AN ACT CONCERNING THE ADMINISTRATION OF BRADLEY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.

1. reconstitutes and expands the Bradley International Airport board of directors by adding two additional members appointed by the governor;

2. expands the board's authority and its autonomy from the Department of Transportation (DOT);

3. requires the board to study the functions and activities of the board and the airport that are subject to state law and determine if any such laws prevent or delay the board's ability to discharge its duties and responsibilities;

4. requires the board to report to the Transportation Committee by February 15, 2010 with respect to statutory impediments and any recommendations for changing or repealing them;

5. creates an inter-municipal economic development zone around Bradley International Airport by designating specified contiguous census tract blocks in Windsor Locks, Suffield, East Granby, and Windsor as the Bradley Airport Development Zone (i. e. , Bradley Zone) and authorizes state-reimbursed property tax exemptions, corporate business tax credits and sales tax exemptions for zone businesses developing facilities, creating jobs, and purchasing machinery replacement parts; and

6. permits the board to contract with the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology to help manufacturers and technology-based businesses locating in the airport development zone to get job training services from the state's community technical colleges and other training providers.

*Senate Amendment “B” replaces the bill's provision designating the towns of Windsor Locks, Suffield, East Granby, and Windsor as the Bradley Airport Development Zone and giving businesses within the zone the same benefits that businesses in an enterprise zone receive with the summarized census tract block zone designation and tax incentive provisions. It also permits the board to contract with the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology for job training services.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage except (1) July 1, 2009 for the changes in the board's authority and autonomy; (2) upon passage for the corporate business tax credit applicable to income tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2011; (3) October 1, 2010 for the property tax exemption applicable to assessment years commencing on or after that date; and (4) October 1, 2010 for the sales tax exemption applicable to sales occurring on or after that date.

The board currently consists of seven members as follows: the transportation and economic and community development commissioners serving ex officio; a representative of the Connecticut Transportation Strategy Board appointed by the House speaker; a representative from the Bradley International Community Advisory Board appointed by the House minority leader; and three private sector members appointed, one apiece, by the governor, the Senate president, and the Senate minority leader.

The bill expands the board, beginning July 1, 2009, to nine members by adding two additional private sector members appointed by the governor. It requires the terms of the current board members to expire on June 30, 2009 or when each member's successor is appointed and qualified, whichever is later. It also makes appointments to the board subject to the advice and consent of the legislature.

As is currently the case, the bill makes each new member's term four years, or until a successor is appointed and has qualified, whichever is later.

Currently, the Bradley board is empowered to develop, in consultation with the DOT commissioner, an organizational and management structure that will best accomplish the goals of the airport. The bill eliminates the requirement that the board consult with the commissioner to do this. The bill also:

1. authorizes the board to employ managerial employees, as defined by state law, for the airport and establish their salary, which must be paid from the Bradley Enterprise Fund;

2. empowers the board to approve, as well as just review, significant contracts, other than collective bargaining agreements, relating to airport operations;

3. allows the board to select consultants directly rather than only recommend them to DOT for employment, and allows them to be paid from the Bradley Enterprise Fund; and

4. not later than June 30, 2010, requires the board to develop, jointly with the State Contracting Standards Board, a streamlined competitive bidding procedure for the selection of construction contractors, airport vendors, and professional and other services. These procedures must comply with all federal requirements for receipt of federal funds for the airport.

With respect to the new authority to both review and approve significant airport-related contracts, the bill eliminates the current requirement that such reviews be conducted within 10 business days from when the board receives the contract.

The bill requires the Bradley board to study its and the airport's functions and activities under state law and determine if any such laws prevent or delay the board's ability to discharge its duties and responsibilities with respect to operation and development of the airport. It must report to the Transportation Committee by February 15, 2010 with respect to any such law and must (1) describe specifically how it results in prevention or delay and (2) recommend if it should be amended or repealed, or if an exemption should be granted.

The bill adapts an existing property tax exemption program for the Bradley Zone. The law allows all municipalities to fix the property tax assessment for projects to construct or improve a facility anywhere in a municipality (CGS § 12-65b). In doing so, a municipality exempts from taxation some or all of the increase in a property's value from taxation. The municipality may grant the exemption if its legislative body approves it. But, unlike the state-mandated enterprise zone property tax exemptions, the state does not reimburse the municipality for the revenue loss.

The bill requires the state to reimburse Windsor Locks, Suffield, East Granby, and Windsor (i. e. , the Bradley Airport towns) for 40% of the revenue they forgo when they exempt property in the Bradley Zone under the same terms and conditions as for the exemptions under CGS § 12-65b. Under that statute, a municipality may exempt a portion of the improvement's assessed value for a specified number of years based on a project's cost. The table below shows the schedule for fixing the assessment and the types of projects that quality for this benefit.

The bill limits each Bradley town's authority to grant the state-reimbursed exemptions to 10 years from the time it approved its first exemption.

The bill imposes certain administrative requirements for processing the state reimbursements. Each Bradley town must notify the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) secretary and the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) commissioner each time its legislative body approves an exemption. In doing so, the town must specify the business' location and North American Industrial Classification System code, the reimbursement amount, the term of the exemption, and any other information the secretary and the commissioner require. The DECD commissioner may provide a copy of this information to the revenue services commissioner upon request.

The reimbursement claims must be filed and processed according to the same schedule and procedure for filing similar claims under the enterprise zone program. Generally, a town must file its claim with the OPM secretary by August 1 annually on forms he prescribes. The secretary must review the claim and certify the amount to the comptroller by December 15. The comptroller must order payment within five days of that deadline and the treasurer must make the payment by December 31. The bill authorizes the state to reduce the reimbursement if the total reimbursements for the towns exceed the appropriated amount.

The bill authorizes a 10-year corporate business tax credit to businesses in the Bradley Zone that received the bill's property tax exemptions for constructing or improving a facility there. A business qualifies for the credit if it hires new full-time employees to work at the facility. The credit equals (1) 30% if the business hires between 25 and 149 new employees to work at the facility or (2) 50% if it hires at least 150 new employees to work there. A business must apply to the revenue services commissioner for the credit when the municipality approves the property tax exemption. The credit may be claimed only by the facility's initial occupant or occupants, but the bill allows subsequent occupants to do so under the same terms and conditions if they submit an application to the revenue services commissioner.

The bill specifies a formula for calculating the number of new employees for which a business can claim the credit. The formula considers any layoffs the business made in the year before it claims the credit. The business can count only an employee who was hired to fill a new job or one who was transferred from a location outside the state. A new job is one that did not exist in the state before the firm claimed the credit.

The total number of new employees for which the business can claim a credit cannot exceed the increase in the total number of people the firm employs in Connecticut. The firm must determine the increase in its Connecticut workforce by subtracting:

1. the total number of its Connecticut employees when it applies for the credit plus the total number of new employees, including current employees who were reassigned to new jobs, from

2. the largest number of people the business employed in Connecticut in the year before it applied for the credit.

The business must claim the credit the same way businesses claim credits under the enterprise zone program. It must claim the credit on its tax return for the business' income year during the calendar year following the year after it was issued an eligibility certificate. (The business is not issued an eligibility certificate under the bill; such certificates are issued to businesses under the enterprise zone program when DECD certifies that the facility meets that program's eligibility criteria. Consequently, the bill appears to authorize the business to begin claiming the credits after the town approve the agreement awarding the property tax exemption. )

The business must stop claiming the credit at any time during the 10-year period when it no longer meets the new jobs target. It cannot pro rate the credit for the months during the year when it met the target.

Current law exempts all businesses in the enterprise zones from paying the sales tax on machinery replacement parts. The bill extends this exemption to all businesses located in the Bradley Zone.

*Minimum Project Cost*	*Exemption Amount*	*Exemption Period*	*Eligible Projects*
$ 3 million	100%	Up to seven years	● Office ● Retail ● Permanent residential ● Transient residential ● Manufacturing ● Warehouse, storage, or distribution ● Multilevel parking connected to mass transit system ● Information technology ● Recreation facilities ● Transportation facilities
$ 500,000	100%	Up to two years
$ 25,000	Up to 50%	Up to three years