General Assembly Raised Bill No. 357
February Session, 2012 LCO No. 1957
*01957_______FIN*
Referred to Committee on Finance, Revenue and Bonding
Introduced by:
(FIN)
General Assembly
Raised Bill No. 357
February Session, 2012
LCO No. 1957
*01957_______FIN*
Referred to Committee on Finance, Revenue and Bonding
Introduced by:
(FIN)
AN ACT CONCERNING VARIOUS STATUTES PERTAINING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE SERVICES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 5-240 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2012):
(a) An appointing authority, subject to any regulations issued by the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, may reprimand or warn an employee in the classified service under the appointing authority's jurisdiction or suspend such an employee without pay or with reduced pay for an aggregate period not exceeding sixty calendar days in any calendar year. For any employee not included in any collective bargaining unit of state employees, any written reprimand or warning shall be included in the employee's personnel file and, if not merged in the next service rating, shall be expunged after twelve months from the date of reprimand or warning. Any such written reprimand or warning may be reviewed in accordance with the procedures established in subsections (h) and (i) of section 5-202.
(b) An appointing authority, subject to any regulations issued by the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, may demote an employee in the classified service under the appointing authority's jurisdiction from a position in any given class or grade to a position in a lower class or grade. The appointing authority shall give the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management or the secretary's designated representative written notice of the authority's intention to effect any such demotion not less than two weeks before the date it is intended to become effective. The Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management may transfer such an employee whose record is otherwise satisfactory to a position under the jurisdiction of another appointing authority, with the approval of such other appointing authority.
(c) An appointing authority may dismiss any employee in the classified service when the authority considers the good of the service will be served thereby. A permanent employee shall be given written notice of such dismissal at least two weeks in advance of the employee's dismissal, except as hereinafter provided, and a copy of the same shall be filed with the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management or the secretary's designated representative. Such notice shall set forth the reasons for dismissal in sufficient detail to indicate whether the employee was discharged for misconduct, incompetence or other reasons relating to the effective performance of the employee's duties and shall be prepared in such form and given in such manner as the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management prescribes. The Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management may provide by regulation for the waiving of advance notice in cases of serious misconduct by an employee affecting the public, the welfare, health or safety of patients, inmates or state employees or the protection of state property. Such regulation shall provide for written notice to a permanent employee who has attained permanent status and shall not preclude whatever rights any employee may have to appeal. The name of any such employee dismissed for incompetence or other reasons relating to the effective performance of the employee's duties shall be immediately removed from the eligible list in the office of the Commissioner of Administrative Services. No appointing authority shall pay any dismissed employee notice period pay or any other separation pay at a rate that exceeds the dismissed employee's rate of compensation, at the time of dismissal, for two weeks, or the amount of notice period provided for in an applicable collective bargaining agreement.
(d) An appointing authority, subject to any regulations issued by the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, may lay off any employee in the classified service as provided in section 5-241.
(e) (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 12-15, the Commissioner of Revenue Services may, subject to such terms and conditions as said commissioner may prescribe, disclose return or return information in connection with a personnel proceeding, including any administrative or judicial proceedings related thereto, involving an employee or former employee of the Department of Revenue Services, if said commissioner determines that such information is relevant and material to such proceeding. Return and return information disclosed under this subsection shall be used only for purposes of and to the extent necessary in such proceeding and shall not be further disclosed by any person involved in such proceeding.
(2) Any person who violates any provision of this subsection shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
Sec. 2. Section 12-3a of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2012):
(a) There is created a Penalty Review Committee which shall consist of the State Comptroller or an employee of the office of the State Comptroller designated by said Comptroller, the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management or an employee of the Office of Policy and Management designated by said secretary and the Commissioner of Revenue Services or an employee of the Department of Revenue Services designated by said commissioner. Said committee shall meet monthly or as often as necessary to approve any waiver of penalty, where such waiver is in excess of one thousand dollars, which the Commissioner of Revenue Services [, or the Commissioner of Consumer Protection,] is authorized to waive in accordance with this title, [which is in excess of five hundred dollars] or which the Commissioner of Consumer Protection is authorized to waive in accordance with chapter 226. A majority vote of the committee shall be required for approval of such waiver.
(b) An itemized statement of all waivers approved under this section shall be available to the public for inspection by any person.
(c) The Penalty Review Committee created pursuant to subsection (a) of this section shall adopt regulations in accordance with chapter 54 establishing guidelines for the waiver of any penalty, where such waiver is in excess of [five hundred] one thousand dollars.
(d) Any person aggrieved by the action of the Penalty Review Committee may, within one month after notice of such action is delivered or mailed to such person, appeal therefrom to the superior court for the judicial district of New Britain, which shall be accompanied by a citation to the members of said committee to appear before said court. Such citation shall be signed by the same authority, and such appeal shall be returnable at the same time and served and returned in the same manner as is required in case of a summons in a civil action. The authority issuing the citation shall take from the appellant a bond or recognizance to the state of Connecticut with surety to prosecute the appeal to effect and to comply with the orders and decrees of the court in the premises. Such appeals shall be preferred cases, to be heard, unless cause appears to the contrary, at the first session, by the court or by a committee appointed by it. Said court may grant such relief as may be equitable. If the appeal is without probable cause, the court may tax double or triple costs, as the case demands; and, upon all such appeals which may be denied, costs may be taxed against the appellant at the discretion of the court, but no costs shall be taxed against the state.
Sec. 3. Subsection (b) of section 38a-91nn of the 2012 supplement to the general statutes, as amended by section 66 of public act 11-1 of the October special session, is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2012):
(b) Each captive insurance company shall pay to the Commissioner of Revenue Services, [in the month of March] on or before March first of each year, a tax at the rate of (1) two hundred fourteen thousandths of one per cent on the first twenty million dollars, (2) one hundred forty-three thousandths of one per cent on the next twenty million dollars, (3) forty-eight thousandths of one per cent on the next twenty million dollars, and (4) twenty-four thousandths of one per cent on each dollar thereafter, on assumed reinsurance premiums collected or contracted for on policies or contracts of insurance written by the captive insurance company during the year ending December thirty-first next preceding, provided no tax under this subsection shall apply to premiums for risks or portions of risks that are subject to taxation on a direct basis pursuant to subsection (a) of this section. No tax under this subsection shall be payable in connection with the receipt of assets in exchange for the assumption by a captive insurance company of loss reserves and other liabilities of another insurer under common ownership and control, if such transaction is part of a plan to discontinue the operations of such other insurer and if the intent of the parties to such transaction is to renew or maintain such business with the captive insurance company.
Sec. 4. Subsection (d) of section 38a-91nn of the 2012 supplement to the general statutes, as amended by section 66 of public act 11-1 of the October special session, is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2012, and applicable to calendar years commencing on or after January 1, 2012):
(d) The provisions of sections 12-204, [12-204d,] 12-204c to 12-204g, inclusive, and 12-205 to 12-208, inclusive, shall apply to the provisions of sections 38a-91aa to 38a-91tt, inclusive, as amended by this act, in the same manner and with the same force and effect as if the language of said sections 12-204, [12-204d,] 12-204c to 12-204g, inclusive, and 12-205 to 12-208, inclusive, had been incorporated in full into this section and had expressly referred to the tax due under this section, except to the extent that any such language is inconsistent with a provision of said sections 38a-91aa to 38a-91tt, inclusive, as amended by this act.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2012 5-240
Sec. 2 July 1, 2012 12-3a
Sec. 3 July 1, 2012 38a-91nn(b)
Sec. 4 July 1, 2012, and applicable to calendar years commencing on or after January 1, 2012 38a-91nn(d)
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1
July 1, 2012
5-240
Sec. 2
July 1, 2012
12-3a
Sec. 3
July 1, 2012
38a-91nn(b)
Sec. 4
July 1, 2012, and applicable to calendar years commencing on or after January 1, 2012
38a-91nn(d)
Statement of Purpose:
To authorize a limited disclosure of return information in state personnel proceedings, to increase the threshold for review of penalty waivers from five hundred dollars to one thousand dollars, and to make technical changes to the captive insurer provisions adopted in the October special session.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]