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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 6830
January Session, 2025
LCO No. 3540
Referred to Committee on PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
Introduced by:
(PD)
AN ACT CONCERNING TRAINING FOR MEMBERS AND EMPLOYEES
OF INLAND WETLANDS AGENCIES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (d) of section 22a-42 of the general statutes is 1
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 2
1, 2025): 3
(d) [At least one member of the inland wetlands agency or staff of the 4
agency shall be a person who has completed] (1) On and after January 5
1, 2026, each member of and staff person employed by an inland 6
wetlands agency shall complete the comprehensive training program 7
developed by the commissioner pursuant to section 22a-39. [Failure to 8
have a member of the agency or staff with training shall not affect the 9
validity of any action of the agency.] 10
(2) Any such member or staff person serving on or employed by any 11
such agency as of January 1, 2026, shall complete such training program 12
(A) by January 1, 2027, and (B) once every four years thereafter, except 13
that any such member may complete such subsequent training program 14
once every four years thereafter or once every term for which such 15
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member is elected or appointed, if such term is longer than four years. 16
(3) Any such member or staff person not serving on or employed by 17
any such agency as of January 1, 2026, shall complete such training 18
program (A) not later than one year after such member's election or 19
appointment or such staff person's hiring, and (B) once every four years 20
thereafter, except that any such member may complete such subsequent 21
training program once every four years thereafter or once every term for 22
which such member is elected or appointed, if such term is longer than 23
four years. 24
(4) The commissioner shall [annually] make such training program 25
available [to one person from each town without cost to that person or 26
the town. Each inland wetlands agency shall hold a meeting at least once 27
annually at which information is presented to the members of the 28
agency which summarizes the provisions of the training program] on 29
the Internet web site of the Department of Energy and Environmental 30
Protection to members of and staff employed by inland wetlands 31
agencies. The commissioner shall develop such [information] training 32
program in consultation with interested persons affected by the 33
regulation of inland wetlands. [and shall provide for distribution of 34
video presentations and related written materials which convey such 35
information to inland wetlands agencies.] In addition to [such materials] 36
developing such training program, the commissioner, in consultation 37
with such interested persons, shall prepare materials [which] that 38
provide guidance to municipalities in carrying out the provisions of 39
subsection (f) of section 22a-42a. 40
(5) Not later than March 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, each inland 41
wetlands agency shall submit a statement to the legislative body or 42
board of selectmen of the municipality in which such agency sits, 43
affirming compliance with the training requirement established 44
pursuant to this section by each member of and staff person employed 45
by such agency who was required to complete such training in the 46
calendar year ending the preceding December thirty-first. 47
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(6) The failure of any member or staff person to complete such 48
training shall not affect the validity of any action of an inlands wetlands 49
agency. 50
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2025 22a-42(d)
Statement of Purpose:
To require the completion of an online training program by members
and staff of inland wetlands agencies.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]