2019 Connecticut General Statutes
Title 23 - Parks, Forests and Public Shade Trees
Chapter 447 - State Parks and Forests
Section 23-15b - State park special event rentals paid into Passport to the Parks account. Subaccounts. Uses. Report.
(a) All funds collected from rent paid by any person for the use of state park property for any special event of limited duration, including, but not limited to, weddings and receptions, shall be deposited into the Passport to the Parks account, established pursuant to section 23-15h, unless the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection enters into a written agreement, signs an instrument or issues a license which specifically states otherwise.
(b) Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes, any funds received by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection pursuant to subsection (a) of this section shall be deposited in the Passport to the Parks account established pursuant to section 23-15h. Within said account there shall be a subaccount for each state park from which funds are collected pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, which subaccounts shall be held separate and apart from each other. Each subaccount shall be available to the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection for maintaining, making improvements to, erecting structures on or repairing the property, including houses and other buildings, of the state park for which such subaccount was established. Nothing in this section shall prevent the commissioner from obtaining or using funds from sources other than the Passport to the Parks account for the purposes described in this subsection. Funds in the Passport to the Parks account shall be used to supplement state funds appropriated for the general operation of state parks and shall not replace such appropriated funds for purposes of such general operation.
(c) On or before October 1, 2010, and semiannually thereafter, the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection shall report to the Office of Fiscal Analysis on the state parks for which funds have been collected pursuant to subsection (a) of this section. Such report shall include (1) the amount of funds received into the Passport to the Parks account, itemized by subaccount, (2) the amount of funds the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has expended from the account for each park, and (3) the projects for which such funds have been expended. Said commissioner shall post the same information on the department’s Internet web site.
(P.A. 10-3, S. 19; P.A. 11-59, S. 10; 11-80, S. 1; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 17-2, S. 330.)
History: P.A. 10-3 effective April 14, 2010; P.A. 11-59 made a technical change in Subsec. (c), effective July 1, 2011; pursuant to P.A. 11-80, “Commissioner of Environmental Protection” and “Department of Environmental Protection” were changed editorially by the Revisors to “Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection” and “Department of Energy and Environmental Protection”, respectively, effective July 1, 2011; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 17-2 amended Subsec. (a) by deleting reference to maintenance, repair and improvement account, adding provision re funds collected from rent paid for use of state park property for special events to be deposited into the Passport to the Parks account, and deleting provision re receipt of funds from private or public sources, amended Subsec. (b) by replacing provision re funds to be deposited into General Fund and credited to maintenance, repair and improvement account with provision re funds to be deposited into Passport to the Parks account, and made conforming changes, effective January 1, 2018.
