Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee
JOINT FAVORABLE REPORT
Bill No.: SB-1106
AN ACT CONCERNING THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE REGIONAL
Title: COMMUNITY-TECHNICAL COLLEGES.
Vote Date: 3/14/2023
Vote Action: Joint Favorable Substitute
PH Date: 3/2/2023
File No.: 200
Disclaimer: The following JOINT FAVORABLE Report is prepared for the benefit of the
members of the General Assembly, solely for purposes of information, summarization and
explanation and does not represent the intent of the General Assembly or either chamber
thereof for any purpose.
SPONSORS OF BILL:
The Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee.
REASONS FOR BILL:
All Community Colleges in Connecticut will be integrated into the CSCU system. This bill
corrects a provision allowing the Connecticut community-technical colleges to retain or
establish a supporting foundation after their merger into the CSCU system and have the
campus president or CEO serve on the foundation's board. Existing requirements would have
mandated that the 12 community colleges combine their funds into one support foundation,
which is not conducive to meeting each school's distinct financial support needs. The bill also
maintains the current state laws that apply to the community-technical colleges after the
merger and authorizes a campus CEO to audit campus finances if necessary. Agencies
maintain that these updates are necessary to allow individual community college foundations
to operate and fundraise independently post integration into the CSCU system.
SUBSTITUTE LANGUAGE:
This adopted amendment adds "and, if such public institution of higher education is an
accredited state community-technical college, the chief executive officer of a campuses of
such college" the section 1, subsection (3)(C), to amend the definition of "executive authority"
and clarify that the CEO of the community college may continue to serve on their respective
college's foundations.
RESPONSE FROM ADMINISTRATION/AGENCY:
Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU), President, Terrence Cheng: supports
this bill as CSCU believes it clarifies existing statutes and allows individual community college
foundations to continue operating as separate entities after the merger of the community
colleges. CSCU suggests a clarification that a "public institution of higher education" include
the campuses of CT State Community College and that their CEOs have executive authority
to work with those foundations, which can be achieved by adding any campus of CT State
Community College to the definition of a public institution of higher education. *The adopted
amendment addresses the agencies concern
NATURE AND SOURCES OF SUPPORT:
See Administration/Agency Response.
NATURE AND SOURCES OF OPPOSITION:
Middlesex Community College Foundation, Chair, Chris Dibble: opposes this bill because of
the need for legal mechanisms to protect the Community College Foundations' independent
status. It is stated that the current legal language within this bill could pose a legal mandate
for the twelve community college foundations to merge into one foundation. It is suggested
that failure to protect each community college foundation's independence may result in
challenges in fulfilling the original donors' intention, lead to an aggregate decline in donations,
further fracture the relationship between the CSCU system and local communities, and could
negatively affect underprivileged students whom the foundations' efforts most benefit.
Manchester Community College Foundation, President, Peter Grose: opposes this bill
suggesting that the bill be revised to clarify that the CEO of each campus serves as a non-
voting member of each respective community college foundation's governing board.
It is state that under the current language, the President of The CSCU system would be
interpreted as this non-voting member, and he would prefer that the CEO of each respective
campus be designated to serve in the role due how important the campus CEO is for
fundraising and coordination between the foundation and the campus.
Reported by: Arthur Newberg Date: 3/23/2023
Page 2 of 2 SB-1106


Statutes affected:
Raised Bill: 4-37e
HED Joint Favorable Substitute: 4-37e
File No. 200: 4-37e