This has been and continues to be a very difficult year for our state
budget, but for advocates of the Community Investment Act, an off budget
revenue source, things are looking up!
After six months of fending off assaults, the Community Investment Act lives ANEW.
The day the legislative session ended last week, the Connecticut General
Assembly, with key leadership support from Governor Rell, Senate President Pro
Tempore Donald Williams, Speaker of the House Christopher Donovan and House
Majority Leader Denise Merrill, passed Bill 891 which expands the
Community Investment Act to include a two-year funding stream to assure the
continued viability of Connecticut’s struggling dairy farmers.
The
nationally recognized Community Investment Act was modified by SB 891 to
increase the land record filing fee from $30 to $40 and to create a new
distribution formula for the revenue. As under the current surcharge,
Town Clerks will keep $1.00 of each $30.00, and $3.00 will go to the Local
Capital Investment Program. Thirty-six dollars will go into the "Community
Investment Fund", sixty percent of which will be split evenly between
the DEP's Open Space Matching Grants program, the Commission on Culture and
Tourism's Historic Preservation programs, and the Connecticut Housing Finance
Authority for affordable housing projects; the remaining forty percent will
go towards agricultural viability programs and a new dairy relief program.
After two years, the program will revert to its current fee level and
revenue distribution.
As
David Sutherland of The Nature Conservancy wrote, “This is all another
stunning victory for the CIA. This legislation will 1) provide desperately
needed funds for the dairy industry, 2) reduce (but not eliminate) the chances of the CIA being
"raided" in the upcoming budget negotiations; and 3) provide about
$500,000 more for each of the open space, historic preservation, and affordable
housing programs. Even the fact that it was passed now, instead of being
deferred until this summer's biennial budget negotiations, as is the case
with almost every other proposal involving money, is surprising.”
Thank
you to all of you who advocated with your own legislators and with leadership
to keep the CIA alive – it is a wonderful funding source with major community
impact for farmland protection, historic preservation, affordable housing and
open space protection.
