State Codes and Statutes
Statutes > Connecticut > Title13b > Chap242 > Sec13b-38aSec. 13b-38a. Establishment of commuter programs. Advice and assistance to employers. Traffic management programs. Task force to create programs. (a) The Department of Transportation shall assist all employers in the state who employ or provide parking facilities for one hundred or more employees in one location, in establishing a commuter, trip-to-work program. The Department of Transportation, working in coordination with the Office of Policy and Management, the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Economic and Community Development, shall provide to such employers information for commuting to work, which information shall include, but not be limited to, the following: (1) Schedules and types of available modes of public transportation in the employer's region; (2) maps and listings of state commuter parking lot locations; (3) estimates of cost savings to individual employees where determinable; (4) sources of available federal and state funds, including subsidies, to aid in the implementation of employee commuter, trip-to-work programs; (5) available tax incentives to employers for participation in such program; (6) lists of state, regional and local officials operating transit districts, who may assist the employer in such a program; and (7) literature, posters, pamphlets and cost savings charts. All employers in the state who employ or provide parking facilities to one hundred or more employees in one location, who wish to participate in a commuter, trip-to-work program, shall submit to the Department of Transportation on forms provided by the commissioner, the work schedules, residence addresses and usual mode of transportation of their employees. Following an employer's request for a commuter, trip-to-work program, the department, in conjunction with any other state agency having jurisdiction, shall render necessary assistance in the implementation of the program. Based upon information received from the employer and in the order received, the Department of Transportation shall furnish to such employers a proposed commuter, trip-to-work program for their employees. Said program shall include at no cost to the employer: (A) A computer matching of employees for potential carpool, vanpool and buspool services; (B) technical assistance to the employer in implementing carpools, vanpools and buspools and utilizing existing transit systems at the employer's work location.
(b) If any funds are made available to the Department of Transportation for transportation management plans, the commissioner may make a grant to any municipality, transit district or regional ride-sharing entity for the purpose of developing or administering any plan which complies with the objectives and requirements of subsections (c) and (d) of this section.
(c) Any traffic management plan shall be created in conjunction with business firms and community and commuter groups and each plan shall be designed to alleviate traffic congestion by encouraging the use of mass transportation and promoting the establishment of programs as described in subsection (d) of this section. Any municipality, transit district or regional ride-sharing entity which is developing or creating a traffic management plan, either individually or in conjunction with other such entities may submit an application for a grant in accordance with the provisions of this section. The amount of such grant to any participating entity for any year may not exceed seventy per cent of the total amount expended by any such entity with respect to such year for the purposes of developing and administering such plan. Any application for a grant under the provisions of this section shall include, but not be limited to, the following: (1) The population of the municipality or the population of the regions covered by the transit district or regional ride-sharing entity; (2) a description of all aspects of the manner in which the proposed plan will alleviate traffic congestion; (3) the name of and manner in which each business firm is participating in the plan; (4) the name of and manner in which each community group and commuter group is participating in the plan; (5) the total proposed expenditures for the development and administration of the plan in the year in which such application is submitted and a certification that not less than thirty per cent of the plan's funding will be provided by the grantee. Grants made for the purposes of this section shall not be expended for any other purpose.
(d) Any traffic management plan established in a municipality, transit district or regional ride-sharing entity shall be designed to encourage implementation of the following programs, to the extent that such program is a part of any such plan: (1) A ride-sharing incentive program, in which a business firm encourages employees through fiscal or other incentives to make their commute to work by any means other than a single occupant vehicle, including rail, bus or van sharing; (2) a vanpool or company shuttle program, in which a business firm purchases or assists in the purchase of a vanpool to be used by employees for ride-sharing or provides a company shuttle van for its employees; (3) preferential parking programs for ride-sharing employees; (4) employee transportation coordinating programs, in which an employer designates an employee as an employee transportation coordinator who shall assist in ride-sharing matching, publicizing and promoting alternate means of commuting, analyzing and advocating for company-provided commutation incentives or managing, implementing and monitoring existing company commutation incentives; (5) commuter allowance programs, in which an employer provides an employee with a commuter allowance based on the amount an employer expends to provide such employee with free parking; (6) flexible work hours for employees, allowing employees to work flexible hours to alleviate rush hour traffic congestion; and (7) satellite parking, in which a business firm provides shuttle bus service from commuter parking lots outside urban areas.
(e) The Department of Transportation shall adopt regulations, in accordance with chapter 54, to carry out the purposes of this section, which regulations shall include, but not be limited to, establishing criteria for awarding grants pursuant to subsection (b) of this section and procedures to notify municipalities, transit districts or regional ride-sharing entities of the availability of funds.
(f) There is established a task force to develop transportation management plans to ensure compliance with the Clean Air Act amendments of 1990, P.L. 101-549. The purpose of the task force shall be to develop various programs to be implemented by employers who employ one hundred or more employees to reduce traffic congestion and improve traffic flow and air quality throughout the state. The task force shall consider: (1) Programs to be included in any transportation management plan, which programs shall include, but not be limited to, the programs specified in subsection (d) of this section; (2) timetables for the implementation of the plans; (3) financial incentives for implementation of the plans or penalties for employers who fail to comply with the implementation of the plans; (4) methods to ensure effective participation of employers throughout the state in the development and implementation of the plans; (5) the identification and creation of funding mechanisms to implement the plans; (6) guidelines for monitoring the implementation of the plans and any needed revisions to the plans; (7) the appropriate role of municipalities, transit districts and regional ride-sharing entities in the development and the implementation of the plans; and (8) identification of any state laws or regulations which may impede the implementation of the plans. The task force shall be comprised of the chairpersons and ranking members of the joint standing committees on transportation and environment, the Commissioners of Transportation, Environmental Protection and Administrative Services, or their designees, and the following appointees: The Governor shall appoint one representative from an employer who employs at least one hundred employees, one representative from a municipality, one representative from a transit district or regional ride-sharing entity and one public member; the president pro tempore of the Senate shall appoint a representative from an employer who employs at least one hundred employees in an urban area of the state; the majority leader of the Senate shall appoint a representative from an employer who employs at least one hundred employees in a rural or suburban part of the state; the minority leader of the Senate shall appoint a representative from an employer who employs at least one hundred employees in an urban part of the state; the speaker of the House of Representatives shall appoint a representative from an employer who employs at least one hundred employees in a suburban or rural part of the state; the majority leader of the House of Representatives shall appoint a representative from a group representing business and industry and the minority leader of the House of Representatives shall appoint a representative from a municipality or regional planning agency. The Governor's appointee representing an employer who employs at least one hundred employees shall organize and chair the task force. The Department of Transportation shall provide any necessary support staff or services for the task force. The task force shall submit its initial findings and recommendations to the joint standing committee on transportation on or before February 1, 1992, and annually thereafter on January first until such time as the task force determines that there is no longer a need for continued reporting.
(P.A. 79-544, S. 1, 2; P.A. 90-190, S. 1, 2; P.A. 91-148, S. 1, 3; 91-343, S. 6, 11; May Sp. Sess. P.A. 92-13, S. 11, 18; P.A. 95-250, S. 1; P.A. 96-211, S. 1, 5, 6.)
History: P.A. 90-190 added new Subsecs. (b) to (e) making grants available to a municipality, transit district or ride-sharing entity for the establishment of traffic management programs; P.A. 91-148 in Subsec. (a) changed the employers covered from those with more than one hundred fifty employees to those with more than one hundred employees and added a new Subsec. (f) establishing a task force for the development of traffic management programs; P.A. 91-343 deleted reference to "division of energy" in office of policy and management in Subsec. (a); May Sp. Sess. P.A. 92-13 amended Subsec. (f) by extending the existence of the task force; P.A. 95-250 and P.A. 96-211 replaced Commissioner and Department of Economic Development with Commissioner and Department of Economic and Community Development.
See Sec. 13b-38o et seq. re state-wide traffic management program to meet the requirements of the Clean Air Act.
