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OLR Bill Analysis
sSB 12
AN ACT AUTHORIZING AND ADJUSTING BONDS OF THE STATE
FOR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS AND OTHER PURPOSES AND
CONCERNING THE CONNECTICUT BABY BOND TRUST
PROGRAM AND GRANTS FOR CERTAIN LAW ENFORCEMENT
EQUIPMENT AND HOMELESSNESS PREVENTION AND
RESPONSE.
SUMMARY
This bill authorizes $465.8 million in new general obligation (GO)
bonds for FY 23 for state projects and grant programs. This includes
grants for school air quality improvements ($100 million), traffic signal
modernization ($75 million), and matching funds for federal
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act projects and programs ($75
million). It also cancels $100.5 million in existing GO bond
authorizations.
The bill also does the following:
1. makes various changes to the Connecticut Baby Bond Trust
program, including modifying the program’s bond authorization
schedule and exempting the trust’s disbursements, rather than its
property and earnings, from all state and local taxes;
2. extends, to FY 23, the Office of Policy and Management (OPM)
municipal grant program for costs associated with purchasing
eligible police body cameras, digital data storage devices or
services, and dashboard cameras; and
3. changes the purposes for which the Department of Housing
(DOH) may use the bond-funded homelessness prevention and
response fund.
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2022, except the Baby Bond program
changes are effective upon passage. 2022SB-00012-R000609-BA.DOCX
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§§ 1-15 & 38-39 — NEW BOND AUTHORIZATIONS FOR STATE
AGENCY PROJECTS
The bill authorizes state GO bonds in FY 23 for the state projects and
grant programs listed in the table below. The bonds are subject to
standard issuance procedures and have a maximum term of 20 years.
The bill includes a standard provision requiring, as a condition of
bond authorizations for grants to private entities, each granting agency
to include repayment provisions in its grant contract if the facility for
which the grant is made ceases to be used for the grant purposes within
10 years of receipt. (It exempts the Connecticut Higher Education
Supplemental Loan Authority (CHESLA) grants from this requirement.)
The required repayment is reduced by 10% for each full year that the
facility is used for the grant purpose.
Table 1: GO Bond Authorizations for State Projects and Grant Programs (FY 23)
§ Agency For Amount
STATE PROJECTS
2(a) OPM State matching funds for projects and programs
allowed under the federal Infrastructure
Investment and Jobs Act
$75,000,000
2(b) Agricultural
Experiment
Station
Renovations and improvements to Jenkins
Laboratory greenhouses
800,000
2(c) Department of
Transportation
Assisting municipalities to modernize existing
traffic signal equipment and operations
75,000,000
Matching funds necessary for municipalities,
school districts, and school bus operators to
submit federal grant applications in order to
maximize federal funding for purchasing or
leasing zero-emission electric school buses and
electric vehicle charging infrastructure
20,000,000
Constructing, altering, renovating, and
improving noise barriers
5,000,000
38 Connecticut State
Colleges and
Universities
Constructing, improving, or equipping child care
centers on or near college and university
campuses, including paying associated
architectural, engineering, or demolition service
costs
10,000,000
39 DOH Developing housing for health care workers in
collaboration with the chief workforce officer
20,000,000 2022SB-00012-R000609-BA.DOCX
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§ Agency For Amount
GRANTS
9(a) OPM Grants to food resource organizations for capital
improvements
10,000,000
9(b) Department of
Administrative
Services (DAS)
Grants for school air quality improvements,
including upgrading, replacing, or installing
heating, ventilation, and air conditioning
equipment
100,000,000
9(c) Department of
Agriculture
Grants for farmland restoration and climate
resiliency
7,000,000
9(d) CHESLA Grants to state residents who graduate from a
state university or college for student loan
reimbursement
15,000,000
§§ 16-23 — CONNECTICUT BABY BOND TRUST PROGRAM
The Connecticut Baby Bond Trust program, administered by the state
treasurer, authorizes up to $600 million in bonds to provide designated
beneficiaries (i.e., babies born on or after July 1, 2021, whose births were
covered under HUSKY) up to $3,200 in a state trust. Once they reach age
18, designated beneficiaries that meet the program’s eligibility
requirements may receive the funds, including any investment
earnings, to be used for an eligible expenditure (e.g., education, buying
a home or investing in a business in Connecticut, and personal financial
investments).
The bill makes various changes to the program, as described below,
including minor, technical, and conforming changes and corrections.
Amounts Transferred for Designated Beneficiaries
Under current law, the state treasurer must establish an accounting
for each designated beneficiary and may transfer up to $3,200 from the
program’s bond proceeds to the trust to be credited to the beneficiary’s
accounting at birth. The bill eliminates the requirement that (1) each
designated beneficiary have an accounting and (2) the transferred funds
come from these bond proceeds (see Bond Authorization below). It also
allows the transfer to be made after the designated beneficiary’s birth,
rather than at birth.
Under current law, if a designated beneficiary fails to submit a valid 2022SB-00012-R000609-BA.DOCX
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claim before his or her 30th birthday or dies before doing so, the amount
of his or her accounting is credited back to the trust’s assets. The bill
instead requires that this amount be retained by the trust to credit to
designated beneficiaries born in subsequent years.
Existing law requires the treasurer to proportionately reduce the
transfer amount for any year in which the bond funds are insufficient to
provide the $3,200 transfer to each beneficiary. The bill also requires, for
any year in which these funds exceed the amount required to provide
the transfer, that any excess be kept by the trust to credit to designated
beneficiaries born in later years. It also makes technical and conforming
changes.
Bond Authorization
Current law authorizes the treasurer to issue up to $600 million in
state general obligation bonds for the program, in amounts of up to $50
million per year from FYs 23-34. The bill increases the FY 23
authorization to $100 million and eliminates the $50 million
authorization for FY 34. It also authorizes the program ’s
implementation expenses to be added to the capped amount of bonds
authorized for each year of the program.
Current law requires the Baby Bonds program to be funded with
bonds from a specific bond issuance and incorporates certain provisions
relating to this issuance, including the treasurer’s powers in connection
with the bond sale and certain legal actions related to the bonds. The bill
instead subjects the bonds authorized under the program to standard
statutory bond procedures and repayment requirements.
State and Local Tax Exemption
The bill exempts disbursements from the trust, rather than the trust’s
property and earnings, from all state and local taxes.
Treasurer Oversight
The bill explicitly subjects the treasurer’s trust investments to the
same oversight and requirements that the law establishes for other
treasurer-administered funds, such as the Teachers’ Pension Fund, the
State Employee Retirement Fund, and the Connecticut Municipal 2022SB-00012-R000609-BA.DOCX
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Employees’ Retirement Fund (e.g., investment review by the Investment
Advisory Council).
Abandoned Property
The bill exempts the trust’s property from the law for determining
when property held by a fiduciary is presumed abandoned.
Impact on Assistance Programs and Need-Based Aid
The bill prohibits disbursements from the trust from being
considered assets or income when determining an individual’s
eligibility for (1) state-administered assistance programs, to the extent
allowed by federal law, or (2) need-based, institutional aid grants
offered at the state’s public eligible educational institutions. In doing so,
it eliminates similar provisions in current law that applied to funds
invested in the trust.
§§ 24 & 27-37 — CHANGES TO EXISTING AUTHORIZATIONS
§§ 24, 28-30, 33 & 34 — Increases to Existing Authorizations
The bill increases the amounts authorized for the existing bond
authorizations, as shown in Table 2.
Table 2: Increases to Existing Authorizations
§ Agency Purpose/Fund Current
Authorization
Bill’s
Authorization
Increase
24 OPM Capital Equipment
Purchase Fund
$10,000,000 $25,000,000 $15,000,000
28 Department of
Energy and
Environmental
Protection
(DEEP)
Connecticut
bikeway,
pedestrian
walkway,
recreational trail,
and greenway
grant program
3,000,000 6,000,000 3,000,000
30 Department of
Economic and
Community
Development
Grant to the
Connecticut
Science Center
10,500,000 20,500,000 10,000,000
34 DEEP Alterations,
renovations, and
new construction
at state parks and
other recreation
15,000,000 30,000,000 15,000,000 2022SB-00012-R000609-BA.DOCX
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§ Agency Purpose/Fund Current
Authorization
Bill’s
Authorization
Increase
facilities, including
Americans with
Disabilities Act
improvements
35 Department of
Correction
Alterations,
renovations, and
improvements to
existing state-
owned buildings
for inmate
housing,
programming and
staff training
space, additional
inmate capacity,
support facilities,
and off-site
improvements
10,000,000 40,000,000 30,000,000
37 DEEP Grants to
municipalities for
open space
acquisition and
development for
conservation or
recreational
purposes
10,000,000 15,000,000 5,000,000
§§ 27 & 31-32 — Cancellations and Reductions
The bill cancels or reduces the authorizations shown in Table 3.
Table 3: Bond Cancellations and Reductions
§ Agency Purpose/Fund Current
Authorization
Amount
Cancelled
27 DAS School construction
projects
$550,000,000 $100,000,000
32 Department of
Motor Vehicles
Development of a master
plan for department
facilities
500,000 500,000
§ 25 — GRANT PROGRAM FOR PURCHASING ELIGIBLE BODY
AND DASHBOARD CAMERAS AND RELATED EQUIPMENT AND
SERVICES
The bill extends, to FY 23, the OPM-administered municipal grant
program for costs associated with purchasing eligible police body 2022SB-00012-R000609-BA.DOCX
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cameras, digital data storage devices or services, and certain dashboard
cameras. By law, the grants are for up to 50% of the associated costs for
distressed municipalities and 30% for all other municipalities.
§ 26 — HOMELESS PREVENTION AND RESPONSE FUND
Existing law authorizes up to $30 million to DOH for a homelessness
prevention and response fund. Under current law, the fund is to provide
forgivable loans and grants to landlords (1) participating in a rapid
rehousing program (e.g., waiting security deposits or abating rent for a
designated period) and (2) abating rent for scattered supportive housing
units, by among other things, capitalizing operating and replacement
reserves for these units. The bill limits the fund’s purposes to providing
grants to capitalize operating and replacement reserves in supportive
housing units.
BACKGROUND
Related Bills
sSB 384, favorably reported by the Finance, Revenue and Bonding
Committee, contains the same changes to the Baby Bond program.
sSB 4 (File 406), favorably reported by the Transportation and
Finance, Revenue and Bonding committees, authorizes (1) $75 million
in GO bonds to assist municipalities with modernizing existing traffic
signals and (2) $20 million in GO bonds for DEEP to provide matching
funds necessary to maximize federal funding for buying or leasing zero-
emission school buses.
sSB 428 (File 449), favorably reported by the Education Committee,
requires the DAS to administer a reimbursement grant program
beginning in FY 23 for the cost of school indoor air quality
improvements, including the installation, replacement, or upgrading of
heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 49 Nay 2 (04/06/2022)