, except that the town may, by ordinance adopted by its legislative body, waive payment by the defendant of the cost of storage. Upon receipt of such payment by the defendant, the chief executive officer shall reimburse the landlord for the cost of removal and delivery. If such possessions and effects are not [called for] reclaimed by the defendant [and the expense of such removal and storage is not paid to the chief executive officer within fifteen days after such] by the date fifteen days after the date of the eviction, the chief executive officer shall sell the same at public auction, after using reasonable efforts to locate and notify the defendant of such sale and after posting notice of such sale for one week on the public signpost nearest to the place where the eviction was made, if any, or at some exterior place near the office of the town clerk. Upon receipt of moneys from such sale, the chief executive officer shall reimburse the landlord for the cost of removal and delivery. The chief executive officer shall deliver to the defendant the net proceeds of such sale, if any, after deducting the cost of removal and delivery and a reasonable charge for [removal and] storage of such possessions and effects. If the defendant does not demand the net proceeds within thirty days after such sale, the chief executive officer shall turn over the net proceeds of the sale to the town treasury.
Sec. 3. Subsection (a) of section 12-80a of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2010, and applicable to assessment years commencing on or after said date):
[(a) Any (1) taxpayer which, prior to January 1, 1990, was subject to tax under chapter 211 with respect to the rendering of telecommunications service and which, on or after January 1, 1990, is subject to tax under chapter 219 for rendering telecommunications service and (2) other taxpayer that is subject to tax under chapter 219 for rendering telecommunications service and which has elected in the manner specified in this section to have personal property taxed as provided in this section, shall be required to submit to the Commissioner of Revenue Services and the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, not later than the thirtieth day of November of each year during which it is subject to tax under chapter 219, a list of all personal property on a town-by-town basis that is owned by such taxpayer in this state on the first day of October of such year and that is used solely and exclusively for rendering telecommunications service, as defined in said chapter 219, including the location of each item of such property and the fair market value thereof, recognizing depreciation of such property to the maximum extent allowed for purposes of the corporation business tax in this state, as certified by the Commissioner of Revenue Services. Each such taxpayer shall also submit said list to each municipality in which such taxpayer owns property, provided the list submitted to a municipality shall contain only the personal property owned by such taxpayer that is located in, or allocated pursuant to this subsection to, said municipality. If the records of a taxpayer subject to the requirements of this subsection do not contain the data necessary to develop the list as required without undue cost, the taxpayer may, for purposes of requirements under this subsection, petition the Commissioner of Revenue Services for approval of an alternate method of determining the value of the plant used solely and exclusively to render telecommunications services, but not including central office or switching equipment of that taxpayer, located in each town in the state. If the commissioner finds that the alternative method proposed results in a reasonable approximation of the value of the property of the taxpayer located in each town and used solely and exclusively for rendering telecommunications service, the commissioner shall notify the taxpayer that the proposed alternate method is acceptable and the taxpayer shall be permitted to use the alternate method in developing the list required under this subsection.]
(a) (1) As used in this section, "taxpayer" means any person for which the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management calculated a property tax pursuant to the provisions of this section for personal property the person owned on October 1, 2009, and "eligible property" means personal property owned by a taxpayer and used solely and exclusively for rendering telecommunications services, as defined in chapter 219.
(2) Any taxpayer that owns eligible property shall, not later than the thirtieth day of November of each year, submit to the assessor of the town in which such property is located a declaration of eligible property owned by such taxpayer as of the first day of October of such year. Such declaration shall be on a form prescribed by the assessor and shall require the taxpayer to report the value of such property as follows: (A) With respect to any eligible property acquired on or before October 1, 2009, the taxpayer's report of value shall recognize depreciation to the maximum extent allowed for purposes of the corporation business tax in this state, as certified by the Commissioner of Revenue Services; and (B) with respect to any eligible property acquired after October 1, 2009, the taxpayer's reported value shall recognize depreciation as allowed for purposes of the corporation business tax in this state, except that the total of such depreciation shall not exceed seventy per cent.
Sec. 4. Section 1-225 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2010):
(a) The meetings of all public agencies, except executive sessions, as defined in subdivision (6) of section 1-200, shall be open to the public. The votes of each member of any such public agency upon any issue before such public agency shall be reduced to writing and made available for public inspection within forty-eight hours and shall also be recorded in the minutes of the session at which taken. [Within] Not later than seven days [of] after the date of the session to which such minutes refer, such minutes shall be available for public inspection and posted on such public agency's Internet web site, if available, except that no public agency of a political subdivision of the state shall be required to post such minutes on an Internet web site. Each [such] public agency shall make, keep and maintain a record of the proceedings of its meetings.
(b) Each such public agency of the state shall file not later than January thirty-first of each year in the office of the Secretary of the State the schedule of the regular meetings of such public agency for the ensuing year and shall post such schedule on such public agency's Internet web site, if available, except that such requirements shall not apply to the General Assembly, either house thereof or to any committee thereof. Any other provision of the Freedom of Information Act notwithstanding, the General Assembly at the commencement of each regular session in the odd-numbered years, shall adopt, as part of its joint rules, rules to provide notice to the public of its regular, special, emergency or interim committee meetings. The chairperson or secretary of any such public agency of any political subdivision of the state shall file, not later than January thirty-first of each year, with the clerk of such subdivision the schedule of regular meetings of such public agency for the ensuing year, and no such meeting of any such public agency shall be held sooner than thirty days after such schedule has been filed. The chief executive officer of any multitown district or agency shall file, not later than January thirty-first of each year, with the clerk of each municipal member of such district or agency, the schedule of regular meetings of such public agency for the ensuing year, and no such meeting of any such public agency shall be held sooner than thirty days after such schedule has been filed.
(c) The agenda of the regular meetings of every public agency, except for the General Assembly, shall be available to the public and shall be filed, not less than twenty-four hours before the meetings to which they refer, (1) in such agency's regular office or place of business, and (2) in the office of the Secretary of the State for any such public agency of the state, in the office of the clerk of such subdivision for any public agency of a political subdivision of the state or in the office of the clerk of each municipal member of any multitown district or agency. For any such public agency of the state, such agenda shall be posted on the public agency's and the Secretary of the State's web sites. Upon the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members of a public agency present and voting, any subsequent business not included in such filed agendas may be considered and acted upon at such meetings.
(d) Notice of each special meeting of every public agency, except for the General Assembly, either house thereof or any committee thereof, shall be posted not less than twenty-four hours before the meeting to which such notice refers on the public agency's Internet web site, if available, and given not less than twenty-four hours prior to the time of such meeting by filing a notice of the time and place thereof in the office of the Secretary of the State for any such public agency of the state, in the office of the clerk of such subdivision for any public agency of a political subdivision of the state and in the office of the clerk of each municipal member for any multitown district or agency. The secretary or clerk shall cause any notice received under this section to be posted in his office. Such notice shall be given not less than twenty-four hours prior to the time of the special meeting; provided, in case of emergency, except for the General Assembly, either house thereof or any committee thereof, any such special meeting may be held without complying with the foregoing requirement for the filing of notice but a copy of the minutes of every such emergency special meeting adequately setting forth the nature of the emergency and the proceedings occurring at such meeting shall be filed with the Secretary of the State, the clerk of such political subdivision, or the clerk of each municipal member of such multitown district or agency, as the case may be, not later than seventy-two hours following the holding of such meeting. The notice shall specify the time and place of the special meeting and the business to be transacted. No other business shall be considered at such meetings by such public agency. In addition, such written notice shall be delivered to the usual place of abode of each member of the public agency so that the same is received prior to such special meeting. The requirement of delivery of such written notice may be dispensed with as to any member who at or prior to the time the meeting convenes files with the clerk or secretary of the public agency a written waiver of delivery of such notice. Such waiver may be given by telegram. The requirement of delivery of such written notice may also be dispensed with as to any member who is actually present at the meeting at the time it convenes. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit any agency from adopting more stringent notice requirements.
(e) No member of the public shall be required, as a condition to attendance at a meeting of any such body, to register the member's name, or furnish other information, or complete a questionnaire or otherwise fulfill any condition precedent to the member's attendance.
(f) A public agency may hold an executive session, as defined in subdivision (6) of section 1-200, upon an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members of such body present and voting, taken at a public meeting and stating the reasons for such executive session, as defined in section 1-200.
(g) In determining the time within which or by when a notice, agenda, record of votes or minutes of a special meeting or an emergency special meeting are required to be filed under this section, Saturdays, Sundays, legal holidays and any day on which the office of the agency, the Secretary of the State or the clerk of the applicable political subdivision or the clerk of each municipal member of any multitown district or agency, as the case may be, is closed, shall be excluded.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2010 New section
Sec. 2 July 1, 2010 47a-42
Sec. 3 October 1, 2010, and applicable to assessment years commencing on or after said date 12-80a(a)
Sec. 4 October 1, 2010 1-225
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1
July 1, 2010
New section
Sec. 2
July 1, 2010
47a-42
Sec. 3
October 1, 2010, and applicable to assessment years commencing on or after said date
12-80a(a)
Sec. 4
October 1, 2010
1-225
FIN Joint Favorable Subst.
FIN
Joint Favorable Subst.