Action Alert: Municipal Liability Protection Law On the Chopping Block

Public Hearing is on Thursday March 29th 

at 10:00am at the LOB

The Judiciary Committee has raised SB 445. This bill will dilute Municipal Liability Protection by removing places like Boardwalks, Public Beaches, and Public Sidewalks from the definition of Land under the statute. This would be unacceptable! 

The ONLY Public Hearing will be Thursday 29th in the Legislative Office Bldg (LOB) next to the State Capitol Bldg at 10:00am.. so please send your emails, letters, and/or make your calls ASAP (especially if your legislators sit on the Judiciary Committee).

There is no reason for making changes in a bill that was just passed last year and has not been found to be lacking.
If you are able to attend the hearing or plan on submitting testimony, please let me know via email so we can look for you and let you know about any logistics.

Ways you can help:

1) We need both written and verbal testimony from the public and elected officials that have a vested interest in keeping the Municipal Liability Protection as current configured under the law passed last year (which you worked so hard to get passed last year).

2) Contact members of the Judiciary Committee that are in your district to let them know you want this bill voted down ( Info below as a guide on what to write)

List of committee members by district .. which includes their email addresses

3) Write/Call your local elected officials ( Mayor,Councilperson, Selectman, etc)

As you reach out to your legislators, there are a few messages to convey:

1. Please vote against SB 445

2. Don't unravel the gains made just last year to keep municipal recreational lands open;

3. If you can, use a local example of a municipal boardwalk, public beach, or paved walkway that you think would be impacted by this bill and include what it means to you; and

4. If you contact your legislators, please let Eric Hammerling of CFPA  know that you made contact and how they responded in the most convenient way for you (ehammerling@ctwoodlands.org or 860/346-TREE).

5) Contact your friends and make them aware of the seriousness of this issue. Post on Blogs, Newsgroups, facebook, your web sites, etc.

Some Background:

You might be wondering, "Didn't the CT General Assembly take care of this recreational liability issue last year?" In fact,they did through the passage of P.L. 11-211 which restored protection against liability to municipalities with some exceptions.

However, S.B. 445 proposes to make the following areas on municipal lands ineligible for protection under the Recreational Liability Statute:

• boardwalks;
• public beaches; and
• paved sidewalks.

These areas on municipal lands, unfortunately, are very broadly defined, for example:

• "Boardwalks" can apply to any wooden walkway (large or small);
• "Public beaches" are found on municipal lands at the Sound, on a lake, or along a river; and
• "Paved sidewalks" could impact bikeways and paved multiple-use trails throughout the state.

Undoubtedly, there is some area on municipal lands near you that would be impacted by this terrible bill. As you know, the more vulnerable your municipality is to personal injury lawsuits, the more likely it will close or limit public access to recreation lands.