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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 6411
January Session, 2021
LCO No. 3172
Referred to Committee on ENERGY AND TECHNOLOGY
Introduced by:
(ET)
AN ACT MOVING THE OF FICE OF CONSUMER COU NSEL WITHIN
THE OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (a) of section 16-2a of the general statutes is 1
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2
2021): 3
(a) There shall be an independent Office of Consumer Counsel, 4
within the [Department of Energy and Environmental Protection] office 5
of the Attorney General, for administrative purposes only, to act as the 6
advocate for consumer interests in all matters which may affect 7
Connecticut consumers with respect to public service companies, 8
electric suppliers and certified telecommunications providers, 9
including, but not limited to, rates and related issues, ratepayer-funded 10
programs and matters concerning the reliability, maintenance, 11
operations, infrastructure and quality of service of such companies, 12
suppliers and providers. The Office of Consumer Counsel is authorized 13
to appear in and participate in any regulatory or judicial proceedings, 14
federal or state, in which such interests of Connecticut consumers may 15 Raised Bill No. 6411
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be involved, or in which matters affecting utility services rendered or to 16
be rendered in this state may be involved. The Office of Consumer 17
Counsel shall be a party to each contested case before the Public Utilities 18
Regulatory Authority and shall participate in such proceedings to the 19
extent it deems necessary. Said Office of Consumer Counsel may appeal 20
from a decision, order or authorization in any such state regulatory 21
proceeding notwithstanding its failure to appear or participate in said 22
proceeding. 23
Sec. 2. Subsection (a) of section 52-259a of the general statutes is 24
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 25
2021): 26
(a) Any member of the Division of Criminal Justice or the Division of 27
Public Defender Services, any employee of the Judicial Department, 28
acting in the performance of such employee's duties, the Attorney 29
General, an assistant attorney general, the Consumer Counsel, any 30
attorney employed by the Office of Consumer Counsel within the 31
[Department of Energy and Environmental Protection] office of the 32
Attorney General, the Department of Revenue Services, the 33
Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, the Freedom of 34
Information Commission, the Board of Labor Relations, the Office of the 35
Victim Advocate, the Department of Social Services, the Department of 36
Children and Families or the Office of State Ethics, or any attorney 37
appointed by the court to assist any of them or to act for any of them in 38
a special case or cases, while acting in such attorney's official capacity or 39
in the capacity for which such attorney was appointed, shall not be 40
required to pay the fees specified in sections 52-258, 52-259, and 52-259c, 41
subsection (a) of section 52-356a, subsection (a) of section 52-361a, 42
section 52-367a, subsection (b) of section 52-367b and subsection (n) of 43
section 46b-231. 44
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2021 16-2a(a)
Sec. 2 July 1, 2021 52-259a(a) Raised Bill No. 6411
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Statement of Purpose:
To relocate the Office of Consumer Counsel within the office of the
Attorney General.
[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.]