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OLR Bill Analysis
sHB 5494
AN ACT CONCERNING REFERENDA ON REVISIONS TO
MUNICIPAL CHARTERS AND HOME RULE ORDINANCES.
SUMMARY
This bill establishes requirements for ballot designations (i.e.,
questions) for proposed changes to municipal charters and home rule
ordinances that must be submitted to a municipality’s voters at an
election (whether required by the statutes or a special act, charter, or
ordinance).
Additionally, the bill establishes procedures (1) for a town’s electors
to contest these ballot designations by petitioning the secretary of the
state to review them for compliance with the bill’s requirements and (2)
for the secretary to review them and make these determinations. If the
secretary determines a designation is non-compliant, the bill prohibits
its use, and the municipality must restart the charter or home rule
ordinance revision process. However, the bill allows municipalities to
appeal the secretary’s determination.
The bill specifies that nothing in its provisions prevents any person,
organization, or municipality from seeking other legal remedies.
However, no court may stay a ballot designation or referendum unless
(1) imposed as part of the municipality’s appeal or (2) it makes a finding
of extraordinary circumstances.
The bill also makes technical and conforming changes.
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2024
BALLOT DESIGNATION REQUIREM ENTS
Question Format and Explanation
Under the bill, as under existing law for referendum questions, the 2024HB-05494-R000490-BA.DOCX
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ballot designation for a proposed charter or home rule ordinance
amendment must be “Shall (insert question, in a form requiring a “Yes”
or “No” response, followed by a question mark).” If the designation as
presented does not adequately explain the proposed change or changes,
the bill requires the town clerk to prepare a precise and fair explanation
that does not advocate for or against the amendment. The bill requires
that both the designation and the explanation use simple, precise, clear,
unambiguous, and plain language.
Existing law allows municipalities, generally by vote of their
legislative bodies, to authorize similar explanatory texts or other printed
materials for referendum questions. For regional school district
referenda, only the regional board of education can authorize
explanatory text.
Proposed Amendments on Multiple Subjects
Under the bill, for proposed charter or home rule ordinance
amendments addressing multiple distinct subjects, each subject must
appear and be described separately on the ballot. However, for
proposed changes across multiple charter or ordinance provisions,
changes relating to a single subject may be submitted in one question.
Summaries of Favorable and Opposing Arguments
The bill allows municipalities to prepare, print, and disseminate
concise summaries of arguments in favor of, and opposed to, the
proposed charter or home rule ordinance amendment, and requires
these summaries to comply with existing law’s requirements for
summaries for referendum questions.
Specifically, this existing law authorizes municipalities, by
ordinance, to provide for concise summaries of favorable and opposing
arguments for approved local proposals or questions at a referendum
for which explanatory texts are prepared. The ordinance must provide
for the establishment or designation of a committee, whose members
must represent various viewpoints, to prepare the summaries.
To the extent practicable, the committee must provide an opportunity 2024HB-05494-R000490-BA.DOCX
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for public comment on the prepared summaries. The summaries must
be approved by the municipality’s legislative body, or any other
municipal body designated by the ordinance, and be posted and
distributed in the same way as explanatory texts. Each summary must
contain language clearly stating that the printing of the summary does
not constitute an endorsement by, or represent the official position of,
the municipality.
PETITION PROCESS
Deadline for Submitting Petition to Contest a Ballot Designation
By law, proposed charter or home rule ordinance amendments must
be prepared for the ballot by the municipality’s appointing authority
(i.e., the body authorized to appoint the charter or home rule ordinance
revision committee). Under the bill, within 30 days after the ballot
designation is prepared by the appointing authority (or other municipal
official required to do so under the municipality’s special act, charter, or
ordinance), town electors may submit a petition to the secretary of the
state and the town clerk to contest that the designation violates the bill’s
provisions. (It is unclear when the 30-day timeline starts as the existing
law on preparing the ballot designation does not prescribe a specific
time that the designation is considered prepared.)
Required Signatures and Contents
The petition must be signed by at least 1% of the municipality’s
electors as determined by the most recent registry list. Each elector who
signs the petition must include his or her printed name, address, and
birth date on the petition.
The petition must contain the:
1. contested designation or designations;
2. grounds for contesting each designation; and
3. name, mailing address, email address, and phone number of the
person or organization to receive notice regarding the petition
(i.e., listed party). 2024HB-05494-R000490-BA.DOCX
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This information must (1) appear identically on each page of the
petition and (2) be provided to the appointing authority or municipal
official and the municipality’s registrars of voters at the same time the
petition is presented to the town clerk and secretary of the state.
Petition Circulator
Each petition page may be circulated by only one circulator which,
under penalty of false statement, must certify on the page (or its reverse)
(1) his or her name and address, (2) the number of signatures on the
page, (3) an acknowledgment that each elector signed the page in his or
her presence, and (4) that he or she knows the elector or the elector
satisfactorily identified themself to the circulator. Each page must also
be acknowledged by a(n) (1) judge or family support magistrate, (2)
court clerk or deputy clerk, (3) town clerk, (4) notary public, (5) justice
of the peace, or (6) attorney admitted to the state bar.
Action by the Town Clerk
Within five days after the petition is presented to the town clerk, the
clerk must provide the following to the listed party: (1) a copy of the
petition; (2) notice of the dates the petition was presented to the clerk
and when it was returned to the party; and (3) the town’s clerk’s
determination as to whether the petition complies with the bill’s
requirements and, if applicable, the notice described below about the
petition’s deficiencies. The clerk must also notify the municipality’s
registrar of voters of this information.
If the town clerk determines the petition complies, he or she must
approve the petition, attach a certificate of compliance, and promptly
deliver or send (by certified mail) the petition to the secretary of the
state. If the town clerk determines that the petition does not comply, he
or she must notify the listed party of the petition’s deficiencies, how to
address them, and the date by when the parties must address the
deficiencies.
REVIEW PROCESS
Approving the Original or an Alternate Ballot Designation
When the secretary receives the certified petition, she must notify the 2024HB-05494-R000490-BA.DOCX
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listed party and the town’s registrars of voters of its receipt. The
secretary must then review the petition to determine whether the
contested designation or designations comply with the bill’s provisions.
The secretary may consult with the listed party and the affected
municipality’s officials and recommend an alternate ballot designation
that would comply with the bill. The municipality’s appointing
authority or other official may approve this alternate designation within
the existing timeframe required for submitting local referendum
questions to the secretary of the state (i.e., generally at least 45 days
before the election, unless the statutes allow for it to be submitted within
this 45-day period). (It is unclear whether the bill authorizes the
alternate designation to be submitted within the 45-day period.)
Under the bill, if the secretary determines the designation (or
alternate designation timely filed by the appointing authority or other
municipal official) complies with the bill’s requirements, the
designation must appear on the ballot and be submitted to the
municipality’s electors.
Rejecting a Ballot Designation
The secretary must reject the designation if she determines it does not
comply. Additionally, the designation may not appear on the ballot, and
the municipality must initiate a new action to amend its charter or home
rule ordinance according to the statutory process for doing so.
If multiple designations for the same ballot are submitted for review
and the secretary rejects one or more of them, the bill allows the
appointing authority or other municipal official to withdraw one or
more of the approved designations within the timeframe for submitting
local referendum questions to the secretary of the state. Any withdrawn
designation cannot appear on the ballot.
APPEAL
A municipality may appeal the secretary’s rejection of its ballot
designation to the Superior Court for the judicial district it is located in.
The appeal must be privileged for trial assignment. 2024HB-05494-R000490-BA.DOCX
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Both the secretary and the listed party must be named appellate
defendants. The bill specifies that for purposes of these appeals, a listed
party that is an organization shall have capacity to be sued and to
defend the lawsuit. (The legal effect of this provision is unclear.)
Process for the appeal must be served on the listed party at the
address provided in the petition. If it is a P.O. box, unless court rules say
otherwise, the process (1) must be served by certified mail with return
receipt requested and (2) is considered a valid service of process.
On the day set for the appeal hearing, the court must, without delay,
conduct the hearing and render a decision. The court may order any
proper remedy, including altering the designation or modifying when
the designation will appear on the ballot.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Government Administration and Elections Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 16 Nay 3 (03/26/2024)