General Assembly Raised Bill No. 476
February Session, 2020 LCO No. 2803
Referred to Committee on GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION
AND ELECTIONS
Introduced by:
(GAE)
AN ACT CONCERNING ORGANIZATION OF THE STATE ELECTIONS
ENFORCEMENT COMMISSION.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
1 Section 1. Subsection (d) of section 9-7a of the general statutes is
2 repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from
3 passage):
4 (d) (1) The commission shall, subject to the provisions of chapter 67,
5 employ such employees as may be necessary to carry out the provisions
6 of this section, section 9-7b and section 9-623 and may apply to the
7 Commissioner of Emergency Services and Public Protection or to the
8 Chief State's Attorney for necessary investigatory personnel, which the
9 same are hereby authorized to provide.
10 (2) There shall be a compliance unit within the commission. The
11 compliance unit (A) shall provide (i) the commission with legal advice
12 during hearings and on other matters before the commission and draft
13 all decisions, advisory opinions and declaratory rulings of the
14 commission, and (ii) written opinions of counsel and verbal advice to
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15 the general public, and (B) may perform such other duties as the
16 commission deems necessary, provided the commission shall develop
17 internal policies to ensure effective separation of the duties of the
18 compliance unit with the duties of other commission staff.
19 (3) There shall be an enforcement unit within the commission. The
20 enforcement unit (A) shall be responsible for (i) investigating
21 complaints brought to or by the commission, including receiving any
22 such complaint and evaluating whether such complaint alleges facts
23 which, if proven true, would constitute a violation of election law, and
24 (ii) prosecuting any such complaint in the event a matter proceeds to
25 hearing or is otherwise brought before the commission, and (B) may
26 perform such other duties as the commission deems necessary,
27 provided the commission shall develop internal policies to ensure
28 effective separation of the duties of the compliance unit with the duties
29 of other commission staff.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage 9-7a(d)
Statement of Purpose:
To require that the enforcement and compliance duties and staff of the
State Elections Enforcement Commission be separate, specifically with
regards to investigation and prosecution of complaints and adjudication
of such complaints.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]
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