2022 Connecticut General Statutes
Title 26 - Fisheries and Game
Chapter 490 - Fisheries and Game
Section 26-30. - Applications. Issuance of licenses.

(a) Resident licenses to firearms hunt, archery hunt, trap or fish, or the combination thereof, shall be issued only to qualified applicants therefor by the town clerk of any town, an agent of such town clerk deputized pursuant to subsection (f) of this section or an agent of the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection licensed pursuant to subsection (g) of this section. Such licenses shall be issued in such form as the commissioner shall prescribe.

(b) Nonresident licenses shall be issued by any town clerk, an agent of such town clerk or an agent of the commissioner, except that nonresident trapping licenses shall be issued by the commissioner.

(c) Applications shall be made on forms furnished by the commissioner, containing such information as the commissioner may require, and any such application forms shall have printed thereon, “I declare under the penalties of false statement that the statements herein made by me are true and correct.” Any person who makes any material false statement on such application form shall be guilty of false statement and shall be subject to the penalties provided for false statement, and said offense shall be deemed to have been committed in the town in which such application is presented or received for processing.

(d) No application shall contain any material false statement.

(e) The town clerk, an agent of such town clerk or an agent of the commissioner shall, upon receipt of such application, correctly filled out and accompanied by the required fee, issue to such applicant the appropriate license. If such application is by mail, the town clerk shall mail such license to such applicant within five days from the receipt of the application and proper fee.

(f) The town clerk of any town may deputize agents in such town to issue firearms hunting, archery hunting, trapping and fishing licenses, or the combination thereof, provided he shall be solely responsible for compliance with the provisions of the statutes relating to the duties of the town clerk in connection with such licenses and the moneys received therefor.

(g) The Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection may, upon application by persons on forms furnished by the commissioner and containing such information as the commissioner may require, license such persons as agents for the issuance of firearms hunting, archery hunting, trapping and fishing licenses, or the combination thereof. Upon the request of any agent licensed by the commissioner, the town clerk of the town in which such agent conducts business shall sell license forms to such agent at the regular license cost minus twenty-five cents for such agent's fee. Not later than the first Monday of each month, such agent shall remit to the town clerk from whom the license forms were purchased any license forms voided by such agent and two copies of all licenses sold by such agent during the preceding month. Upon the request of an agent, the town clerk shall reimburse such agent for any unused or voided license forms remitted to such town clerk.

(h) The Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection may issue a group fishing license to any tax-exempt organization qualified under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or any subsequent corresponding internal revenue code of the United States, as amended from time to time, for the purpose of conducting a group fishing event or events for persons: (1) With a service-related or other disability who receive services at a facility of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System, (2) who receive mental health or addiction services from: (A) The Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, (B) state-operated facilities, as defined in section 17a-458, or (C) programs or facilities funded by the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, as provided for in sections 17a-468b, 17a-469, 17a-673 and 17a-676, (3) with intellectual disability who receive services from the Department of Developmental Services, as provided for in section 17a-217, or from facilities licensed by the Department of Developmental Services, as provided for in section 17a-227, (4) diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder who receive services from the Department of Social Services, or (5) receiving care from the Department of Children and Families, as provided for in section 17a-94, or from programs or child-care facilities licensed pursuant to section 17a-145 or 17a-147. Any such organization shall conduct not more than fifty such events, including marine and inland water events, in any calendar year and each such event shall be limited to not more than one hundred persons. Application for such a group fishing license shall be submitted once per calendar year on a form prescribed by the commissioner and with the necessary fee and shall provide such information as required by the commissioner. All fishing activities conducted pursuant to such group license shall be supervised by staff or volunteers of the organization conducting the event or events. Such staff or volunteers shall possess such group fishing license at the site of any such event or events. Each such staff member or volunteer shall have a license to fish. Such organization shall, not later than ten days after such group fishing event, report to the commissioner, on forms provided by the commissioner, information on the results of such event. Such information shall include, but not be limited to, the total: (A) Number of participants, (B) hours fished, (C) number of each species caught, and (D) number of each species not released. Such organization shall not charge a fee to any person that participates in any such group fishing event conducted pursuant to such group fishing license and any such group fishing event shall not be used by such organization as a fund raising event.

(1949 Rev., S. 4870; 1951, 1953, 1955, S. 2463d; 1957, P.A. 288, S. 1; 1963, P.A. 329, S. 2; 1967, P.A. 244, S. 2; 1971, P.A. 871, S. 103; 872, S. 229; P.A. 80-461; P.A. 81-115, S. 1, 2; P.A. 82-366, S. 3; P.A. 85-613, S. 66, 154; Nov. Sp. Sess. P.A. 91-3, S. 2, 21; P.A. 10-106, S. 14; P.A. 11-4, S. 5; 11-80, S. 1; P.A. 13-40, S. 8; May Sp. Sess. P.A. 16-3, S. 53; P.A. 21-12, S. 3.)

History: 1963 act deleted Subsecs. (b) and (c) stating that licenses to nonresidents shall be issued by town clerk, his agent or the board of fisheries and game and prohibiting issuance of trapping license to nonresidents; 1967 act restored previously deleted Subsecs.; 1971 acts replaced references to “perjury” and penalties in Sec. 53-143 with references to “false statement” and references to board of fisheries and game with references to environmental protection commissioner; P.A. 80-461 added Subsec. (h) re issuance of licenses by agents; P.A. 81-115 extended licensing power to agents of environmental protection commissioner, repealed the bond requirement for sales agents, required that they purchase licenses from town clerks, replacing previous provision which had required clerks to furnish forms without charge and replaced previous provisions requiring agent to remit moneys received to commissioner except for $0.75 recording fee to be remitted to clerk with provisions requiring agents to return voided forms and copies of licenses sold to town clerk and requiring clerk to reimburse agent for voided and unused forms if requested to do so; P.A. 82-366 amended Subsec. (a) to establish separate license categories for firearms hunting and archery hunting, amended Subsec. (b) by authorizing the commissioner of environmental protection to issue nonresident trapping licenses and deleted former Subsec. (c) which had prohibited issuance of trapping licenses to nonresidents, relettering accordingly and changing language elsewhere in section to reflect amendments; P.A. 85-613 made technical change in Subsec. (a); Nov. Sp. Sess. P.A. 91-3 amended Subsec. (e) to delete provision for issuance of license holders; P.A. 10-106 added Subsec. (h) re issuance of group fishing license to tax-exempt organization for purpose of conducting group fishing event, effective June 21, 2010; P.A. 11-4 amended Subsec. (h)(3) by substituting “intellectual disability” for “mental retardation” and substituting “diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder” for “autism”, effective May 9, 2011; pursuant to P.A. 11-80, “Commissioner of Environmental Protection” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection”, effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 13-40 amended Subsec. (h)(4) by deleting reference to Sec. 17a-154 and making technical changes; May Sp. Sess. P.A. 16-3 amended Subsec. (h) by deleting “or diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder” in Subdiv. (3), adding new Subdiv. (4) re persons diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder who receive services from Department of Social Services, redesignating existing Subdiv. (4) as Subdiv. (5) and making technical changes, effective July 1, 2016; P.A. 21-12 amended Subsec. (h) by changing limit for group fishing event from 50 persons to 100 persons, effective May 20, 2021.