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General Assembly Committee Bill No. 192
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 6161
Referred to Committee on COMMERCE
Introduced by:
(CE)
AN ACT CONCERNING THE R EOPENING OF CONNECTI CUT'S
VISITOR WELCOME CENT ERS USING VOLUNTEER STAFFING.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 10-399 of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage): 2
(a) As used in this section: "Visitor welcome center" means the 3
welcome centers, visitor centers and tourist information centers 4
located in West Willington, Greenwich, Danbury, Darien, North 5
Stonington and Westbrook, which have been established to distribute 6
information to persons traveling in the state for the purpose of 7
influencing such persons' level of satisfaction with the state and 8
expenditures in the state and their planning for present and future 9
trips to the state. 10
(b) Within available appropriations, the following measures shall be 11
implemented to enhance the operation of visitor welcome centers: 12
(1) Each center shall make available space for listing events and 13
promoting attractions, by invitation to the Connecticut tourism 14 Committee Bill No. 192
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industry, including tourism districts, chambers of commerce and any 15
other tourism entities involved in Connecticut tourism promotion; 16
(2) The Department of Economic and Community Development, in 17
consultation with the Department of Transportation, shall develop 18
plans for (A) consistent signage for the visitor welcome centers, and (B) 19
highway signage regulations for privately operated centers; 20
(3) The Department of Transportation and the Department of 21
Economic and Community Development shall establish an "Adopt A 22
Visitor Welcome Center" program, under which local civic 23
organizations may provide maintenance, gardening, including 24
wildflowers, and complimentary refreshments or any other type of 25
service at a visitor welcome center to enhance the operation of the 26
center; 27
(4) The Department of Economic and Community Development 28
shall place a full-time year-round supervisor and a part-time assistant 29
supervisor at the Danbury, Darien, North Stonington and West 30
Willington centers. The responsibilities of each supervisor shall 31
include, but not be limited to: (A) Maintaining a sufficient inventory of 32
up-to-date brochures for dissemination to visitors, (B) scheduling staff 33
so as to assure coverage at all times, (C) training staff, (D) compiling 34
and maintaining statistics on center usage, (E) serving as liaison 35
between the department, the Department of Transportation, the 36
tourism district in which the center is located and businesses in such 37
district, (F) maintaining quality tourism services, (G) rotating displays, 38
(H) evaluating staff, (I) problem-solving, and (J) computing travel 39
reimbursements for volunteer staff; 40
(5) Subject to available funds, the Department of Economic and 41
Community Development shall place a seasonal full-time supervisor 42
and a seasonal part-time assistant supervisor at the Greenwich and 43
Westbrook centers. The department shall discontinue staffing at the 44
Middletown, Plainfield and Wallingford centers, and shall, in 45
conjunction with the tourism industry, seek contract workers to 46 Committee Bill No. 192
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provide tourism services at the Westbrook center when not staffed by 47
the state; 48
(6) Subject to available funds, the Department of Economic and 49
Community Development, in conjunction with the tourism industry, 50
shall develop and implement initial staff training and conduct periodic 51
training of full-time and part-time supervisors. 52
(c) The Commissioner of Economic and Community Development 53
shall, in consultation with local chambers of commerce, develop a plan 54
to recruit local volunteers to staff the state's visitor welcome centers 55
and to reopen any closed visitor welcome centers. Not later than 56
February 1, 2020, the commissioner shall submit such plan to the joint 57
standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of 58
matters relating to commerce, in accordance with the provisions of 59
section 11-4a. 60
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage 10-399
CE Joint Favorable