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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 6647
January Session, 2021
AN ACT CONCERNING GE OGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2021) (a) There is created a 1
Geographic Information Systems Advisory Council to consult with the 2
Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management on matters relating to 3
(1) the coordination, procurement, processing, storage and distribution 4
of free and public geographic information systems data, and (2) the 5
powers and duties of the secretary under section 4d-90 of the general 6
statutes. In the course of such consultation, the advisory council shall 7
(A) develop (i) priorities regarding the performance of any action 8
described in subdivisions (1) and (2) of this subsection, and (ii) an 9
annual five-year plan for such performance, and (B) make 10
recommendations to the secretary concerning such priorities and plan. 11
(b) The advisory council shall consist of the following members: 12
(1) The Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, or the 13
secretary's designee; 14
(2) The Chief Data Officer, or the officer's designee; 15
(3) One representative of the Department of Energy and 16
Environmental Protection who has expertise in geographic information 17
systems, appointed by the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental 18 Substitute Bill No. 6647
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Protection; 19
(4) One representative of the Department of Transportation who has 20
expertise in geographic information systems, appointed by the 21
Commissioner of Transportation; 22
(5) One representative of the Department of Emergency Services and 23
Public Protection who has expertise in geographic information systems, 24
appointed by the Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public 25
Protection; 26
(6) One representative of the Department of Public Health who has 27
expertise in geographic information systems, appointed by the 28
Commissioner of Public Health; 29
(7) Two representatives of different regional councils of governments 30
who have expertise in geographic information systems, including aerial 31
imagery acquisition and the provision of geographic information to 32
municipalities, appointed by the chairperson of the Connecticut 33
Association of Councils of Governments; 34
(8) Two representatives of different municipal governments who 35
have expertise in geographic information systems and are members of 36
the Connecticut GIS Network, appointed by the president of the 37
Connecticut Conference of Municipalities; 38
(9) One representative of The University of Connecticut who has 39
experience in providing the state's geospatial information, including 40
state-wide aerial imagery and elevation, to various constituencies, 41
appointed by the president of The University of Connecticut; 42
(10) One representative of a public utility company, appointed by the 43
chairperson of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority; and 44
(11) Two representatives from different private companies, neither of 45
which is a public utility company, who have expertise in mapping 46
applications for commercial purposes, one of whom is appointed jointly 47 Substitute Bill No. 6647
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by the chairpersons of the joint standing committee of the General 48
Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to planning and 49
development and the other of whom is appointed jointly by the ranking 50
members of said committee. 51
(c) All initial appointments to the advisory council shall be made not 52
later than January 1, 2022, and all subsequent appointments shall be 53
made not later than January 1, 2024, and biennially thereafter. Each 54
member of the advisory council shall serve for a term of two years, 55
except that in the event of any vacancy the appointing authority shall 56
fill such vacancy for the unexpired portion of such term. 57
(d) The advisory council shall meet not later than March first 58
following any initial or subsequent appointment of its members, and 59
shall elect at such meeting a chairperson and vice-chairperson from 60
among its members. Except as provided in this subsection, all other 61
meetings of the advisory committee shall be as scheduled by the 62
chairperson. 63
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2021) (a) The Secretary of the Office 64
of Policy and Management shall designate an employee of the Office of 65
Policy and Management to serve as Geographic Information Officer. 66
Such employee shall have extensive knowledge of the principles, 67
practices, terminology and trends in geographic information systems, 68
spatial data, analysis and related technology and experience in 69
administration, project management, policy development, coordination 70
of services and planning. Such employee shall (1) oversee the operations 71
of a Geographic Information Systems Office, (2) manage the staff of such 72
office, and (3) in conjunction with the Geographic Information Systems 73
Advisory Council created under section 1 of this act, establish goals for 74
such office within the scope of the powers and duties described in 75
subsection (b) of this section. 76
(b) The Geographic Information Officer shall be responsible for (1) 77
coordinating the collection, compilation and dissemination of 78
geographic information systems data across the state, including from 79 Substitute Bill No. 6647
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and to state agencies, regional councils of governments, municipalities 80
and other constituencies, (2) managing a geospatial data clearinghouse 81
for public access to such information through the online repository 82
described in subsection (i) of section 4-67p of the general statutes, (3) 83
supporting economic development efforts in the state through the 84
provision of such information, (4) providing training and outreach on 85
the use of such information, (5) administering the creation and 86
acquisition of geospatial data, including aerial imagery and elevation 87
and parcel information, (6) adopting geospatial data standards, 88
guidelines and procedures to ensure consistency and quality of such 89
data, and (7) performing technical data processing to aggregate and 90
organize existing data sets and create new data sets. 91
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2021 New section
Sec. 2 October 1, 2021 New section
PD Joint Favorable Subst. -LCO
APP Joint Favorable