LCO 1 of 6
General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 1522
January Session, 2025
AN ACT RENAMING THE COMMUNITY INVESTMENT ACCOUNT THE
DONALD E. WILLIAMS, JR. COMMUNITY INVESTMENT ACCOUNT
AND INCREASING FUNDING FOR SAID ACCOUNT.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 4-66aa of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2025): 2
[(a)] There is established, within the General Fund, a separate, 3
nonlapsing account to be known as the ["community investment 4
account"] "Donald E. Williams, Jr. community investment account". The 5
account shall contain any moneys required by law to be deposited in the 6
account. The funds in the account shall be distributed every three 7
months as follows: (1) [Ten] Twelve dollars of each fee credited to said 8
account shall be deposited into the agriculture sustainability account 9
established pursuant to section 4-66cc and, then, of the remaining funds, 10
(2) twenty-five per cent to the Department of Economic and Community 11
Development to use as follows: (A) [Three hundred eighty] Four 12
hundred seventy-five thousand dollars, annually, to supplement the 13
technical assistance and preservation activities of the Connecticut Trust 14
for Historic Preservation, established pursuant to special act 75-93, and 15
(B) the remainder to supplement historic preservation activities as 16
provided in sections 10-409 to 10-415, inclusive; (3) twenty-five per cent 17
to the Department of Housing to supplement new or existing affordable 18 Substitute Bill No. 1522
LCO 2 of 6
housing programs; (4) twenty-five per cent to the Department of Energy 19
and Environmental Protection for municipal open space grants; and (5) 20
twenty-five per cent to the Department of Agriculture to use as follows: 21
(A) [Five hundred] Six hundred twenty-five thousand dollars annually 22
for the agricultural viability grant program established pursuant to 23
section 22-26j; (B) [five hundred] six hundred twenty-five thousand 24
dollars annually for the farm transition program established pursuant 25
to section 22-26k; (C) one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars 26
annually to encourage the sale of Connecticut-grown food to schools, 27
restaurants, retailers and other institutions and businesses in the state; 28
(D) [seventy-five] ninety-three thousand seven hundred fifty dollars 29
annually for the Connecticut farm link program established pursuant to 30
section 22-26l; (E) [forty-seven thousand five hundred] fifty-nine 31
thousand three hundred seventy-five dollars annually for the Seafood 32
Advisory Council established pursuant to section 22-455; (F) [forty-33
seven thousand five hundred] fifty-nine thousand three hundred 34
seventy-five dollars annually for the Connecticut Farm Wine 35
Development Council established pursuant to section 22-26c; (G) 36
[twenty-five] thirty-one thousand two hundred fifty dollars annually to 37
the Connecticut Food Policy Council established pursuant to section 22-38
456; and (H) the remainder for farmland preservation programs 39
pursuant to chapter 422. Each agency receiving funds under this section 40
may use not more than ten per cent of such funds for administration of 41
the programs for which the funds were provided. 42
[(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, 43
fifty per cent of the moneys deposited in the community investment 44
account from January 1, 2016, until June 30, 2017, shall be credited every 45
three months to the resources of the General Fund, provided the funds 46
remaining in the account shall be distributed as provided in subsection 47
(a) of this section.] 48
Sec. 2. Subsection (e) of section 7-34a of the general statutes is 49
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 50
2025): 51 Substitute Bill No. 1522
LCO 3 of 6
(e) In addition to the fees for recording a document under subsection 52
(a) of this section, town clerks shall receive a fee of [forty] fifty dollars 53
for each document recorded in the land records of the municipality. The 54
town clerk shall retain [one dollar] two dollars of any fee paid pursuant 55
to this subsection and three dollars of such fee shall become part of the 56
general revenue of the municipality and be used to pay for local capital 57
improvement projects, as defined in section 7-536. Not later than the 58
fifteenth day of each month, town clerks shall remit [thirty-six] forty-59
five dollars of the fees paid pursuant to this subsection during the 60
previous calendar month to the State Treasurer. Upon deposit in the 61
General Fund, such amount shall be credited to the Donald E. Williams, 62
Jr. community investment account established pursuant to section 4-63
66aa, as amended by this act. The provisions of this subsection shall not 64
apply to any document recorded on the land records by an employee of 65
the state or of a municipality in conjunction with such employee's 66
official duties. As used in this subsection, "municipality" includes each 67
town, consolidated town and city, city, consolidated town and borough, 68
borough, and district, as defined in chapter 105 or 105a, any municipal 69
corporation or department thereof created by a special act of the General 70
Assembly, and each municipal board, commission and taxing district 71
not previously mentioned. 72
Sec. 3. Subsection (h) of section 49-10 of the general statutes is 73
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 74
2025): 75
(h) Notwithstanding the provisions concerning remittance and 76
retention of fees set forth in section 7-34a, as amended by this act, the 77
recording fees paid in accordance with subsections (a), (d) and (e) of 78
[said] section 7-34a, as amended by this act, by a nominee of a 79
mortgagee, as defined in subdivision (2) of subsection (a) of [said] 80
section 7-34a, shall be allocated as follows: (1) For fees collected upon a 81
recording by a nominee of a mortgagee, except for the recording of (A) 82
an assignment of mortgage in which the nominee of a mortgagee 83
appears as assignor, and (B) a release of mortgage, as described in 84
section 49-8, by a nominee of a mortgagee, the town clerk shall remit one 85 Substitute Bill No. 1522
LCO 4 of 6
hundred ten dollars of such fees to the state, such fees shall be deposited 86
into the General Fund and, upon deposit in the General Fund, [thirty-87
six] forty-five dollars of such fees shall be credited to the Donald E. 88
Williams, Jr. community investment account established pursuant to 89
section 4-66aa, as amended by this act; the town clerk shall retain [forty-90
nine] fifty dollars of such fees, thirty-nine dollars of which shall become 91
part of the general revenue of such municipality and [ten] eleven dollars 92
of which shall be deposited into the town clerk fund; and the town clerk 93
shall retain any fees for additional pages beyond the first page in 94
accordance with the provisions of subdivision (2) of subsection (a) of 95
[said] section 7-34a; and (2) for the fee collected upon a recording of (A) 96
an assignment of mortgage in which the nominee appears as assignor, 97
or (B) a release of mortgage by a nominee of a mortgagee, the town clerk 98
shall remit one hundred twenty-seven dollars of such fee to the state, 99
such fee shall be deposited into the General Fund and, upon deposit in 100
the General Fund, [thirty-six] forty-five dollars of such fee shall be 101
credited to the Donald E. Williams, Jr. community investment account, 102
[and, until October 1, 2014, sixty dollars of such fee shall be credited to 103
the State Banking Fund for purposes of funding the foreclosure 104
mediation program established by section 49-31m;] and the town clerk 105
shall retain [thirty-two] thirty-three dollars of such fee, which shall 106
become part of the general revenue of such municipality. 107
Sec. 4. Section 22-38a of the general statutes is repealed and the 108
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2025): 109
The Commissioner of Agriculture shall establish and administer a 110
program to promote the marketing of farm products grown and 111
produced in Connecticut for the purpose of encouraging the 112
development of agriculture in the state. The commissioner may, within 113
available appropriations, provide a grant-in-aid to any person, firm, 114
partnership or corporation engaged in the promotion and marketing of 115
such farm products, provided the words "CONNECTICUT-GROWN" 116
or "CT-Grown" are clearly incorporated in such promotional and 117
marketing activities. The commissioner shall (1) provide for the design, 118
plan and implementation of a multiyear, state-wide marketing and 119 Substitute Bill No. 1522
LCO 5 of 6
advertising campaign, including, but not limited to, television and radio 120
advertisements, promoting the availability of, and advantages of 121
purchasing, Connecticut-grown farm products, (2) establish and 122
continuously update a web site connected with such advertising 123
campaign that includes, but is not limited to, a comprehensive listing of 124
Connecticut farmers' markets, pick-your-own farms, roadside and on-125
farm markets, farm wineries, garden centers and nurseries selling 126
predominantly Connecticut-grown horticultural products and agri-127
tourism events and attractions, and (3) conduct efforts to promote 128
interaction and business relationships between farmers and restaurants, 129
grocery stores, institutional cafeterias and other potential institutional 130
purchasers of Connecticut-grown farm products, including, but not 131
limited to, (A) linking farmers and potential purchasers through a 132
separate feature of the web site established pursuant to this section, and 133
(B) organizing state-wide or regional events promoting Connecticut-134
grown farm products, where farmers and potential institutional 135
customers are invited to participate. The commissioner shall use his best 136
efforts to solicit cooperation and participation from the farm, corporate, 137
retail, wholesale and grocery communities in such advertising, Internet-138
related and event planning efforts, including, but not limited to, 139
soliciting private sector matching funds. The commissioner shall use all 140
of the funds provided to the Department of Agriculture pursuant to 141
subparagraph (C) of subdivision (5) of [subsection (a) of] section 4-66aa, 142
as amended by this act, for the purposes of this section. The 143
commissioner shall report annually to the joint standing committee of 144
the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to the 145
environment on issues with respect to efforts undertaken pursuant to 146
the requirements of this section, including, but not limited to, the 147
amount of private matching funds received and expended by the 148
department. The commissioner may adopt, in accordance with chapter 149
54, such regulations as he deems necessary to carry out the purposes of 150
this section. 151
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Substitute Bill No. 1522
LCO 6 of 6
Section 1 July 1, 2025 4-66aa
Sec. 2 July 1, 2025 7-34a(e)
Sec. 3 July 1, 2025 49-10(h)
Sec. 4 July 1, 2025 22-38a
GAE Joint Favorable Subst.