A NVCOG staff presenter briefed the Transportation Technical Advisory Committee on several recent Connecticut public acts and administrative changes that affect municipal transportation programs.

The presenter highlighted a public act addressing motor-vehicle towing (listed on NVCOG slides as Public Act 25-55), which changes timelines and penalties for public-entity and private towing and includes provisions related to blocking driveways. Staff said a comprehensive summary from the Connecticut Office of Legislative Research will be circulated to TTAC members.

Staff also described legislation that facilitates municipal ordinances addressing street takeovers and noted many of the legislated changes will require towns to adopt local ordinances to take effect. Another change raises the sealed-bid threshold that municipalities can set by ordinance from $25,000 to $35,000; staff recommended local finance offices review the new threshold and consider ordinance updates.

The presenter said the bond act contains a provision (slide cited as section 60) that can reduce a town's town aid road payment by 10% if annual reporting is not filed on time, but an appeal process is available.

Two technical changes relevant to municipal projects were also noted: a statutory clarification allowing the Connecticut Department of Transportation to perform right-of-way work for certain federally funded projects on behalf of towns, and a change to automated enforcement rules that permits towns to enter revenue-sharing arrangements with vendors, reducing upfront costs for speed and red-light camera programs.

Committee members asked for more detail on the bidding threshold discussions and the FHWA reporting form (the FHWA Series 500 local roads information). Staff said they would circulate the Office of Legislative Research summary and other materials to TTAC members for follow-up.