General Assembly Raised Bill No. 806
January Session, 2017 LCO No. 3843
*03843_______PS_*
Referred to Committee on PUBLIC SAFETY AND SECURITY
Introduced by:
(PS)
General Assembly
Raised Bill No. 806
January Session, 2017
LCO No. 3843
*03843_______PS_*
Referred to Committee on PUBLIC SAFETY AND SECURITY
Introduced by:
(PS)
AN ACT ALLOWING MUNICIPALITIES TO ESTABLISH A GRANT PROGRAM TO REPLACE OR REPAIR CONCRETE FOUNDATIONS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2017) (a) For the purposes of this section, "municipality" means any town, city, borough, consolidated town and city or consolidated town and borough, and "grant program" means a program established pursuant to subsection (b) of this section to provide grants to eligible owners of residential buildings.
(b) Any municipality may, upon approval by its legislative body or, in any municipality in which the legislative body is a town meeting, by the board of selectmen, adopt an ordinance establishing a program to provide grants to eligible owners of residential buildings for the purposes of repairing or replacing the concrete foundations of such residential buildings. The ordinance shall include provisions for (1) the establishment of eligibility requirements, which shall include a requirement that the owner of the residential building obtain a written evaluation from a professional engineer licensed pursuant to chapter 391 of the general statutes indicating that the foundation of such residential building was made with faulty or failing concrete, and a requirement that the owner submit a complaint regarding the faulty or failing concrete foundation to the Department of Consumer Protection, and (2) the establishment of grant procedures and processes as the municipality shall deem appropriate.
(c) A municipality may authorize the issuance of bonds, notes or other obligations in accordance with the provisions of chapter 109 of the general statutes for the purpose of funding the grant program. The provisions of section 7-374 of the general statutes shall apply to any bond issued pursuant to this section.
(d) The grant program may accept gifts, donations, bequests or funds from any public or private sources, including, but not limited to, (1) property owners, (2) insurance companies, (3) banks, (4) the Connecticut Housing Authority, (5) local housing authorities, (6) private property developers, (7) real estate agents, (8) agents who offer professional liability insurance in the state, and (9) the state and federal governments.
(e) The town treasurer shall annually submit a complete and detailed report of the condition of the grant program to the chief executive officer, the budget-making authority and the legislative body of such municipality. The report shall be made a part of the annual report of the municipality and shall comply with the standard auditing procedures of such municipality.
(f) The grant program may be discontinued after recommendation by the chief executive officer and the budget-making authority to the legislative body and upon approval of such body. To the extent there is any remaining money in the grant program, the money shall be converted into, or added to, a sinking fund to provide for the retirement of the bonded indebtedness of the municipality. If the municipality has no bonded indebtedness, the money shall be transferred to the general fund of the municipality.
(g) Any municipality that establishes a grant program may use the services of one or more private third-party administrators to provide support for such program.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2017 New section
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1
October 1, 2017
New section
Statement of Purpose:
To authorize municipalities to establish a program to provide grants to eligible owners of residential buildings for the purposes of repairing or replacing the faulty or failing concrete foundations of such residential buildings and to fund such program by issuing bonds and accepting donations.
[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.]