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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 430
February Session, 2020
LCO No. 2677
Referred to Committee on PUBLIC SAFETY AND SECURITY
Introduced by:
(PS)
AN ACT MAKING TECHNI CAL CHANGES TO THE E MERGENCY
PREPAREDNESS STATUTE S.
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 Section 28-8a of the general statutes is repealed and the 1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 and 8
who is requested by the chief executive officer of a municipality or his 9
or her designee to render aid in any major disaster, emergency, disaster 10
emergency or attack shall register, as soon as practicable, with the local 11
chief executive authority of the municipality requesting such aid, or his 12
or her designee. Any such person for whom workers' compensation 13
benefits are not otherwise provided shall be compensated for death, 14
disability or injury resulting from the rendering of such aid pursuant to 15 Raised Bill No. 430
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the provisions of chapter 568, except that (1) such person shall be 16
construed to be an employee of the municipality where the aid was 17
rendered and (2) the person's average weekly wage, as said term is used 18
in chapter 568, shall be ascertained pursuant to the provisions of 19
subdivision (2) of subsection (a) of section 28-14. All claims under this 20
subsection shall be determined according to the procedures specified in 21
chapter 568. 22
Sec. 2. Subsection (a) of section 28-9a of the general statutes is 23
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from 24
passage): 25
(a) Whenever the Governor proclaims a disaster emergency under 26
the laws of this state, or the President declares an emergency or a major 27
disaster to exist in this state, the Governor is authorized: (1) To enter into 28
purchase, lease, or other arrangements with any agency of the United 29
States for temporary housing units to be occupied by disaster victims 30
and to make such units available to any political subdivision of the state; 31
(2) to assist any political subdivision of this state which is the locus of 32
such housing to acquire sites necessary for such housing and to do all 33
things required to prepare such sites to receive and utilize such housing 34
units by: (A) Advancing or lending funds available to the Governor 35
from any appropriation made by the legislature, or from any other 36
source, (B) "passing through" funds made available by any agency, 37
public or private, or (C) becoming a copartner with the political 38
subdivision for the execution and performance of any temporary 39
housing for disaster victims' project and for such purposes to pledge the 40
credit of the state on such terms as [he] the Governor deems appropriate, 41
having due regard for current debt transactions of the state; (3) under 42
such regulations as [he] the Governor shall prescribe, to temporarily 43
suspend or modify for not to exceed sixty days any public health, safety, 44
zoning, transportation or other requirement of law or regulation within 45
this state when by proclamation [he] the Governor deems such 46
suspension or modification essential to provide temporary housing for 47
disaster victims. 48 Raised Bill No. 430
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Sec. 3. Section 28-11 of the general statutes is repealed and the 49
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage): 50
(a) During the existence of a civil preparedness or public health 51
emergency, as defined in section 19a-131, the Governor may, in the 52
event of shortage or disaster making such action necessary for the 53
protection of the public, take possession (1) of any land or buildings, 54
machinery or equipment; (2) of any horses, vehicles, motor vehicles, 55
aircraft, ships, boats, rolling stock of steam, diesel or electric railroads or 56
any other means of conveyance whatsoever; (3) of any antitoxins, 57
pharmaceutical products, vaccines or other biological products; and (4) 58
of any cattle, poultry or any provisions for persons or beast, and any 59
fuel, gasoline or other means of propulsion necessary or convenient for 60
the use of the military or naval forces of the state or of the United States, 61
or for the better protection of the welfare of the state or its inhabitants 62
according to the purposes of this chapter. 63
(b) [He] The Governor may use and employ all property of which 64
possession is taken, for such times and in such manner as [he] the 65
Governor deems for the best interests of the state or its inhabitants, and 66
may, in particular, when in [his] the Governor's opinion the public 67
exigency so requires, lease, sell or, when conditions warrant, distribute 68
gratuitously to or among any or all of the persons within the state 69
anything taken under this section. 70
(c) If real estate is seized under this section, a declaration of the 71
property seized, containing a full and complete description, shall within 72
a reasonable time be filed with the Secretary of the State and with the 73
town clerk of the town in which the property is located, and a copy of 74
the declaration shall be furnished the owner. If personal property is 75
seized under this section, the civil preparedness authorities by whom it 76
is seized shall maintain a docket containing a permanent record of such 77
personal property and its condition when seized, and shall furnish a 78
true copy of the docket recording to the owner of the seized property. 79
(d) The owner of any property taken under this section shall receive 80 Raised Bill No. 430
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just compensation therefor as follows: (1) If property is taken for 81
temporary use, the Governor shall, as soon as possible after the taking, 82
fix the amount of compensation to be paid therefor. If such property is 83
returned to the owner in a damaged condition or is not returned to the 84
owner, the Governor shall fix forthwith the amount of compensation to 85
be paid for such damages or failure to return. Whenever the Governor 86
deems it advisable for the state to become the owner of property taken 87
under this section, [he] the Governor shall forthwith cause the owner of 88
the property to be notified in writing by registered or certified mail, 89
postage prepaid, and shall file a copy of the notice with the Secretary of 90
the State. (2) If the owner of property taken under this section refuses to 91
accept the amount of compensation fixed in accordance with 92
subdivision (1) of this subsection, [he] the owner may prefer a petition 93
to the superior court for the judicial district in which the property was 94
taken or to a judge of said court if the court is not in session, praying 95
that just compensation may be determined, which petition shall be 96
accompanied by a summons signed by competent authority, to serve as 97
process in civil actions before said court, notifying the Governor and all 98
persons interested in such property to appear before the court or judge. 99
The court or judge shall refer the determination of the amount of 100
damages to a state referee as provided in section 48-10. The state referee, 101
after giving reasonable notice to the parties, shall, if possible, view the 102
property in question, hear the evidence, ascertain the value, assess just 103
damages to the owner or parties interested in the property taken and 104
report [his] the referee's doings to the court or judge. The court or judge 105
may accept the report or may reject it for irregular or improper conduct 106
by the state referee in the course of [his] the referee's duties. If the report 107
is rejected, the court or judge shall appoint another state referee, who 108
shall proceed in the same manner as the first referee was required to 109
proceed. If the report is accepted, such acceptance shall have the effect 110
of a judgment in favor of the owner of the property against the state for 111
the amount of the assessment made by the referee, and, except as 112
otherwise provided by law, execution may issue therefor. The court or 113
judge shall make any order necessary to protect the rights of all parties 114
interested, but in no event shall the Governor be prevented from taking 115 Raised Bill No. 430
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immediate possession and use of the property in question. The expenses 116
and costs of such hearings shall be taxed against the petitioner except in 117
cases where the assessment of damages made by the referee is larger 118
than the amount fixed by the Governor under subdivision (1) of this 119
subsection, in which case they shall be taxed against the state, audited 120
and allowed by the Comptroller and paid by the state upon [his] the 121
Comptroller's order. 122
(e) Whenever the Governor determines that any real property 123
acquired and retained under the provisions of this chapter is no longer 124
needed for the preparedness of the state or for purposes under this 125
chapter, [he] the Governor shall so notify the original owner of such 126
property and, upon the request of such owner and upon payment of the 127
fair value thereof, the Governor shall return such property to such 128
owner. If the Governor and the original owner do not agree as to the fair 129
value of the property, such value shall be determined by three 130
appraisers, one of whom shall be chosen by the Governor, one by the 131
original owner and the third by the first two appraisers. The expenses 132
of such determination shall be paid in equal shares by the state and the 133
original owner. 134
(f) Whenever the need for any personal property requisitioned under 135
this chapter for the preparedness of the state terminates, the Governor 136
may dispose of such property on such terms and conditions as [he] the 137
Governor deems appropriate, but to the extent feasible and practicable 138
[he] the Governor shall give the former owner of such property an 139
opportunity to reacquire it (1) at its then fair value as determined by the 140
Governor, or (2) if it is to be disposed of at less than such value, 141
otherwise than at a public sale of which such owner is given notice, at 142
the highest price any other person is willing to pay therefor; provided 143
the provisions of this subsection shall not apply in the case of fungibles 144
or items having a fair value of less than one thousand dollars. 145
Sec. 4. Section 28-17 of the general statutes is repealed and the 146
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage): 147 Raised Bill No. 430
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No employee shall be discharged because [he] the employee is a 148
member of any organization engaged in civil preparedness or because 149
[he] the employee is eligible for induction into the armed forces of the 150
United States. 151
Sec. 5. Subsection (c) of section 28-30 of the general statutes is 152
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 153
2020): 154
(c) On and after January 1, 1990, no person may be employed as a 155
telecommunicator by any public safety agency or private safety agency 156
for a period exceeding one year unless such person has been certified by 157
the division upon (1) successfully completing a telecommunicator 158
training program and demonstrating proficiency in the performance of 159
telecommunicator training program standards, or (2) successfully 160
completing a written or oral examination developed by the division. 161
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(a)
Sec. 3 from passage 28-11
Sec. 4 from passage 28-17
Sec. 5 July 1, 2020 28-30(c)
Statement of Purpose:
To make technical changes to the emergency preparedness statutes.
[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.]