OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS
Legislative Office Building, Room 5200
Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 240-0200
http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa
sSB-1497
AN ACT CONCERNING PROGRAMMING AT THE DEPARTMENT
OF AGRICULTURE.
AMENDMENT
LCO No.: 7446
File Copy No.: 671
Senate Calendar No.: 360
Primary Analyst: SB 5/1/25
Contributing Analyst(s): EMG, WL, BP, RP, PR, CW (FN)
Reviewer: PR
OFA Fiscal Note
See Fiscal Note Details
The amendment makes a clarifying change to the underlying bill and
adds the following:
Section 501 creates a farm investment tax credit which results in (1)
a General Fund revenue loss of approximately $2.5 million annually
beginning in FY 27 and (2) a one-time General Fund cost of up to $75,000
in FY 27 associated with programming updates to the CTax tax
administration system and myconneCT online portal, and form
modification.
Section 502 increases the state-mandated property tax exemption for
farm machinery from $100,000 to $500,000 in assessed value which may
result in a grand list reduction of up to $384 million to municipalities
cumulatively beginning in FY 27.
Sections 503 requires the Department of Energy and Environmental
Protection (DEEP) to amend existing regulations regarding pesticide
applications from precision drones. This is not anticipated to result in a
cost as DEEP has the staff and expertise necessary to amend the
regulations.
2025SB-01497-R00LCO07446-FNA.DOCX Page 2 of 3
Section 504 requires the State Building Code to include provisions
that allow certain residential buildings to include an elevator and
exempts “hoop houses” and “high tunnels” from certain standards
relating to hurricane proofing, results in no fiscal impact to the state or
municipalities.
Section 505 establishes the Farmers' Crop Loss Reimbursement Grant
Program within the Department of Agriculture (DoAg). This is
anticipated to result in an additional cost as DoAg does not currently
have the staff to establish and administer the new grant program and
would require two new full-time positions, including: one Grant and
Contract Specialist (annual salary of $103,227) and one Analyst 2
(annual salary of $101,903). The additional full-time positions would
result in a total cost of $205,130 (corresponding fringe benefits of
$83,508) and approximately $10,000 in other expenses.
Section 506 and Section 516 authorize a total of $15 million of new
General Obligation bonds. To the extent the bonds are fully allocated
when available, total debt repayment is anticipated to be $21.5 million
over the 20-year duration of the bonds, with the earliest annual payment
of up to $750,000 possible in FY 27.
Section 507 has no fiscal impact by granting immunity from civil
liability to certain agritourism businesses. The court system disposes of
over 250,000 cases annually and the number of cases potentially
impacted is not anticipated to be great enough to result in savings.
Sections 508 -514 shorten the commercial shellfish harvest season.
The amendment moves up the start date of issuing fines from July 20 to
June 30 in certain instances, and up to June 15 in others. To the extent
this results in additional violations, there could be an associated revenue
gain to the resources of the General Fund. The penalties for violating
shellfishing restrictions are subject to a fine of up to $250. Any additional
violations and corresponding revenue anticipated from shortening the
harvest season is anticipated to be minimal. The amendment makes
other clarifying and procedural changes to shellfishing laws that are not
anticipated to result in a fiscal impact. 2025SB-01497-R00LCO07446-FNA.DOCX Page 3 of 3
Section 515 establishes a Manure Management Grant Program
within DoAg. This is anticipated to result in an additional annual cost
of approximately $145,251 as DoAg does not currently have the staff to
establish and administer the new grant program and would require one
new full-time Grant and Contract Specialist with an annual salary of
$103,227 and corresponding fringe benefits of $42,024.
Section 516 (See above).
Section 517 appropriates $1 million to the CT Grown for CT Kids
Grant Program, within DoAg.
Section 518 appropriates $2 million to DoAg for shipping container
gardens.
Section 519 appropriates $5.6 million to DoAg for the local food for
schools incentive program.
Section 520 appropriates $3.7 million to DoAg for the Local Food
Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program.
The preceding Fiscal Impact statement is prepared for the benefit of the members of the General Assembly, solely
for the purposes of information, summarization and explanation and does not represent the intent of the General
Assembly or either chamber thereof for any purpose. In general, fiscal impacts are based upon a variety of
informational sources, including the analyst’s professional knowledge. Whenever applicable, agency data is
consulted as part of the analysis, however final products do not necessarily reflect an assessment from any
specific department.