OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS
Legislative Office Building, Room 5200
Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 240-0200
http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa
SB-840
AN ACT CONCERNING CONNECTICUT'S SHELLFISH
RESTORATION PROGRAM AND THE CONNECTICUT SEAFOOD
COUNCIL.
As Amended by Senate "A" (LCO 7495)
Senate Calendar No.: 138
Primary Analyst: DD 4/29/21
Contributing Analyst(s):
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact: None
Municipal Impact:
Municipalities Effect FY 22 $ FY 23 $
Various Municipalities Grand List
Reduction
None Potential
Explanation
The bill results in a potential grand list reduction in certain
municipalities by expanding the PA 490 program to include
underwater farmland used for aquaculture.
The bill results in a grand list reduction in a municipality where this
type of farmland exists to the extent that it is currently being assessed
at fair market value. Any grand list reduction results in a revenue loss,
given a constant mill rate. Due to the timing of the bill, any impact
would first occur in FY 23.
The bill allows the Department of Agriculture (DoAg) to obtain
shellfish cultch for deposit on shellfish beds in addition to purchasing
it. This has no fiscal impact since it codifies current practice. The
agency is currently collecting shellfish cultch from municipalities by
sweeping public beaches. This bill also allows DoAg to contract with a 2021SB-00840-R01-FN.DOCX Page 2 of 2
shell recovery vessel to collect and deposit shell on shellfish beds. This
has no fiscal impact to the General Fund since any new contracts
would be funded through the “Shellfish Fund”. It may, however,
result in increased costs to the Shellfish Fund which is a separate,
nonlapsing account of the General Fund administered by DoAg. The
balance in this account is currently $70,577.
The bill allows DoAg to seek new private, state, or federal grants for
deposit into the Shellfish Fund. This may result in a revenue gain to
the Shellfish Fund to the extent additional revenue is generated from
these sources. Any revenue from these grants would be expected to
offset any costs to the Shellfish Fund.
The bill restores the Connecticut Seafood Advisory Council and
renames it the Connecticut Seafood Development Council. This has no
fiscal impact.
Senate "A" results in a potential grand list reduction in certain
municipalities by expanding the PA 490 program to include
underwater farmland used for aquaculture.
The Out Years
The above identified fiscal impact will continue into the future
subject to changes in municipal mill rates and grand lists.
The preceding Fiscal Impact statement is prepared for the benefit of the members of the General Assembly,
solely for the purposes of information, summarization and explanation and does not represent the intent of the
General Assembly or either chamber thereof for any purpose. In general, fiscal impacts are based upon a variety
of informational sources, including the analyst’s professional knowledge. Whenever applicable, agency data is
consulted as part of the analysis, however final products do not necessarily reflect an assessment from any
specific department.