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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 1315
January Session, 2025
LCO No. 4450
Referred to Committee on PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
Introduced by:
(PD)
AN ACT AUTHORIZING MUNICIPALITIES TO ENFORCE CERTAIN
BLIGHT REGULATIONS WITHOUT PROVIDING NOTICE OR AN
OPPORTUNITY TO REMEDIATE.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subparagraph (H) of subdivision (7) of subsection (c) of 1
section 7-148 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is 2
substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2025): 3
(H) (i) Secure the safety of persons in or passing through the 4
municipality by regulation of shows, processions, parades and music; 5
(ii) Regulate and prohibit the carrying on within the municipality of 6
any trade, manufacture, business or profession which is, or may be, so 7
carried on as to become prejudicial to public health, conducive to fraud 8
and cheating, or dangerous to, or constituting an unreasonable 9
annoyance to, those living or owning property in the vicinity; 10
(iii) Regulate auctions and garage and tag sales; 11
(iv) Prohibit, restrain, license and regulate the business of peddlers, 12
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auctioneers and junk dealers in a manner not inconsistent with the 13
general statutes; 14
(v) Regulate and prohibit swimming or bathing in the public or 15
exposed places within the municipality; 16
(vi) Regulate and license the operation of amusement parks and 17
amusement arcades including, but not limited to, the regulation of 18
mechanical rides and the establishment of the hours of operation; 19
(vii) Prohibit, restrain, license and regulate all sports, exhibitions, 20
public amusements and performances and all places where games may 21
be played; 22
(viii) Preserve the public peace and good order, prevent and quell 23
riots and disorderly assemblages and prevent disturbing noises; 24
(ix) Establish a system to obtain a more accurate registration of births, 25
marriages and deaths than the system provided by the general statutes 26
in a manner not inconsistent with the general statutes; 27
(x) Control insect pests or plant diseases in any manner deemed 28
appropriate; 29
(xi) Provide for the health of the inhabitants of the municipality and 30
do all things necessary or desirable to secure and promote the public 31
health; 32
(xii) Regulate the use of streets, sidewalks, highways, public places 33
and grounds for public and private purposes; 34
(xiii) Make and enforce police, sanitary or other similar regulations 35
and protect or promote the peace, safety, good government and welfare 36
of the municipality and its inhabitants; 37
(xiv) Regulate, in addition to the requirements under section 7-282b, 38
the installation, maintenance and operation of any device or equipment 39
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in a residence or place of business [which] that is capable of 40
automatically calling and relaying recorded emergency messages to any 41
state police or municipal police or fire department telephone number or 42
which is capable of automatically calling and relaying recorded 43
emergency messages or other forms of emergency signals to an 44
intermediate third party which shall thereafter call and relay such 45
emergency messages to a state police or municipal police or fire 46
department telephone number. Such regulations may provide for 47
penalties for the transmittal of false alarms by such devices or 48
equipment; 49
(xv) Make and enforce regulations for the prevention and 50
remediation of housing blight or blight upon any commercial real 51
property, including regulations reducing assessments. [and 52
authorizing] Any such regulations shall define blight, establish a duty 53
to maintain property and specify standards to determine if there is 54
neglect of such property, authorize designated agents of the 55
municipality to enter property during reasonable hours for the purpose 56
of remediating blighted conditions, provided such regulations [define 57
blight and require such] shall not authorize such municipality or its 58
designated agents to enter any dwelling house or structure on such 59
property, require the municipality to give written notice of any violation 60
to the owner of the property upon which blighted conditions exist and 61
provide a reasonable opportunity for the owner to remediate the 62
blighted conditions prior to any enforcement action being taken, except 63
that a municipality may take immediate enforcement action without 64
providing such written notice or opportunity to remediate in the case of 65
a violation at a property that is the [third] second or [more] greater such 66
blight violation at such property during the prior twelve-month period, 67
[and further provided such regulations shall not authorize such 68
municipality or its designated agents to enter any dwelling house or 69
structure on such property, and including regulations establishing a 70
duty to maintain property and specifying standards to determine if 71
there is neglect;] prescribe civil penalties for the violation of such 72
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regulations (I) for housing blight upon real property containing six or 73
fewer dwelling units, of not more than one hundred fifty dollars for each 74
day that a violation continues if such violation occurs at an occupied 75
property, not more than two hundred fifty dollars for each day that a 76
violation continues if such violation occurs at a vacant property, and not 77
more than one thousand dollars for each day that a violation continues 78
at a property if such violation is the third or [more] greater such 79
violation at such property during the prior twelve-month period, (II) for 80
housing blight upon real property containing more than six but fewer 81
than forty dwelling units, not more than ten cents per square foot of each 82
residential building upon such real property for each day that a 83
violation continues, (III) for housing blight upon real property 84
containing forty or more dwelling units, not more than twelve cents per 85
square foot of each residential building upon such real property for each 86
day that a violation continues, and (IV) for blight upon any commercial 87
real property, not more than ten cents per square foot of any commercial 88
building upon such real property for each day that a violation continues. 89
If any such civil penalties are prescribed, such municipality shall adopt 90
a citation hearing procedure in accordance with section 7-152c. For the 91
sole purpose of determining if a violation is the third or [more] greater 92
such violation at such property during the prior twelve-month period, 93
"violation" means a violation of any municipal blight regulation for 94
which the municipality has issued a notice of violation and either, in the 95
determination of such municipality, the conditions creating such 96
violation were previously cured or one hundred twenty days have 97
passed from the notice of violation and the conditions creating such 98
violation have not been cured. A third violation may also be established 99
where three or more conditions constituting such violation exist at a 100
property simultaneously; 101
(xvi) Regulate, on any property owned by or under the control of the 102
municipality, any activity deemed to be deleterious to public health, 103
including the burning of a lighted cigarette, cigar, pipe or similar device, 104
whether containing, wholly or in part, tobacco or cannabis, as defined 105
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in section 21a-420, and the use or consumption of cannabis, including, 106
but not limited to, electronic cannabis delivery systems, as defined in 107
section 19a-342a, or vapor products, as defined in said section, 108
containing cannabis. If the municipality's population is greater than fifty 109
thousand, such regulations shall designate a place in the municipality 110
in which public consumption of cannabis is permitted. Such regulations 111
may prohibit the smoking of cannabis and the use of electronic cannabis 112
delivery systems and vapor products containing cannabis in the 113
outdoor sections of a restaurant. Such regulations may prescribe 114
penalties for the violation of such regulations, provided such fine does 115
not exceed fifty dollars for a violation of such regulations regarding 116
consumption by an individual or a fine in excess of one thousand dollars 117
to any business for a violation of such regulations; 118
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2025 7-148(c)(7)(H)
Statement of Purpose:
To remove certain notice and opportunity to remediate provisions
concerning repeat blight violations.
[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.]