(a) As used in this section:

Ask a legal question, get an answer ASAP!
Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.

(1) “Local government” means any political subdivision of the state having power to make appropriations or to levy taxes, including any town, city or borough, consolidated town and city or consolidated town and borough, any village, any school, sewer, fire, water or lighting district, metropolitan district, any municipal district, any beach or improvement association, and any other district or association created by any special act or pursuant to chapter 105, or any other municipal corporation having the power to issue bonds;

(2) “State mandate” means any constitutional, statutory or executive action that requires a local government to establish, expand or modify its activities in such a way as to necessitate additional expenditures from local revenues, excluding any order issued by a state court and any legislation necessary to comply with a federal mandate;

(3) “Local government organization and structure mandate” means a state mandate concerning such matters as: (A) The form of local government and the adoption and revision of statutes on the organization of local government; (B) the establishment of districts, councils of governments, or other forms and structures for interlocal cooperation and coordination; (C) the holding of local elections; (D) the designation of public officers, and their duties, powers and responsibilities; and (E) the prescription of administrative practices and procedures for local governing bodies;

(4) “Due process mandate” means a state mandate concerning such matters as: (A) The administration of justice; (B) notification and conduct of public hearings; (C) procedures for administrative and judicial review of actions taken by local governing bodies; and (D) protection of the public from malfeasance, misfeasance, or nonfeasance by local government officials;

(5) “Benefit spillover” means the process of accrual of social or other benefits from a governmental service to jurisdictions adjacent to or beyond the jurisdiction providing the service;

(6) “Service mandate” means a state mandate as to creation or expansion of governmental services or delivery standards therefor and those applicable to services having substantial benefit spillover and consequently being wider than local concern. For purposes of this section, applicable services include but are not limited to elementary and secondary education, community colleges, public health, hospitals, public assistance, air pollution control, water pollution control and solid waste treatment and disposal. A state mandate that expands the duties of a public official by requiring the provision of additional services is a “service mandate” rather than a “local government organization and structure mandate”;

(7) “Interlocal equity mandate” means a state mandate requiring local governments to act so as to benefit other local governments or to refrain from acting to avoid injury to, or conflict with neighboring jurisdictions, including such matters as land use regulations, tax assessment procedures for equalization purposes and environmental standards;

(8) “Tax exemption mandate” means a state mandate that exempts privately owned property or other specified items from the local tax base;

(9) “Personnel mandate” means a state mandate concerning or affecting local government: (A) Salaries and wages; (B) employee qualifications and training except when any civil service commission, professional licensing board, or personnel board or agency established by state law sets and administers standards relative to merit-based recruitment or candidates for employment or conducts and grades examinations and rates candidates in order of their relative excellence for purposes of making appointments or promotions to positions in the competitive division of the classified service of the public employer served by such commission, board or agency; (C) hours, location of employment, and other working conditions; and (D) fringe benefits including insurance, health, medical care, retirement and other benefits.

(b) The Office of Fiscal Analysis shall append to any bill before either house of the General Assembly for final action which has the effect of creating or enlarging a state mandate to local governments, an estimate of the cost to such local governments which would result from the passage of such bill. Any amendment offered to any bill before either house of the General Assembly which has the effect of creating or enlarging a state mandate to local governments shall have appended thereto an estimate of the cost to such local governments which would result from the adoption of such amendment.

(c) The estimate required by subsection (b) of this section shall be the estimated cost to local governments for the first fiscal year in which the bill takes effect. If such bill does not take effect on the first day of the fiscal year, the estimate shall also indicate the estimated cost to local governments for the next following fiscal year. If a bill is amended by the report of a committee on conference in such a manner as to result in a cost to local governments, the Office of Fiscal Analysis shall append an estimate of such cost to the report before the report is made to either house of the General Assembly.

(d) On and after January 1, 1985, (1) any bill reported by a joint standing committee of the General Assembly which may create or enlarge a state mandate to local governments, as defined in subsection (a) of this section, shall be referred by such committee to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to appropriations and the budgets of state agencies, unless such reference is dispensed with by a vote of at least two-thirds of each house of the General Assembly, and (2) any bill amended by either house of the General Assembly or by the report of a committee on conference in such a manner as to create or enlarge a state mandate shall be referred to said committee, unless such reference is dispensed with by a vote of at least two-thirds of each house of the General Assembly. Any such bill which is favorably reported by said committee shall contain a determination by said committee concerning the following: (A) Whether or not such bill creates or enlarges a state mandate, and, if so, which type of mandate is created or enlarged; (B) whether or not the state shall reimburse local governments for costs resulting from such new or enlarged mandate, and, if so, which costs are eligible for reimbursement, the level of reimbursement, the timetable for reimbursement and the duration of reimbursement.