General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 5602
February Session, 2016 *_____HB05602PD____032116____*
General Assembly
Substitute Bill No. 5602
February Session, 2016
*_____HB05602PD____032116____*
AN ACT CONCERNING REGIONALISM.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 7-148v of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):
(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of any municipal charter or any special act to the contrary, any municipality may, by ordinance, establish requirements for competitive bidding for the award of any contract or the purchase of any real or personal property by the municipality. Such ordinance may provide that, except as otherwise required by any provision of the general statutes, sealed bidding shall not be required for contracts or purchases having a value less than or equal to an amount established in the ordinance, which amount shall not be greater than twenty-five thousand dollars. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to invalidate any ordinance enacted by a municipality prior to October 1, 1989. Nothing in this section and no ordinance adopted pursuant to this section shall be construed to limit the ability of a municipality to enter into a contract pursuant to section 4a-53a.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of the general statutes or any municipal charter, special act or ordinance, any municipality may purchase equipment, supplies, materials or services from a person who has a contract to sell such goods or services to other state governments, political subdivisions of the state, nonprofit organizations or public purchasing consortia available through a regional educational service center or regional council of governments, in accordance with the provisions of such contract.
Sec. 2. Section 4-124s of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):
(a) For purposes of this section:
(1) "Regional council of governments" means any such council organized under the provisions of sections 4-124i to 4-124p, inclusive;
(2) "Municipality" means a town, city or consolidated town and borough;
(3) "Legislative body" means the board of selectmen, town council, city council, board of alderman, board of directors, board of representatives or board of the warden and burgesses of a municipality; [and]
(4) "Secretary" means the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management or the designee of the secretary; and
(5) "Regional educational service center" has the same meaning as provided in section 10-282.
(b) There is established a regional performance incentive program that shall be administered by the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management. On or before December 31, 2011, and annually thereafter, any regional council of governments, any two or more municipalities acting through a regional council of governments, any economic development district, any regional educational service center or any combination thereof may, after consulting with the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology, Inc., submit a proposal to the secretary for: (1) The joint provision of any service that one or more participating municipalities of such council, educational service center or agency currently provide but which is not provided on a regional basis, (2) a planning study regarding the joint provision of any service on a regional basis, or (3) shared information technology services. A copy of said proposal shall be sent to the legislators representing said participating municipalities.
(c) (1) A regional council of governments, [or] an economic development district or a regional educational service center shall submit each proposal in the form and manner the secretary prescribes and shall, at a minimum, provide the following information for each proposal: (A) Service description; (B) the explanation of the need for such service; (C) the method of delivering such service on a regional basis; (D) the organization that would be responsible for regional service delivery; (E) a description of the population that would be served; (F) the manner in which regional service delivery will achieve economies of scale; (G) the amount by which participating municipalities will reduce their mill rates as a result of savings realized; (H) a cost benefit analysis for the provision of the service by each participating municipality and by the entity submitting the proposal; (I) a plan of implementation for delivery of the service on a regional basis; (J) a resolution endorsing such proposal approved by the legislative body of each participating municipality; and (K) an explanation of the potential legal obstacles, if any, to the regional provision of the service.
(2) The secretary shall review each proposal and shall award grants for proposals the secretary determines best meet the requirements of this section. In awarding such grants, the secretary shall give priority to a proposal submitted by (A) any entity specified in subsection (a) of this section that includes participation of all of the member municipalities of such entity, and which may increase the purchasing power of participating municipalities or provide a cost savings initiative resulting in a decrease in expenses of such municipalities, allowing such municipalities to lower property taxes, and (B) any economic development district.
(d) On or before December 31, 2013, and annually thereafter, in addition to any proposal submitted pursuant to this section, any municipality, [or] regional council of governments or regional educational service center may, after consulting with the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology, Inc., apply to the secretary for a grant to fund: (1) Operating costs associated with connecting to the state-wide high speed, flexible network developed pursuant to section 4d-80, including the costs to connect at the same rate as other government entities served by such network; and (2) capital cost associated with connecting to such network, including expenses associated with building out the internal fiber network connections required to connect to such network, provided the secretary shall make any such grant available in accordance with the two-year schedule by which the Bureau of Enterprise Systems and Technology recommends connecting each municipality, [and] regional council of governments and regional educational service center to such network. Any municipality, [or] regional council of governments or regional educational service center shall submit each application in the form and manner the secretary prescribes.
(e) The secretary shall submit to the Governor and the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to finance, revenue and bonding a report on the grants provided pursuant to this section. Each such report shall include information on the amount of each grant, and the potential of each grant for leveraging other public and private investments. The secretary shall submit a report for the fiscal year commencing July 1, 2011, not later than February 1, 2012, and shall submit a report for each subsequent fiscal year not later than the first day of March in such fiscal year. Such reports shall include the property tax reductions achieved by means of the program established pursuant to this section.
Sec. 3. (Effective from passage) Notwithstanding the provisions of the general statutes or any municipal charter or special act to the contrary, any municipality may enter into a partnership with one or more municipalities to share the services of one or more resident state troopers or other law enforcement personnel.
Sec. 4. Section 4-66k of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):
(a) There is established an account to be known as the "regional planning incentive account" which shall be a separate, nonlapsing account within the General Fund. The account shall contain any moneys required by law to be deposited in the account. Moneys in the account shall be expended by the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management in accordance with subsection (b) of this section for the purposes of first providing funding to regional planning organizations in accordance with the provisions of subsections (b) and (c) of this section, [and] then [to] for the purposes of subsection (d) of this section and finally for providing grants under the regional performance incentive program established pursuant to section 4-124s, as amended by this act.
(b) For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014, funds from the regional planning incentive account shall be distributed to each regional planning organization, as defined in section 4-124i, revision of 1958, revised to January 1, 2013, in the amount of one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars. Any regional council of governments that is comprised of any two or more regional planning organizations that voluntarily consolidate on or before December 31, 2013, shall receive an additional payment in an amount equal to the amount the regional planning organizations would have received if such regional planning organizations had not voluntarily consolidated.
(c) Beginning in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015, and annually thereafter, funds from the regional planning incentive account shall be distributed to each regional council of governments formed pursuant to section 4-124j, in the amount of one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars plus fifty cents per capita, using population information from the most recent federal decennial census. Any regional council of governments that is comprised of any two or more regional planning organizations, as defined in section 4-124i, revision of 1958, revised to January 1, 2013, that voluntarily consolidated on or before December 31, 2013, shall receive a payment in the amount of one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars for each such regional planning organization that voluntarily consolidated on or before said date.
(d) Beginning in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2016, and annually thereafter, funds from the regional planning incentive account shall be distributed to the Auditors of Public Accounts to audit private providers of special education services, in accordance with section 2-90 and sections 10-91g to 10-91i, inclusive.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1 from passage 7-148v
Sec. 2 from passage 4-124s
Sec. 3 from passage New section
Sec. 4 from passage 4-66k
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1
from passage
7-148v
Sec. 2
from passage
4-124s
Sec. 3
from passage
New section
Sec. 4
from passage
4-66k
PD Joint Favorable Subst.
PD
Joint Favorable Subst.