AN ACT ESTABLISHING A PILOT PROGRAM FOR MUNICIPAL CAMPAIGN FINANCE FILINGS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. (Effective from passage) (a) The State Elections Enforcement Commission may establish, within available appropriations, a pilot program to provide assistance to the town clerks of not more than twenty municipalities with the completion of some or all of their filing repository duties under section 9-603 of the general statutes. If the commission establishes said pilot program:
(1) The commission shall (A) establish an application procedure for the program and criteria for the selection of municipalities, and (B) provide assistance to the town clerks of selected municipalities in accordance with this section on such terms and in such manner as the commission prescribes.
(2) (A) A town clerk may apply, if so directed by vote of the municipality's legislative body, to participate in the program, and (B) each municipality selected to participate in the program shall implement a plan designed by the commission to transfer some or all of such clerk's filing repository duties to the commission.
(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (b) of section 9-623 of the general statutes, the commission may waive any late filing fee described in said subsection for any candidate or treasurer in a municipality that is participating in the pilot program.
(4) Said pilot program shall terminate on April 6, 2018.
(b) The State Elections Enforcement Commission shall conduct a study, within available appropriations, of the efficiency of transferring to the commission from the offices of participating clerks of municipalities some or all of the filing repository duties under section 9-603 of the general statutes pursuant to the pilot program under subsection (a) of this section. The study shall include an analysis of the: (1) Cost to municipalities of maintaining the filing repository function, including, but not limited to, costs associated with personnel, equipment, software, hardware and server space; and (2) capacity of the offices of participating clerks of municipalities to assist with centralized filing repository duties, including, but not limited to, the availability of personnel and equipment. Not later than February 2, 2019, the commission shall report its findings and any recommendations for legislation to make permanent the pilot program pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of the general statutes, to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to elections.