Bill Text: CT HB06843 | 2015 | General Assembly | Comm Sub

Connecticut House Bill 6843 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: An Act Making Minor Revisions To Various Boards And Commissions Statutes.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2015-05-31 - Senate Calendar Number 637 [HB06843 Detail]

Download: Connecticut-2015-HB06843-Comm_Sub.html


General Assembly		*Governor's Bill No. 6843*
*January Session, 2015*		LCO No. 3976
		_____HB06843GAE___032615____
Referred to Committee on GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION AND ELECTIONS
Introduced by:
REP. SHARKEY, 88^th Dist. REP. ARESIMOWICZ, 30^th Dist. SEN. LOONEY, 11^th Dist. SEN. DUFF, 25^th Dist.

AN ACT MAKING MINOR REVISIONS TO VARIOUS BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS STATUTES.

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

Section 1. Subsection (a) of section 10-153f of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):

(a) There shall be in the Department of Education an arbitration panel of not less than twenty-four or more than twenty-nine persons to serve as provided in subsection (c) of this section. The Governor shall appoint such panel, with the advice and consent of the General Assembly, as follows: (1) Seven members shall be representative of the interests of local and regional boards of education and shall be selected from lists of names submitted by such boards; (2) seven members shall be representative of the interests of exclusive bargaining representatives of certified employees and shall be selected from lists of names submitted by such bargaining representatives; and (3) not less than ten or more than fifteen members shall be impartial representatives of the interests of the public in general and shall be residents of the state of Connecticut, experienced in public sector collective bargaining interest impasse resolution and selected from lists of names submitted by the State Board of Education. The lists of names submitted to the Governor pursuant to subdivisions (1) to (3), inclusive, of this subsection shall, in addition to complying with the provisions of section 4-9b, include a report from the State Board of Education certifying that the process conducted for soliciting applicants made adequate outreach to minority communities and documenting that the number and make-up of minority applicants considered reflect the state's racial and ethnic diversity. Each member of the panel shall serve a term of [two] four years, provided each arbitrator shall hold office until a successor is appointed and, provided further, any arbitrator not reappointed shall finish to conclusion any arbitration for which such arbitrator has been selected or appointed. Arbitrators may be removed for good cause. If any vacancy occurs in such panel, the Governor shall act within forty days to fill such vacancy in the manner provided in section 4-19. Persons appointed to the arbitration panel shall serve without compensation but each shall receive a per diem fee for any day during which such person is engaged in the arbitration of a dispute pursuant to this section. The parties to the dispute so arbitrated shall pay the fee in accordance with subsection (c) of this section.

Sec. 2. Subsection (a) of section 10a-179 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):

(a) There is created a body politic and corporate to be known as the "State of Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority". Said authority is constituted a public instrumentality and political subdivision of the state and the exercise by the authority of the powers conferred by this chapter shall be deemed and held to be the performance of an essential public and governmental function. Notwithstanding the provisions of the general statutes or any public or special act, the board of directors of said authority shall consist of ten members, two of whom shall be the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management and the State Treasurer, ex officio, and eight of whom shall be residents of the state appointed by the Governor, not more than four of such appointed members to be members of the same political party. Three of the appointed members shall be current or retired trustees, directors, officers or employees of institutions for higher education, two of the appointed members shall be current or retired trustees, directors, officers or employees of health care institutions and one of such appointed members shall be a person having a favorable reputation for skill, knowledge and experience in state and municipal finance, either as a [partner, officer or employee of an investment banking firm which originates and purchases state and municipal securities,] member of the financial business industry or as an officer or employee of an insurance company or bank whose duties relate to the purchase of state and municipal securities as an investment and to the management and control of a state and municipal securities portfolio. On or before the first day of July, annually, the Governor shall appoint a member or members to succeed those whose terms expire, each for a term of five years and until a successor is appointed and has qualified. The Governor shall fill any vacancy for the unexpired term. A member of the board shall be eligible for reappointment. Any member of the board may be removed by the Governor for misfeasance, malfeasance or wilful neglect of duty. Each member of the board shall take and subscribe the oath or affirmation required by article XI, section 1, of the State Constitution prior to assuming such office. A record of each such oath shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of the State. Each ex-officio member may designate his deputy or any member of his staff to represent him as a member at meetings of the board with full power to act and vote in his behalf.

Sec. 3. Subsection (b) of section 12-802 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):

(b) The corporation shall be governed by a board of thirteen directors. The Governor, with the advice and consent of the General Assembly, shall appoint [four] five directors who shall have skill, knowledge and experience in the fields of management, finance or operations in the private sector. [Three] Two directors shall be the State Treasurer [,] and the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, [and the executive director of the Division of Special Revenue, all] both of whom shall serve ex officio and shall have all of the powers and privileges of a member of the board of directors. Each ex-officio director may designate his or her deputy or any member of his or her staff to represent him or her at meetings of the corporation with full power to act and vote on his or her behalf. [The executive director of the Division of Special Revenue shall cease to be a director one year from June 4, 1996, or earlier at the discretion of the Governor. The Governor, with the advice and consent of the General Assembly, shall fill the vacancy created by the removal or departure of the executive director of the Division of Special Revenue with a person who shall have skill, knowledge and experience in the fields of management, finance or operations in the private sector. The Governor shall thereafter have the power to appoint a total of five members to the board.] The procedures of section 4-7 shall apply to the confirmation of the Governor's appointments by both houses of the General Assembly. Six directors shall be appointed as follows: One by the president pro tempore of the Senate, one by the majority leader of the Senate, one by the minority leader of the Senate, one by the speaker of the House of Representatives, one by the majority leader of the House of Representatives and one by the minority leader of the House of Representatives. Each director appointed by the Governor shall serve at the pleasure of the Governor but no longer than the term of office of the Governor or until the director's successor is appointed and qualified, whichever term is longer. Each director appointed by a member of the General Assembly shall serve in accordance with the provisions of section 4-1a. The Governor shall fill any vacancy for the unexpired term of a member appointed by the Governor. The appropriate legislative appointing authority shall fill any vacancy for the unexpired term of a member appointed by such authority. Any director [, other than the executive director of the Division of Special Revenue,] shall be eligible for reappointment. The Commissioner of Consumer Protection shall not serve as a director. Any director may be removed by order of the Superior Court upon application of the Attorney General for misfeasance, malfeasance or wilful neglect of duty. Such actions shall be tried to the court without a jury and shall be privileged in assignment for hearing. If the court, after hearing, finds there is clear and convincing evidence of such misfeasance, malfeasance or wilful neglect of duty it shall order the removal of such director. Any director so removed shall not be reappointed to the board. [Each appointing authority shall make his initial appointment to the board no later than six months following June 4, 1996.]

Sec. 4. Subsections (a) and (b) of section 20-8a of the general statutes are repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):

(a) There shall be within the Department of Public Health a Connecticut Medical Examining Board.

[(1) Said board shall consist of fifteen members appointed by the Governor, subject to the provisions of section 4-9a, in the manner prescribed for department heads in section 4-7, as follows: Five physicians practicing in the state; one physician who shall be a full-time member of the faculty of The University of Connecticut School of Medicine; one physician who shall be a full-time chief of staff in a general-care hospital in the state; one physician who shall be a supervising physician for one or more physician assistants; one physician who shall be a graduate of a medical education program accredited by the American Osteopathic Association; one physician assistant licensed pursuant to section 20-12b and practicing in this state; and five public members.]

[(2) On and after October 1, 2012, said] (1) Said board shall consist of twenty-one members, thirteen of whom are physicians, one of whom is a physician assistant and seven of whom are public members, all of whom are appointed by the Governor, subject to the provisions of section [4-9a, in the manner prescribed for department heads in section 4-7] 4-1a, as follows: Three physicians of any specialty; three physicians who shall be specialists in internal medicine; one physician who shall be a psychiatrist; one physician who shall be a surgeon; one physician who shall be an obstetrician-gynecologist; one physician who shall be a pediatrician; one physician who shall be an emergency medical physician; one physician who shall be a supervising physician for one or more physician assistants; one physician who shall be a graduate of a medical education program accredited by the American Osteopathic Association; one physician assistant licensed pursuant to section 20-12b; and seven public members.

[(3)] (2) No professional member of said board shall be an elected or appointed officer of a professional society or association relating to such member's profession at the time of appointment to the board or have been such an officer during the year immediately preceding appointment or serve for more than two consecutive terms. Professional members shall be practitioners in good professional standing and residents of this state.

(b) All vacancies shall be filled by the Governor in the same manner [prescribed for department heads in section 4-7] as the original appointment. On and after October 1, 2012, successors and appointments to fill a vacancy shall fulfill the same qualifications as the member succeeded or replaced. In addition to the requirements in [sections 4-9a and] section 19a-8, no person whose spouse, parent, brother, sister, child or spouse of a child is a physician, as defined in section 20-13a, or a physician assistant, as defined in section 20-12a, shall be appointed as a public member.

Sec. 5. Subsection (b) of section 31-102 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):

(b) Whenever conditions warrant, the Labor Commissioner or the chairman of the board shall request the Governor to appoint, and the Governor shall have authority to appoint, alternate members of said board in such numbers and for such periods of time as he may determine to be necessary, [but not longer than one year,] in order that said board may render efficient service in performing the duties committed to it by statute. Any alternate member shall serve in accordance with the provisions of section 4-1a. Any such alternate shall meet the same qualifications and receive the same compensation as regular members of the board. An alternate member shall serve in place of an absent member of the board at any time when so directed by the board and while so serving shall have all the powers of members of the board. Alternate members so appointed shall have power to complete any matter pending at the expiration of the term for which they were appointed.

Sec. 6. Subsection (b) of section 19a-178a of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):

(b) The advisory board shall consist of members appointed in accordance with the provisions of this subsection and shall include the Commissioner of Public Health, [and] the department's emergency medical services medical director and the president of each of the regional emergency medical services councils, or their designees. The Governor shall appoint the following members: One person from [each of the regional emergency medical services councils; one person from] the Connecticut Association of Directors of Health; three persons from the Connecticut College of Emergency Physicians; one person from the Connecticut Committee on Trauma of the American College of Surgeons; one person from the Connecticut Medical Advisory Committee; one person from the Emergency Department Nurses Association; one person from the Connecticut Association of Emergency Medical Services Instructors; one person from the Connecticut Hospital Association; two persons representing commercial ambulance providers; one person from the Connecticut Firefighters Association; one person from the Connecticut Fire Chiefs Association; one person from the Connecticut Chiefs of Police Association; one person from the Connecticut State Police; and one person from the Connecticut Commission on Fire Prevention and Control. An additional eighteen members shall be appointed as follows: Three by the president pro tempore of the Senate; three by the majority leader of the Senate; four by the minority leader of the Senate; three by the speaker of the House of Representatives; two by the majority leader of the House of Representatives and three by the minority leader of the House of Representatives. The appointees shall include a person with experience in municipal ambulance services; a person with experience in for-profit ambulance services; three persons with experience in volunteer ambulance services; a paramedic; an emergency medical technician; an advanced emergency medical technician; three consumers and four persons from state-wide organizations with interests in emergency medical services as well as any other areas of expertise that may be deemed necessary for the proper functioning of the advisory board.

Sec. 7. Subsection (a) of section 19a-182 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):

(a) The emergency medical services councils shall advise the commissioner on area-wide planning and coordination of agencies for emergency medical services for each region and shall provide continuous evaluation of emergency medical services for their respective geographic areas. A regional emergency medical services coordinator, in consultation with the commissioner, shall assist the emergency medical services council for the respective region in carrying out the duties prescribed in subsection (b) of this section. As directed by the commissioner, the regional emergency medical services coordinator for each region shall facilitate the work of each respective emergency medical services council including, but not limited to, representing the Department of Public Health at any Council of Regional [Chairpersons] Presidents meetings.

Sec. 8. Section 19a-183 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):

There shall be established an emergency medical services council in each region. A region shall be composed of the towns so designated by the commissioner. Opportunity for membership shall be available to all appropriate representatives of emergency medical services including, but not limited to, one representative from each of the following: (1) Local governments; (2) fire and law enforcement officials; (3) medical and nursing professions, including mental health, paraprofessional and other allied health professionals; (4) providers of ambulance services, at least one of which shall be a member of a volunteer ambulance association; (5) institutions of higher education; (6) federal agencies involved in the delivery of health care; and (7) consumers. All emergency medical services councils, including those in existence on July 1, 1974, shall submit to the commissioner information concerning the organizational structure and council bylaws for the commissioner's approval. Such bylaws shall include the process by which each council shall elect a president. The commissioner shall foster the development of emergency medical services councils in each region.

Sec. 9. Subsection (b) of section 19a-184 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):

(b) The [chairpersons] presidents, or their designees, of said councils shall meet as a group, at least bimonthly, with the Office of Emergency Medical Services to discuss the planning, coordination and implementation of the state-wide emergency medical care service system.

Sec. 10. Section 9-167a of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):

(a) (1) Except as provided in subdivision (2) of this subsection, the maximum number of members of any board, commission, legislative body, committee or similar body of the state or any political subdivision thereof, whether elective or appointive, who may be members of the same political party, shall be as specified in the following table:


T1	COLUMN I	COLUMN II
T2	Total Membership	Maximum from One Party
T3	3 ……………………………………… 2
T4	4 ……………………………………… 3
T5	5 ……………………………………… 4
T6	6 ……………………………………… 4
T7	7 ……………………………………… 5
T8	8 ……………………………………… 5
T9	9 ……………………………………… 6
T10	More than 9 ………….……………… Two-thirds of
T11	total membership

(2) (A) The provisions of this section shall not apply [(A)] (i) to any such board, commission, committee or body whose members are elected wholly or partially on the basis of a geographical division of the state or political subdivision, [(B)] (ii) to a legislative body of a municipality [(i)] (I) having a town meeting as its legislative body or [(ii)] (II) for which the charter or a special act, on January 1, 1987, provided otherwise, [or (C)] (iii) to the city council of an unconsolidated city within a town and the town council of such town if the town has a town council and a representative town meeting, the town charter provides for some form of minority representation in the election of members of the representative town meeting, and the city has a city council and a body having the attributes of a town meeting, or [(D)] (iv) to the board of directors and other officers of any district, as defined in section 7-324, having annual receipts from all sources not in excess of two hundred fifty thousand dollars.

(B) For the purposes of this section, members of an appointive board or commission who serve on such board or commission by virtue of holding a particular, distinct office shall not be included in the calculation, as provided in subsection (b) of this section, to determine the maximum number of members of any political party who may be appointed to such board or commission.

(b) Prior to any election for or appointment to any [such body] board, commission, legislative body, committee or similar body of the state or any political subdivision thereof, the municipal clerk, in cases of elections, and the appointing authority, in cases of appointments, shall determine the maximum number of members of any political party who may be elected or appointed to such body at such election or appointment. Such maximum number shall be determined for each political party in the following manner: From the number of members of one political party who are members of such body at the time of the election or appointment, subtract the number of members of such political party whose terms expire prior to the commencement of the terms for which such election or appointment is being held or made and subtract the balance thus arrived at from the appropriate number specified in column II of subsection (a) of this section.

(c) In the case of any election to any such body the winner or winners shall be determined as under existing law with the following exception: The municipal clerk shall prepare a list of the candidates ranked from top to bottom according to the number of votes each receives; when the number of members of any one political party who would be elected without regard to this section exceeds the maximum number as determined under subsection (b) of this section, only the candidates of such political party with the highest number of votes up to the limit of such maximum shall be elected, and the names of the remaining candidates of such political party shall be stricken from the list. The next highest ranking candidates shall be elected up to the number of places to be filled at such election.

(d) If an unexpired portion of a term is to be filled at the same time as a full term, the unexpired term shall be deemed to be filled before the full term for purposes of applying this section. At such time as the minority representation provisions of this section become applicable to any board, commission, committee or body, any vacancy thereafter occurring which is to be filled by appointment shall be filled by the appointment of a member of the same political party as that of the vacating member.

(e) Nothing in this section shall be construed to repeal, modify or prohibit enactment of any general or special act or charter which provides for a greater degree of minority representation than is provided by this section.

(f) Nothing in this section shall deprive any person who is a member of any such body on July 1, 1960, of the right to remain as a member until the expiration of his term.

(g) For the purposes of this section, a person shall be deemed to be a member of the political party on whose enrollment list his name appears on the date of his appointment to, or of his nomination as a candidate for election to, any office specified in subsection (a) of this section, provided any person who has applied for erasure or transfer of his name from an enrollment list shall be considered a member of the party from whose list he has so applied for erasure or transfer for a period of three months from the date of the filing of such application and provided further any person whose candidacy for election to an office is solely as the candidate of a party other than the party with which he is enrolled shall be deemed to be a member of the party of which he is such candidate.

(h) For the purposes of this section, the appointing authority for any member of any board or commission shall notify all other appointing authorities for members of such board or commission of each appointment made, including the name, town of residence and political affiliation of the person appointed, not later than five calendar days after such appointment. Such notification may be transmitted by electronic means.


This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1	from passage	10-153f(a)
Sec. 2	from passage	10a-179(a)
Sec. 3	from passage	12-802(b)
Sec. 4	from passage	20-8a(a) and (b)
Sec. 5	from passage	31-102(b)
Sec. 6	from passage	19a-178a(b)
Sec. 7	from passage	19a-182(a)
Sec. 8	from passage	19a-183
Sec. 9	from passage	19a-184(b)
Sec. 10	from passage	9-167a