Sec. 26-67c. Complaints re hunting in proximity to certain areas. Hearing. Records to be kept by law enforcement officials. Report to General Assembly.
Sec. 26-67c. Complaints re hunting in proximity to certain areas. Hearing.
Records to be kept by law enforcement officials. Report to General Assembly. (a)
The Commissioner of Environmental Protection shall maintain a record of all written
complaints received by the department of violations of the regulations concerning hunting in proximity to buildings occupied by persons or domestic animals or used for storage
of flammable or combustible materials or the regulations regarding shooting towards
persons, buildings or animals. The commissioner shall hold a hearing at least once
annually, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, at which changes in such
regulations for particular localities shall be considered. The commissioner may amend
such regulations for a particular locality where he finds that: (1) The physical setting
of a particular locality presents an unreasonable risk that hunters may violate the regulations regarding hunting in proximity to buildings occupied by persons or domestic animals or used for storage of flammable or combustible materials or the regulations regarding shooting towards persons, buildings or animals or (2) a record of documented
complaints reveals that violations of such regulations occur with significant frequency.
(b) The chief law enforcement official for each municipality, or his designee, shall
maintain a record of all complaints received by such official in each calendar year regarding any potential hazard to public safety related to any hunting activity and shall submit
such record to the Commissioner of Environmental Protection annually. Such record
shall be maintained separately from all other records of complaints received by such
official. After an investigation of any such complaint, if the chief law enforcement
official determines that a particular hunting activity in a particular location poses a
hazard to public safety, he shall submit a written report of such determination to the
Commissioner of Environmental Protection.
(c) On or before February 1, 1995, and annually thereafter, the Commissioner of
Environmental Protection shall submit a report to the joint standing committee of the
General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to the environment which sets
forth for the preceding year ending December thirty-first the number of complaints
received and investigations conducted along with the action taken.
(P.A. 91-378, S. 8; P.A. 93-408, S. 1.)
History: P.A. 93-408 added new Subsecs. (b) and (c) re records of law enforcement officials and a report to the general
assembly, respectively.
See Sec. 53a-217e re negligent hunting offenses.
By implementing procedure for dealing with local safety concerns, the state has given Department of Environmental
Protection the ultimate decision-making authority; municipal ordinances are thus preempted. 46 CS 588.