General Assembly Raised Bill No. 5369
February Session, 2014 LCO No. 1730
*01730_______PRI*
Referred to Committee on PROGRAM REVIEW AND INVESTIGATIONS
Introduced by:
(PRI)
General Assembly
Raised Bill No. 5369
February Session, 2014
LCO No. 1730
*01730_______PRI*
Referred to Committee on PROGRAM REVIEW AND INVESTIGATIONS
Introduced by:
(PRI)
AN ACT IMPLEMENTING THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE PROGRAM REVIEW AND INVESTIGATIONS COMMITTEE CONCERNING CERTAIN FISCAL AND RESOURCE-RELATED MATTERS PERTAINING TO STATE PARKS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 23-10b of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2014):
The Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection may provide outdoor recreation-related services to the public at state park and forest recreation areas. Such services may include rentals of bicycles, boats, cabins and tents, sale of firewood and operation of camp stores supplying camping necessaries. Fees for such services shall be set by the commissioner, according to market value. Revenue from such services shall be deposited in the Conservation Fund and credited to an enterprise program account for use in the state park and forest facilities, except the commissioner, in accordance with section 23-15b, as amended by this act, may allocate a portion of such revenue from the rental of any cabin for deposit in the maintenance, repair and improvement subaccount for the state park where such cabin is located. Such services and fees shall not affect admission, parking, camping and related existing fees. No services shall compete with a concessionaire under contract with the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection at the time such service is offered.
Sec. 2. Section 23-15b of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2014):
(a) There is established a separate, nonlapsing account within the General Fund, known as the maintenance, repair and improvement account. All funds collected from rent paid by any person for the use of state park property for any special event of limited duration, including, but not limited to, weddings and receptions, shall be deposited into the account unless the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection enters into a written agreement, signs an instrument or issues a license which specifically states otherwise. Said account may also receive funds from private or public sources, including the federal government or a municipal government.
(b) Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes, any funds received by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection pursuant to subsection (a) of this section shall be deposited in the General Fund and credited to the maintenance, repair and improvement account. Within said account there shall be a subaccount for each state park from which funds are collected pursuant to subsection (a) of this section and for each state park in which any cabin is located, which subaccounts shall be held separate and apart from each other. The commissioner shall deposit in the applicable subaccount any revenue from the rental of cabins that the commissioner allocates pursuant to section 23-10b, as amended by this act. Each subaccount shall be available to the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection for maintaining, making improvements to, erecting structures on or repairing the property, including houses and other buildings, of the state park for which such subaccount was established, provided any revenues in such subaccounts from the rental of cabins shall be used for the purpose of maintaining any cabin that is located in the park for which such subaccount was created. Nothing in this section shall prevent the commissioner from obtaining or using funds from sources other than the maintenance, repair and improvement account for the purposes described in this subsection. Funds in the maintenance, repair and improvement account shall be used to supplement state funds appropriated for the general operation of state parks and shall not replace such appropriated funds for purposes of such general operation.
(c) On or before October 1, 2010, and semiannually thereafter, the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection shall report to the Office of Fiscal Analysis on the state parks for which funds have been collected pursuant to subsection (a) of this section. Such report shall include (1) the amount of funds received into the maintenance, repair and improvement account, itemized by subaccount, (2) the amount of funds the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has expended from the account for each park, and (3) the projects for which such funds have been expended. Said commissioner shall post the same information on the department's Internet web site.
Sec. 3. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2014) Not later than February 1, 2020, the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation within the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection shall conduct a review of each state park. Such review shall include, but not be limited to: (1) An assessment of the condition of such park, (2) an inventory of the facilities located in such park, and (3) an examination of the staffing needs for such park. Not later than five years following the completion of a review for a state park, and every five years thereafter, said bureaus shall update such review for said park.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2014 23-10b
Sec. 2 July 1, 2014 23-15b
Sec. 3 July 1, 2014 New section
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1
July 1, 2014
23-10b
Sec. 2
July 1, 2014
23-15b
Sec. 3
July 1, 2014
New section
Statement of Purpose:
To implement the recommendations of the Program Review and Investigations Committee concerning certain fiscal and resource-related matters pertaining to state parks.
[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.]