Bill Text: CT HB05467 | 2012 | General Assembly | Chaptered
Bill Title: An Act Creating A Workforce To Make Improvements Around Connecticut's Public Airports.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 13-3-1)
Status: (Passed) 2012-06-15 - Signed by the Governor [HB05467 Detail]
Download: Connecticut-2012-HB05467-Chaptered.html
Substitute House Bill No. 5467
AN ACT CREATING A WORKFORCE TO MAKE IMPROVEMENTS AROUND CONNECTICUT'S PUBLIC AIRPORTS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 13b-50a of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2012):
The following initiatives shall be established to preserve Connecticut's licensed privately owned, publicly used airports which have a paved runway and a minimum of five thousand operations per year: (1) The state shall have the right of first refusal to purchase, via fair market value and state property acquisition procedures, an airport, if that airport is threatened with sale or closure, for the express purpose of preserving the airport; (2) the Commissioner of Transportation may acquire the development rights, based on fair market value for such rights, of such airports, provided the airport remains a public airport; (3) the state shall fund capital improvements to private airports, in which case the state shall participate in ninety per cent of the eligible costs and the balance by the sponsor, with budget and priorities to be determined by the Department of Transportation, and engineering in accordance with Federal Aviation Administration Advisory Circulars; and (4) the establishment of a new airport zoning category for the airport's imaginary surfaces as defined by Federal Aviation Regulations [. Development within these surfaces shall require notices for proposed construction and a federal determination of obstructions. Construction of obstructions deemed hazardous to navigation shall not be allowed] and a program to mitigate noise in airport neighborhoods in which the noise exceeds applicable Federal Aviation Administration standards. Such program may be combined with existing energy conservation programs. Funding for such program shall be from available federal resources.
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2012) The Department of Transportation, in consultation with the Labor Department and the Department of Veterans' Affairs, shall, in administering the program established pursuant to subdivision (4) of section 13b-50a of the general statutes, as amended by this act, set aside not less than thirty per cent of the projects or contracts for such program for veterans with service in time of war, as defined in subsection (a) of section 27-103 of the general statutes, except that for the purposes of this section, "service in time of war" shall not include time spent in training. To be eligible for such set aside, the contracting entity shall be a veteran certified in weatherization and insulation techniques through a training program funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, or a company that employs such certified veterans.