HB 7208 Connecticut House · 2025 Regular Session

AN ACT CONCERNING REFERENDA ON THE SALE OF MUNICIPAL AUTHORITIES, DEPARTMENTS, AGENCIES OR ASSETS THEREOF OR THE PRIVATIZATION OF MUNICIPAL SERVICES OR FUNCTIONS.

HB 7208 requires municipalities to hold a voter referendum before selling municipal departments, agencies, or assets or privatizing services previously provided by city employees. It mandates that if a municipality authorizes such a sale or privatization after July 1, 2025, a petition signed by at least 5% of voters can trigger a vote at the next regular election. If voters approve by majority, the deal proceeds; if rejected, the municipality cannot pursue that specific sale or privatization for five years. This directly affects local governments and residents, ensuring public input on major financial or service changes.

Tags: Local Government

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Mar 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Mar 7, 2025 Last action Apr 28, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Raised Bill → GAE Joint Favorable Substitute · 4 edits

MODERATE

This bill was revised from a 'Raised Bill' to a 'GAE Joint Favorable Substitute,' incorporating technical drafting improvements and adjusting key thresholds for citizen-initiated referenda on municipal privatization. The most significant change reduces the petition signature requirement from ten percent to five percent of electors, making it easier for citizens to trigger votes on selling municipal assets or privatizing services. Additionally, the bill now explicitly includes departments and agencies in the scope of assets that can be sold or privatized, and adds a five-year prohibition on re-entering into such agreements if a referendum fails.

Scope change

The bill's scope was expanded to explicitly include municipal departments and agencies alongside authorities and assets, and the threshold for citizen petitions was lowered from ten percent to five percent of electors.

ELIGIBILITY

Reduced the petition signature requirement from ten percent to five percent of electors to make it easier for citizens to trigger referenda on municipal privatization.

SCOPE

Expanded the scope of privatization to explicitly include municipal departments and agencies, not just authorities or assets.

REQUIREMENT

Added a five-year prohibition preventing municipalities from re-entering into privatization agreements for the same purposes if a referendum fails.

TECHNICAL

Made technical drafting improvements for consistency with standard conventions in referendum language and cross-references.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Apr 28, 2025

Lower · Passed

Joint Favorable

lower

Apr 25, 2025

Lower · Passed

Joint Favorable

lower

Apr 22, 2025

Lower · Passed

REF. BY HOUSE TO COMMITTEE ON Planning and Development

lower

Mar 19, 2025

Lower · Passed

Joint Favorable Substitute

lower

Mar 7, 2025

Committee

REF. TO JOINT COMM. ON Government Administration and Elections

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors