OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS
Legislative Office Building, Room 5200
Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 240-0200
http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa
sHB-6657
AN ACT CONCERNING NONCONSENSUAL TOWING.
Primary Analyst: BP 4/3/23
Contributing Analyst(s): PM
Reviewer: PR
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact:
Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 24 $ FY 25 $
State Resources State Resources -
Potential
Revenue Gain
See Below See Below
Judicial Dept. GF - Potential
Cost
See Below See Below
Note: GF=General Fund
Municipal Impact: None
Explanation
Section 1 creates an additional requirement that wreckers not charge
for more than twenty miles of towing or transporting. Under current
statute, wreckers may not charge more than rates published by the
commissioner. In FY 22, $736 was collected in imposed revenue under
this statute, 14-66(a)(3). This additional requirement may potentially
result in revenue gain.
Section 2 creates an additional record-keeping requirement for
wreckers including photographs of vehicles prior to being connected to
the wrecker and towed. In FY 22, $184 was collected in imposed revenue
for infractions related to wrecker record-keeping. This additional
requirement may potentially result in revenue gain.
Section 3 modifies the circumstances under which vehicles may be
nonconsensually towed from private property. It requires property
owners to issue notices and post signage warning of the use of a wrecker
service. For first offenses, there is a fine of $50 and for subsequent 2023HB-06657-R000452-FN.DOCX Page 2 of 2
offenses, there will be an unclassified misdemeanor which results in a
potential cost for probation and a potential revenue gain from fines. On
average, the marginal cost for supervision in the community is less than
$800
1
each year.
Section 4 created a new penalty of not more than $1,000 for not
having proper written authorization to tow a vehicle or add a wheel
locking from the requesting party and for rebate or pay for the privilege
of towing or wheel locking such vehicles. This results in a potential
revenue gain from fines.
The Out Years
The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would
continue into the future subject to inflation and number of violations.
1
Probation marginal cost is based on services provided by private providers and only
includes costs that increase with each additional participant. This does not include a
cost for additional supervision by a probation officer unless a new offense is
anticipated to result in enough additional offenders to require additional probation
officers.