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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 1555
January Session, 2025
LCO No. 7100
Referred to Committee on FINANCE, REVENUE AND
BONDING
Introduced by:
(FIN)
AN ACT CONCERNING THE TEN -YEAR PLAN TO ERADICATE
CONCENTRATED POVERTY IN PARTICIPATING CONCENTRATED
POVERTY CENSUS TRACTS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 32-7z of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage): 2
(a) It is hereby declared that there exists concentrated poverty in the 3
state that exacts a critical toll on poor and nonpoor residents of 4
communities that house areas of concentrated poverty, which create 5
lifelong and persistent disadvantages across generations by lowering 6
the quality of educational and employment opportunities, limiting 7
health care access and diminishing health outcomes, increasing 8
exposure to crime, reducing available choices for affordable and 9
properly maintained housing and imposing obstacles to wealth-10
building and economic mobility. It is further declared that the 11
development and implementation of the ten-year plan under this 12
section to eradicate concentrated poverty in the state are necessary and 13
for the public benefit, as a matter of legislative determination. 14
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(b) There is established an Office of Neighborhood Investment and 15
Community Engagement within the Department of Economic and 16
Community Development. Said office shall carry out the provisions of 17
this section, overseeing the implementation of the ten-year plan 18
developed pursuant to this subsection, monitoring the state's progress 19
in reducing concentrated poverty in the state and serving as the 20
facilitator to coordinate communication between the various parties and 21
disseminate information in a timely and efficient manner. 22
(c) (1) There is established a pilot program to implement the 23
provisions of the ten-year plan developed pursuant to this section for 24
participating concentrated poverty census tracts. Any concentrated 25
poverty census tract or group of tracts (A) that is located in any of the 26
four municipalities with the greatest number of concentrated poverty 27
census tracts, and (B) for which community members have established 28
a community development corporation pursuant to the provisions of 29
section 32-7s to assist the municipality in which such census tract or 30
group of tracts is located in carrying out the municipality's 31
responsibilities under this section and the ten-year plan developed for 32
such census tract or group of tracts, shall be eligible to apply to 33
participate in the program. Notwithstanding the provisions of 34
subparagraph (A) of this subdivision, any municipality in which a 35
concentrated poverty census tract or group of tracts is located and for 36
which a community development corporation has been established as 37
described under subparagraph (B) of this subdivision, or any such 38
community development corporation, may apply to participate in the 39
program. The Commissioner of Economic and Community 40
Development shall issue a request for proposals for participation in the 41
pilot program and select the applicant with the highest score. As used 42
in this section, "concentrated poverty census tract" means a census tract 43
identified as a high poverty-low opportunity census tract, as of January 44
1, 2024, by the Office of Policy and Management pursuant to section 32-45
7x of the 2024 supplement to the general statutes. 46
(2) (A) (i) The Office of Neighborhood Investment and Community 47
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Engagement shall develop a plan for the pilot participating 48
concentrated poverty census tract or group of tracts, as applicable, to 49
eradicate, over ten years, the levels of concentrated poverty in the 50
service area of the community development corporation, evidenced by 51
a reduction, to twenty per cent or lower, in the percentage of households 52
who reside in such concentrated poverty census tract or group of tracts 53
and have incomes below the federal poverty level, as well as sustained 54
improvements in community infrastructure and other underlying 55
conditions that serve to prolong concentrated poverty and economic 56
inertia in such census tract or group of tracts. 57
(ii) In developing such plan, said office shall consult with the Office 58
of Community Economic Development Assistance established under 59
section 32-7s, the Department of Economic and Community 60
Development, the Office of Workforce Strategy established under 61
section 4-124w, the regional workforce development board, established 62
under section 31-3k, serving the participating concentrated poverty 63
census tract or group of tracts, the Office of Early Childhood, the 64
Department of Education, the Department of Housing, the Office of 65
Policy and Management, the applicable community development 66
corporations serving the participating concentrated poverty census tract 67
or group of tracts and the applicable municipal chief elected officials and 68
any other public or private entity the Commissioner of Economic and 69
Community Development deems relevant or necessary to achieving the 70
purposes of this subsection. 71
(B) The ten-year plan shall include, but need not be limited to, (i) 72
measurable steps to be taken for its implementation, the target date by 73
which each such step is to be completed and the state or municipal 74
official or state or municipal agency, department or division responsible 75
for each such step, (ii) minimum state-wide averages for educational 76
metrics, including, but not limited to, kindergarten-readiness, grade 77
level reading and mathematics and college-readiness or career-78
readiness, to be used as benchmarks for improvements in such 79
concentrated poverty census tract or group of tracts, as applicable, and 80
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(iii) the list of possible projects determined pursuant to subdivision (3) 81
of this subsection. 82
(C) On or before June 1, 2025, and again not later than September 1, 83
2025, the Commissioner of Economic and Community Development 84
shall inform the joint standing committee of the General Assembly 85
having cognizance of matters relating to finance, revenue and bonding, 86
in writing, of the progress made to date in the development of the ten-87
year plan. Not later than January 1, 2026, said commissioner shall 88
submit such plan to the General Assembly, in accordance with the 89
provisions of section 11-4a, and the Office of Neighborhood Investment 90
and Community Engagement shall immediately commence overseeing 91
the implementation of such plan. 92
(3) The Office of Neighborhood Investment and Community 93
Engagement shall, jointly with the chief elected official of each 94
applicable municipality and the community development corporation 95
established to assist such municipality, develop a list of possible projects 96
that will be included in the ten-year plan for the participating 97
concentrated poverty census tract or group of tracts, as applicable, 98
located in such municipality. Said office, official and corporation shall 99
(A) determine the types of projects they deem to be the most appropriate 100
and effective for such census tract or group of tracts to eradicate 101
concentrated poverty within such census tract or group of tracts, 102
including, but not limited to, capital projects, workforce development 103
programs, housing development, community and neighborhood 104
improvements and education initiatives to assist and support residents 105
in meeting and surpassing the educational metrics described in 106
subparagraph (B)(ii) of subdivision (2) of this subsection, and (B) take 107
into account the criteria for projects eligible for grants under sections 32-108
7s, 32-7x and 32-285a. 109
(4) Not later than February 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, the 110
Commissioner of Economic and Community Development shall submit 111
a report to the General Assembly, the Office of Workforce Strategy, the 112
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Office of Early Childhood and the Office of Policy and Management, in 113
accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a, that summarizes the 114
progress being made by the Office of Neighborhood Investment and 115
Community Engagement in implementing the ten-year plan, the status 116
of any projects pending or undertaken for the participating concentrated 117
poverty census tract or group of tracts and any other information the 118
commissioner or the Office of Neighborhood Investment and 119
Community Engagement deems relevant or necessary. 120
(5) (A) Commencing with the calendar year 2027, not later than 121
March first of said year and annually thereafter for the next two years, 122
the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having 123
cognizance of matters relating to finance, revenue and bonding shall 124
hold an informational forum for the Commissioner of Economic and 125
Community Development to present the contents of the submitted 126
report and for other state officials, municipal officials, representatives of 127
community development corporations serving participating 128
concentrated poverty census tracts or groups of tracts and other 129
interested parties to provide oral and written comments on the 130
submitted report and the pilot program. 131
(B) Commencing with the calendar year 2030, said committee shall 132
hold such informational forum every two years. 133
(d) On and after the date the ten-year plan is submitted to the General 134
Assembly pursuant to subparagraph (C) of subdivision (2) of subsection 135
(c) of this section, each state agency shall give priority to projects 136
included in such ten-year plan with respect to any grants or funding 137
programs such agency awards or administers and for which such 138
projects may be eligible. 139
(e) Not later than January 1, 2029, the Commissioner of Economic and 140
Community Development shall submit a recommendation to the joint 141
standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of 142
matters relating to finance, revenue and bonding of (1) whether the pilot 143
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program should be expanded to all concentrated poverty census tracts 144
or groups of tracts in the state for which a community development 145
corporation has been established as described under subparagraph (B) 146
of subdivision (1) of subsection (c) of this section, and (2) any additional 147
or alternative criteria to be considered for expansion of the pilot 148
program to other economically disadvantaged census tracts that do not 149
fall within the definition of a concentrated poverty census tract. If the 150
commissioner recommends expansion under subdivision (1) of this 151
subsection, the commissioner and the Office of Neighborhood 152
Investment and Community Engagement shall immediately undertake 153
such expansion. 154
(f) On and after July 1, 2027, if any state or municipal official 155
responsible for carrying out a requirement or responsibility under the 156
provisions of this section or a ten-year plan fails to do so in a timely 157
manner, any community development corporation established as 158
described under subparagraph (B) of subdivision (1) of subsection (c) of 159
this section that was (1) selected pursuant to the request for proposals 160
under subdivision (1) of subsection (c) of this section, (2) can 161
demonstrate good faith efforts to effectuate the ten-year plan, and (3) is 162
aggrieved by such failure may bring an action against such official in 163
the superior court for the judicial district in which such census tract or 164
group of tracts is located for a writ of mandamus to compel such official 165
to carry out such requirement or responsibility. 166
Sec. 2. Section 119 of public act 24-151 is repealed. (Effective from 167
passage) 168
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage 32-7z
Sec. 2 from passage Repealer section
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Statement of Purpose:
To (1) include additional departments and boards the Office of
Neighborhood Investment and Community Engagement shall consult
in developing the ten-year plan under section 32-7z of the general
statutes, (2) add an additional progress report required from the
Commissioner of Economic and Community Development, and (3)
eliminate a guidance document working group.
[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.]