Bill Text: CT HB06513 | 2011 | General Assembly | Chaptered
Bill Title: An Act Concerning The Legislative Commissioners' Recommendations For Technical Revisions To The Government Administration And Elections Statutes And Public Acts.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-1)
Status: (Passed) 2011-07-08 - Signed by the Governor [HB06513 Detail]
Download: Connecticut-2011-HB06513-Chaptered.html
AN ACT CONCERNING THE LEGISLATIVE COMMISSIONERS' RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TECHNICAL REVISIONS TO THE GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION AND ELECTIONS STATUTES AND PUBLIC ACTS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (f) of section 17b-420 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):
(f) There shall be an executive director of the Commission on Aging. There may be additional staff within available appropriations. The commission shall be within the Legislative Department. The executive director and any necessary staff shall be employed by the Joint [Standing] Committee on Legislative Management. The commission shall have no authority over staffing or personnel matters.
Sec. 2. Subsection (a) of section 7 of public act 10-1 of the June special session is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):
(a) Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes, the Commissioner of Transportation shall convey to the town of Manchester a parcel of land located in the town of Manchester, at a cost equal to the administrative costs of making such conveyance, including legal fees. Said parcel of land has an area of approximately 1. 517 acres and is identified as a portion of Vol. 858 page 243 on a map entitled "Town of Manchester Department of Public Works Engineering Division, Compilation Survey Plan Showing Some Property of the State of Connecticut, 1451 Pleasant Valley Road, April 30, 2009, Scale [1'=40'] 1"=40' ". The conveyance shall be subject to the approval of the State Properties Review Board.
Sec. 3. Subsection (b) of section 9-601a of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):
(b) As used in this chapter and [sections 9-700 to 9-716, inclusive,] chapter 157, "contribution" does not mean:
(1) A loan of money made in the ordinary course of business by a national or state bank;
(2) Any communication made by a corporation, organization or association to its members, owners, stockholders, executive or administrative personnel, or their families;
(3) Nonpartisan voter registration and get-out-the-vote campaigns by any corporation, organization or association aimed at its members, owners, stockholders, executive or administrative personnel, or their families;
(4) Uncompensated services provided by individuals volunteering their time;
(5) The use of real or personal property, and the cost of invitations, food or beverages, voluntarily provided by an individual to a candidate or on behalf of a state central or town committee, in rendering voluntary personal services for candidate or party-related activities at the individual's residence, to the extent that the cumulative value of the invitations, food or beverages provided by the individual on behalf of any single candidate does not exceed two hundred dollars with respect to any single election, and on behalf of all state central and town committees does not exceed four hundred dollars in any calendar year;
(6) The sale of food or beverage for use in a candidate's campaign or for use by a state central or town committee at a discount, if the charge is not less than the cost to the vendor, to the extent that the cumulative value of the discount given to or on behalf of any single candidate does not exceed two hundred dollars with respect to any single election, and on behalf of all state central and town committees does not exceed four hundred dollars in a calendar year;
(7) Any unreimbursed payment for travel expenses made by an individual who on the individual's own behalf volunteers the individual's personal services to any single candidate to the extent the cumulative value does not exceed two hundred dollars with respect to any single election, and on behalf of all state central or town committees does not exceed four hundred dollars in a calendar year;
(8) The payment, by a party committee, political committee or an individual, of the costs of preparation, display, mailing or other distribution incurred by the committee or individual with respect to any printed slate card, sample ballot or other printed list containing the names of three or more candidates;
(9) The donation of any item of personal property by an individual to a committee for a fund-raising affair, including a tag sale or auction, or the purchase by an individual of any such item at such an affair, to the extent that the cumulative value donated or purchased does not exceed fifty dollars;
(10) (A) The purchase of advertising space which clearly identifies the purchaser, in a program for a fund-raising affair sponsored by the candidate committee of a candidate for an office of a municipality, provided the cumulative purchase of such space does not exceed two hundred fifty dollars from any single such candidate or the candidate's committee with respect to any single election campaign if the purchaser is a business entity or fifty dollars for purchases by any other person;
(B) The purchase of advertising space which clearly identifies the purchaser, in a program for a fund-raising affair sponsored by a town committee, provided the cumulative purchase of such space does not exceed two hundred fifty dollars from any single town committee in any calendar year if the purchaser is a business entity or fifty dollars for purchases by any other person. Notwithstanding the provisions of this subparagraph, the following may not purchase advertising space in a program for a fund-raising affair sponsored by a town committee: (i) A communicator lobbyist, (ii) a member of the immediate family of a communicator lobbyist, (iii) a state contractor, (iv) a prospective state contractor, or (v) a principal of a state contractor or prospective state contractor. As used in this subparagraph, "state contractor", "prospective state contractor" and "principal of a state contractor or prospective state contractor" have the same meanings as provided in subsection (g) of section 9-612;
(11) The payment of money by a candidate to the candidate's candidate committee;
(12) The donation of goods or services by a business entity to a committee for a fund-raising affair, including a tag sale or auction, to the extent that the cumulative value donated does not exceed one hundred dollars;
(13) The advance of a security deposit by an individual to a telephone company, as defined in section 16-1, for telecommunications service for a committee, provided the security deposit is refunded to the individual;
(14) The provision of facilities, equipment, technical and managerial support, and broadcast time by a community antenna television company, as defined in section 16-1, for community access programming pursuant to section 16-331a, unless (A) the major purpose of providing such facilities, equipment, support and time is to influence the nomination or election of a candidate, or (B) such facilities, equipment, support and time are provided on behalf of a political party;
(15) The sale of food or beverage by a town committee to an individual at a town fair, county fair or similar mass gathering held within the state, to the extent that the cumulative payment made by any one individual for such items does not exceed fifty dollars;
(16) An organization expenditure by a party committee, legislative caucus committee or legislative leadership committee;
(17) The donation of food or beverage by an individual for consumption at a slate, candidate, legislative caucus, legislative leadership or party committee meeting, event or activity that is not a fund-raising affair to the extent that the cumulative value of the food or beverages donated by an individual for a single meeting or event does not exceed fifty dollars;
(18) The value associated with the de minimis campaign activity on behalf of a party committee, political committee, slate committee legislative caucus committee, legislative leadership committee, or candidate committee, including for activities undertaken for the benefit of participating and nonparticipating candidates under the Citizens' Election Program of sending of electronic mail or messages from an individual's personal computer or cellular telephone when compensation is not remitted to such individual for the sending of such electronic mail or messages; or
(19) The display of a lawn sign by a human being or on real property.
Sec. 4. Subdivision (8) of subsection (a) of section 9-601c of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):
(8) An expenditure made by a person for a communication that clearly identifies a candidate during an election campaign, if the person making the expenditure, or such person's agent, has informed the candidate who benefits from the expenditure, that candidate's candidate committee, a political committee or a party committee, or a consultant or other agent acting on behalf of the benefiting candidate or candidate committee, political committee, or party committee, concerning the communication's contents, or of the intended audience, timing, location or mode or frequency of dissemination. As used in this subdivision, a communication ["clearly identifies a candidate"] clearly identifies a candidate when that communication contains the name, nickname, initials, photograph or drawing of the candidate or an unambiguous reference to that candidate, which includes, but is not limited to, a reference that can only mean that candidate; and
Sec. 5. Subsection (e) of section 9-610 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):
(e) For purposes of this subsection and subsection (f) of this section, the exclusions to the term "contribution" in subsection (b) of section 9-601a shall not apply; the term "state office" means the office of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, State Comptroller, State Treasurer or Secretary of the State; and the term "state officer" means the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, State Comptroller, State Treasurer or Secretary of the State. Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter to the contrary, during any regular session of the General Assembly, during any special session of the General Assembly held between the adjournment of the regular session in an odd-numbered year and the convening of the regular session in the following even-numbered year or during any reconvened session of the General Assembly held in an odd-numbered year to reconsider vetoed bills, (1) no lobbyist or political committee established by or on behalf of a lobbyist shall make or offer to make a contribution to or on behalf of, and no lobbyist shall solicit a contribution on behalf of, (A) a candidate or exploratory committee established by a candidate for nomination or election to the General Assembly or a state office, or (B) a political committee (i) established for an assembly or senatorial district, (ii) established by a member of the General Assembly or a state officer or such member or officer's agent, or in consultation with, or at the request or suggestion of, any such member, officer or agent, or (iii) controlled by such member, officer or agent, to aid or promote the nomination or election of any candidate or candidates to the General Assembly or a state office, and (2) no such candidate or political committee shall accept such a contribution. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to a candidate committee established by a member of the General Assembly or a candidate for nomination or election to the General Assembly, at a special election for the General Assembly, from the date on which the candidate or the chairman of the committee files the designation of a campaign treasurer and a depository institution under section 9-602 with the State Elections Enforcement Commission, to the date on which the special election is held, inclusive, or to an exploratory committee established by a member of the General Assembly to promote his candidacy for an office other than the General Assembly.
Sec. 6. Subsection (e) of section 9-702 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):
(e) No grants or moneys paid to a qualified candidate committee from the Citizens' Election Fund under this chapter [,] shall be deemed to be public funds under any other provision of the general statutes or any public or special act unless specifically stated by such provision.