Bill Text: CT SB00181 | 2018 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: An Act Establishing A Pilot Program For The Preservation Of Open Space.

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-02-22 - Public Hearing 02/26 [SB00181 Detail]

Download: Connecticut-2018-SB00181-Introduced.html

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General Assembly		Raised Bill No. 181
February Session, 2018		LCO No. 1241
		*01241_______PD_*
Referred to Committee on PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
Introduced by:
(PD)

AN ACT ESTABLISHING A PILOT PROGRAM FOR THE PRESERVATION OF OPEN SPACE.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. (Effective from passage) (a) The Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management shall establish a pilot program, to be implemented in the towns of Bethany, Bolton, Lyme and New London for a two-year period beginning July 1, 2018, for the purpose of generating funds for the purchase, preservation and stewardship of open space land. Such pilot program shall enable each participating municipality to impose a buyer's fee on the conveyance of residential real property in such municipality at the rate of not more than one per cent of the consideration paid by the buyer in excess of one hundred fifty thousand dollars. Such fee shall be in addition to any fee or tax otherwise applicable to such conveyance. Such fee may be retained by the municipality and maintained in a separate account. Fees maintained in such account shall be used for the purchase, preservation or stewardship of open space land in such municipality, including, but not limited to, water resources, forest land and farm land, or repayment of municipal bonds obtained for such purposes.

(b) Conveyances resulting in the preservation in perpetuity of open space land shall be exempt from any fee imposed pursuant to subsection (a) of this section.

(c) The fee imposed pursuant to subsection (a) of this section shall not apply to deeds, transfers or conveyances enumerated in subsection (a) of section 12-498 of the general statutes.

(d) Not later than July 1, 2020, the secretary shall report, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of the general statutes, to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to planning and development on the status of such pilot program and any recommendations for expansion or modification of such pilot program.

This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1	from passage	New section

Statement of Purpose:

To require the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management to establish a pilot program to permit certain municipalities to impose a buyer's fee on the conveyance of certain real property sales to generate funds for the purchase, preservation or stewardship of open space.

[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.]