General Assembly Raised Bill No. 5085
February Session, 2014 LCO No. 977
*00977_______ENV*
Referred to Committee on ENVIRONMENT
Introduced by:
(ENV)
General Assembly
Raised Bill No. 5085
February Session, 2014
LCO No. 977
*00977_______ENV*
Referred to Committee on ENVIRONMENT
Introduced by:
(ENV)
AN ACT CONCERNING SHELLFISH GROUNDS LEASES BY THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (a) of section 26-194 of the 2014 supplement to the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):
(a) Except as provided in subsection (e) of this section, the Commissioner of Agriculture may lease in the name of the state, under such regulations as the commissioner may prescribe and for a period not longer than ten years, all shellfish areas that have been conveyed to the state or placed under state jurisdiction by the town of West Haven and any undesignated grounds, within the exclusive jurisdiction of the state, for the purpose of planting and cultivating shellfish. The authority herein conferred shall include the Cormell Reef, Portchester, Great Captain's Island, Field Point and Greenwich Point natural beds as located and described in section 3295 of the general statutes, revision of 1918. Any person desiring to lease grounds for such purpose shall make application in writing to the commissioner and all grounds leased by authority of the provisions of this section shall be leased to the highest responsible bidder, for a minimum fee of four dollars per acre. Such lease or lease renewal shall require the lessee to make a good faith effort to cultivate and harvest shellfish from the leased area. Such lease or lease renewal shall prohibit the lessee from entering a contract whereby the lessee agrees not to cultivate and harvest shellfish for any period of time. No lessee may enter an agreement with a third party that will prevent the lessee from carrying out the lessee's obligations under the lease unless the Department of Agriculture and the Attorney General have approved such agreement. The form of such application and lease shall be approved by the Attorney General, and all such leases shall be recorded in the records of the commissioner. No lease shall be granted to a resident of a state which does not lease shellfish grounds to residents of this state, except that any nonresident who was granted a lease on or before October 1, 1985, may, upon the expiration of such lease, apply for a renewal or further lease as provided in this section. The commissioner shall grant any such lease to nonresidents upon the same terms and conditions as to residents of this state. Any lessee or holder of shellfish grounds, on the expiration of any lease thereof which has been or which may be granted, having fulfilled all of such lessee's or holder's obligations under the lease shall, upon application to the commissioner, have preference in the reletting of such ground for a like term to that granted in the original lease, excluding the rental fee, which shall not be less than the minimum fee per acre as provided in this subsection. A lease renewal shall not be granted if the applicant is in arrears for rent on the original lease of such grounds. The commissioner may deny the renewal of any such lease if the lessee or holder of shellfish grounds is: (1) In default in the payment of rent for any shellfish grounds of this state, (2) in default in the performance of any covenant of such a lease of shellfish grounds in this state, or (3) the principal or corporate officer of any business entity that holds such a lease of shellfish grounds in this state and such business entity is in default in the payment of rent for such lease or is in default on the performance of any covenant of such lease. Such application for such renewal or further lease shall be granted without notice or advertisement of the pendency thereof; provided no renewal or further lease of such ground shall be granted when the commissioner, for cause, ceases to lease such ground for shellfish culture. All assignments or transfers of leases shall be subject to the approval of the commissioner and shall be recorded in his records. Any person who interferes with, annoys or molests another in the enjoyment of any lease authorized by the provisions of this section shall be subject to the penalties provided in section 26-237. The provisions of sections 26-212, 26-215 and 26-232 shall not apply to any shellfish grounds leased pursuant to the provisions of this section.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1 from passage 26-194(a)
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1
from passage
26-194(a)
Statement of Purpose:
To clarify the right of the Commissioner of Agriculture to not renew certain shellfish grounds leases.
[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.]