General Assembly Raised Bill No. 6503
January Session, 2011 LCO No. 3967
*_____HB06503ENVFIN032211____*
Referred to Committee on Environment
Introduced by:
(ENV)
General Assembly
Raised Bill No. 6503
January Session, 2011
LCO No. 3967
*_____HB06503ENVFIN032211____*
Referred to Committee on Environment
Introduced by:
(ENV)
AN ACT CONCERNING CONSERVATION DISTRICT FUNDING.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 22a-27j of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2011):
(a) Any person, firm or corporation, other than a municipality, making an application for any approval required by chapters 124, 126, 440 and 444 or by regulations adopted pursuant to said chapters shall pay a fee of twenty dollars, in addition to any other fee which may be required, to the municipal agency or legislative body which is authorized to approve the application. On and after July 1, 2004, the fee shall be thirty dollars. On and after October 1, 2009, the fee shall be sixty dollars. Such municipal agency or legislative body shall collect such fees, retaining two dollars of such fee for administrative costs, and shall pay the remainder of such fees quarterly to the Department of Environmental Protection and the receipts shall be deposited into [the General Fund] an account of the State Treasurer and credited to the Environmental Quality Fund established pursuant to section 2 of this act. The portion of such fund attributable to the fees established by this section shall be used by the Department of Environmental Protection for the purpose of funding the Council on Soil and Water Conservation established pursuant to section 22a-315 and the eight county soil and water conservation districts.
(b) Not later than three months following the close of each fiscal year starting with fiscal year July 1, 2000, the Department of Environmental Protection shall identify those municipalities that are not in compliance with subsection (a) of this section for the previous fiscal year and shall provide the Office of Policy and Management with a list of such municipalities. The list shall be submitted annually and in such manner as the Office of Policy and Management may require. The Office of Policy and Management, when issuing the first payment from the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan Fund established pursuant to section 3-55i, in the fiscal year during which said list is received, shall reduce said payment to a municipality by one thousand dollars for each quarter of the preceding fiscal year that the municipality has not been in compliance with subsection (a) of this section to a maximum of four thousand dollars in each fiscal year. The Office of Policy and Management shall certify to the State Comptroller the amount of any funds withheld under this subsection to be transferred to the Environmental Quality Fund for the uses set forth in subsection (a) of this section, and the State Comptroller shall cause said amount to be transferred to such fund.
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2011) There is established a fund to be known as the "Environmental Quality Fund" which shall be held by the Treasurer. Within the Environmental Quality Fund, there is established and created an account to be known as the "environmental quality account". The Environmental Quality Fund may include other accounts separate and apart from the environmental quality account. Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes, any moneys required by law to be deposited in the Environmental Quality Fund shall be deposited therein and credited to the environmental quality account. Any balance remaining in the environmental quality account at the end of any fiscal year shall be carried forward in the environmental quality account for the fiscal year next succeeding. The environmental quality account shall be used by the Department of Environmental Protection for the administration of the central office and environmental quality programs authorized by the general statutes.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2011 22a-27j
Sec. 2 July 1, 2011 New section
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1
July 1, 2011
22a-27j
Sec. 2
July 1, 2011
New section
ENV Joint Favorable C/R FIN
ENV
Joint Favorable C/R
FIN