Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

General Assembly                       Committee Bill No. 5731
      January Session, 2021                 LCO No. 4577
     Referred to Committee on VETERANS' AFFAIRS
     Introduced by:
       (VA)
 AN ACT ELIMINATING SERVICE IN TIME OF WAR AS AN ELIGIBILITY
 CRITERIA FOR CERTAIN BENEFITS FOR VETERANS.
 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
 Assembly convened:
       Section 1. Section 14-254 of the general statutes is repealed and the
    following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2021):
      "Disabled veteran", as used in this section, means (1) (A) any veteran,
   [who performed service in time of war,] as defined in section 27-103, or
   (B) any person with a qualifying condition, as defined in said section,
   who has received a discharge other than bad conduct or dishonorable
   from active service in the armed forces, as defined in said section, [and
   who performed service in time of war,] and (2) (A) one or both of whose
   legs or arms or parts thereof have been amputated or the use of which
   has been lost, (B) who is blind, paraplegic or hemiplegic, or (C) who has
   traumatic brain injury, any such disability described in subdivision (2)
   of this section being certified as service-connected by the United States
   Department of Veterans Affairs. The Commissioner of Motor Vehicles,
   upon application of any disabled veteran accompanied by such
   certificate of United States Department of Veterans Affairs, shall issue
   without charge a special number plate or set of plates in accordance with
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                                                      Committee Bill No.   5731
 the provisions of subsection (a) of section 14-21b to be attached to a
 passenger motor vehicle owned or operated by such disabled veteran
 and an identification card to be used in connection therewith. The card
 shall identify the disabled veteran and the motor vehicle and shall state
 that such disabled veteran is qualified to receive the card, that the card,
 plate or plates shall be returned to the commissioner if the registration
 of the motor vehicle is cancelled or transferred and that the card is for
 the exclusive use of the disabled veteran to whom it is issued, is not
 transferable and will be revoked if presented by any other person or if
 any privilege granted under this section is abused. If not so revoked, the
 card shall be renewable every four years at the time of registration of
 motor vehicles. No penalty shall be imposed for the overtime parking
 of any motor vehicle bearing a number plate issued under this section
 when it has been so parked by the disabled veteran to whom the plate
 and an identification card were issued or by any person operating such
 vehicle when accompanied by such disabled veteran, provided the
 length of time for which such vehicle may remain parked at any one
 location shall not exceed twenty-four hours. The surviving spouse of a
 disabled veteran issued such special registration may retain any such
 registration and number plates without charge for his or her lifetime or
 until such time as he or she remarries.
    Sec. 2. Section 21-37 of the general statutes is repealed and the
 following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2021):
    Any town may make reasonable ordinances with reference to the
 vending or hawking upon its public streets or upon any state highway,
 except limited access highways, within such town or any land abutting
 such streets or highways of any goods, wares or other merchandise at
 public or private sale or auction, or to the vending or peddling of such
 articles from house to house within its limits, including the imposition
 of a fee, not exceeding two hundred dollars a year, applicable with
 respect to any person engaged in such vending, hawking or peddling,
 for the privilege of so vending, hawking or peddling such merchandise.
 Any ordinance adopted pursuant to this section which requires a permit
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                                                      Committee Bill No.   5731
 may require that no such permit shall be issued to any person who has
 not obtained a permit to engage in or transact business as a seller within
 the state in accordance with section 12-409 and shall require that any
 permit issued pursuant to such ordinance shall be conspicuously
 displayed at the place the activities are undertaken. Such ordinances
 may provide that the authority issuing such permit may waive the
 permit fee for a nonprofit organization exempt from federal taxation by
 Section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or any subsequent
 corresponding internal revenue code of the United States, as from time
 to time amended, or a charitable organization. No town shall require a
 permit fee from any resident of this state who has resided within the
 state for a period of two years next preceding the date of application for
 such permit, who is (1) a veteran, [who served in time of war,] as defined
 in section 27-103, (2) a hawker or peddler as defined in section 21-36,
 and (3) a principal pursuant to section 21-36. This section shall not apply
 to sales by farmers and gardeners of the produce of their farms, gardens
 and greenhouses, including fruit, vegetables and flowers, or to the sale,
 distribution and delivery of milk, teas, coffees, spices, groceries, meats
 and bakery goods, to sales on approval, to conditional sales of
 merchandise, or to the taking of orders for merchandise for future
 delivery when full payment is not required at the time of solicitation.
 Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit in any manner the
 Commissioner of Transportation's statutory authority concerning state
 highways. Nothing in this section shall be construed as empowering any
 municipality to prohibit, regulate, control or impose a fee on any person
 operating any business on any state highway or land abutting any state
 highway pursuant to a contract with the state.
      This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
      sections:
      Section 1     October 1, 2021             14-254
      Sec. 2        October 1, 2021             21-37
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                                                                    Committee Bill No.          5731
Statement of Purpose:
To eliminate service in time of war as an eligibility criteria for certain
benefits for veterans.
[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.]
 Co-Sponsors:             REP. COOK, 65th Dist.; REP. TURCO, 27th Dist.
                          REP. DIGIOVANCARLO, 74th Dist.
H.B. 5731
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Statutes affected: 
Committee Bill: 14-254, 21-37