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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 1016
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 5278
Referred to Committee on PUBLIC SAFETY AND
SECURITY
Introduced by:
(PS)
AN ACT CONCERNING EM ERGENCY PREPAREDNESS .
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 28-8a of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage): 2
(a) The chief executive officer of the municipality in which a major 3
disaster or emergency occurs, or his or her designee, may take such 4
action as he or she deems necessary to mitigate the major disaster or 5
emergency and to secure and preserve any documents and evidence 6
pertinent to and necessary for a future investigation. 7
(b) Any person who is not a member of a civil preparedness force 8
and who is requested by the chief executive officer of a municipality or 9
his or her designee to render aid in any major disaster, emergency, 10
disaster emergency or attack shall register, as soon as practicable, with 11
the local chief executive authority of the municipality requesting such 12
aid, or his or her designee. Any such person for whom workers' 13
compensation benefits are not otherwise provided shall be 14
compensated for death, disability or injury resulting from the 15 Raised Bill No. 1016
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rendering of such aid pursuant to the provisions of chapter 568, except 16
that (1) such person shall be construed to be an employee of the 17
municipality where the aid was rendered and (2) the person's average 18
weekly wage, as said term is used in chapter 568, shall be ascertained 19
pursuant to the provisions of subdivision (2) of subsection (a) of 20
section 28-14. All claims under this subsection shall be determined 21
according to the procedures specified in chapter 568. 22
Sec. 2. Section 28-9a of the general statutes is repealed and the 23
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage): 24
(a) Whenever the Governor proclaims a disaster emergency under 25
the laws of this state, or the President declares an emergency or a 26
major disaster to exist in this state, the Governor is authorized: (1) To 27
enter into purchase, lease, or other arrangements with any agency of 28
the United States for temporary housing units to be occupied by 29
disaster victims and to make such units available to any political 30
subdivision of the state; (2) to assist any political subdivision of this 31
state which is the locus of such housing to acquire sites necessary for 32
such housing and to do all things required to prepare such sites to 33
receive and utilize such housing units by: (A) Advancing or lending 34
funds available to the Governor from any appropriation made by the 35
legislature, or from any other source, (B) "passing through" funds 36
made available by any agency, public or private, or (C) becoming a 37
copartner with the political subdivision for the execution and 38
performance of any temporary housing for disaster victims' project 39
and for such purposes to pledge the credit of the state on such terms as 40
[he] the Governor deems appropriate, having due regard for current 41
debt transactions of the state; (3) under such regulations as [he] the 42
Governor shall prescribe, to temporarily suspend or modify for not to 43
exceed sixty days any public health, safety, zoning, transportation or 44
other requirement of law or regulation within this state when by 45
proclamation [he] the Governor deems such suspension or 46
modification essential to provide temporary housing for disaster 47
victims. 48 Raised Bill No. 1016
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(b) Any political subdivision of this state is expressly authorized to 49
acquire, temporarily or permanently, by purchase, lease, or otherwise, 50
sites required for installation of temporary housing units for disaster 51
victims, and to enter into whatever arrangements, including purchase 52
of temporary housing units and payment of transportation charges, 53
which are necessary to prepare or equip such sites to utilize such 54
housing units. 55
(c) Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to limit the 56
Governor's authority to apply for, administer, and expend any grant, 57
gifts, or payments in aid of disaster prevention, preparedness, 58
response or recovery. 59
(d) "Major disaster", "emergency" and "temporary housing" as used 60
in this section have the same meanings as the terms are defined, or 61
used, in the Disaster Relief Act of 1974 (P.L. 93-288, 88 Stat. 143). 62
Sec. 3. Section 28-11 of the general statutes is repealed and the 63
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage): 64
(a) During the existence of a civil preparedness or public health 65
emergency, as defined in section 19a-131, the Governor may, in the 66
event of shortage or disaster making such action necessary for the 67
protection of the public, take possession (1) of any land or buildings, 68
machinery or equipment; (2) of any horses, vehicles, motor vehicles, 69
aircraft, ships, boats, rolling stock of steam, diesel or electric railroads 70
or any other means of conveyance whatsoever; (3) of any antitoxins, 71
pharmaceutical products, vaccines or other biological products; and (4) 72
of any cattle, poultry or any provisions for persons or beast, and any 73
fuel, gasoline or other means of propulsion necessary or convenient for 74
the use of the military or naval forces of the state or of the United 75
States, or for the better protection of the welfare of the state or its 76
inhabitants according to the purposes of this chapter. 77
(b) [He] The Governor may use and employ all property of which 78
possession is taken, for such times and in such manner as [he] the 79 Raised Bill No. 1016
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Governor deems for the best interests of the state or its inhabitants, 80
and may, in particular, when in [his] the Governor's opinion the public 81
exigency so requires, lease, sell or, when conditions warrant, distribute 82
gratuitously to or among any or all of the persons within the state 83
anything taken under this section. 84
(c) If real estate is seized under this section, a declaration of the 85
property seized, containing a full and complete description, shall 86
within a reasonable time be filed with the Secretary of the State and 87
with the town clerk of the town in which the property is located, and a 88
copy of the declaration shall be furnished the owner. If personal 89
property is seized under this section, the civil preparedness authorities 90
by whom it is seized shall maintain a docket containing a permanent 91
record of such personal property and its condition when seized, and 92
shall furnish a true copy of the docket recording to the owner of the 93
seized property. 94
(d) The owner of any property taken under this section shall receive 95
just compensation therefor as follows: (1) If property is taken for 96
temporary use, the Governor shall, as soon as possible after the taking, 97
fix the amount of compensation to be paid therefor. If such property is 98
returned to the owner in a damaged condition or is not returned to the 99
owner, the Governor shall fix forthwith the amount of compensation to 100
be paid for such damages or failure to return. Whenever the Governor 101
deems it advisable for the state to become the owner of property taken 102
under this section, [he] the Governor shall forthwith cause the owner 103
of the property to be notified in writing by registered or certified mail, 104
postage prepaid, and shall file a copy of the notice with the Secretary 105
of the State. (2) If the owner of property taken under this section 106
refuses to accept the amount of compensation fixed in accordance with 107
subdivision (1) of this subsection, [he] the owner may prefer a petition 108
to the superior court for the judicial district in which the property was 109
taken or to a judge of said court if the court is not in session, praying 110
that just compensation may be determined, which petition shall be 111
accompanied by a summons signed by competent authority, to serve 112 Raised Bill No. 1016
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as process in civil actions before said court, notifying the Governor and 113
all persons interested in such property to appear before the court or 114
judge. The court or judge shall refer the determination of the amount 115
of damages to a state referee as provided in section 48-10. The state 116
referee, after giving reasonable notice to the parties, shall, if possible, 117
view the property in question, hear the evidence, ascertain the value, 118
assess just damages to the owner or parties interested in the property 119
taken and report [his] the referee's doings to the court or judge. The 120
court or judge may accept the report or may reject it for irregular or 121
improper conduct by the state referee in the course of [his] the referee's 122
duties. If the report is rejected, the court or judge shall appoint another 123
state referee, who shall proceed in the same manner as the first referee 124
was required to proceed. If the report is accepted, such acceptance 125
shall have the effect of a judgment in favor of the owner of the 126
property against the state for the amount of the assessment made by 127
the referee, and, except as otherwise provided by law, execution may 128
issue therefor. The court or judge shall make any order necessary to 129
protect the rights of all parties interested, but in no event shall the 130
Governor be prevented from taking immediate possession and use of 131
the property in question. The expenses and costs of such hearings shall 132
be taxed against the petitioner except in cases where the assessment of 133
damages made by the referee is larger than the amount fixed by the 134
Governor under subdivision (1) of this subsection, in which case they 135
shall be taxed against the state, audited and allowed by the 136
Comptroller and paid by the state upon [his] the Comptroller's order. 137
(e) Whenever the Governor determines that any real property 138
acquired and retained under the provisions of this chapter is no longer 139
needed for the preparedness of the state or for purposes under this 140
chapter, [he] the Governor shall so notify the original owner of such 141
property and, upon the request of such owner and upon payment of 142
the fair value thereof, the Governor shall return such property to such 143
owner. If the Governor and the original owner do not agree as to the 144
fair value of the property, such value shall be determined by three 145
appraisers, one of whom shall be chosen by the Governor, one by the 146 Raised Bill No. 1016
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original owner and the third by the first two appraisers. The expenses 147
of such determination shall be paid in equal shares by the state and the 148
original owner. 149
(f) Whenever the need for any personal property requisitioned 150
under this chapter for the preparedness of the state terminates, the 151
Governor may dispose of such property on such terms and conditions 152
as [he] the Governor deems appropriate, but to the extent feasible and 153
practicable [he] the Governor shall give the former owner of such 154
property an opportunity to reacquire it (1) at its then fair value as 155
determined by the Governor or (2) if it is to be disposed of at less than 156
such value, otherwise than at a public sale of which such owner is 157
given notice, at the highest price any other person is willing to pay 158
therefor; provided the provisions of this subsection shall not apply in 159
the case of fungibles or items having a fair value of less than one 160
thousand dollars. 161
Sec. 4. Section 28-17 of the general statutes is repealed and the 162
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage): 163
No employee shall be discharged because [he] the employee is a 164
member of any organization engaged in civil preparedness or because 165
he is eligible for induction into the armed forces of the United States. 166
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage 28-8a
Sec. 2 from passage 28-9a
Sec. 3 from passage 28-11
Sec. 4 from passage 28-17
PS Joint Favorable