Legislation Effective October 1, 2014

Legislation Effective October 1, 2014

With the start of October comes new laws that may directly affect you, your business or your community.

An entire list of these laws can be found by clicking here.

Here are a few highlights:
An Act Concerning Guardians Ad Litem (GAL) and Attorneys For Minor Children in Family Relations Matters, which puts into effect new requirements and Superior court procedures regarding the appointment of guardians ad litem and counsels for minor children (CMC) in family relations and other matters. The act provides a list of factors for GALs and CMCs to consider in determining the best interest of the child and establishes new compensation requirements.

An Act Concerning Long-Term Care Insurance Premium Rate Increases, which requires long-term care (LTC) insurance providers to disperse premium rate increases of at least 20% over a time period of at least three years. It requires LTC carriers to notify individual policyholders and group certificate holders of any rate increase and provide the opportunity to reduce benefits in order to reduce the rate.

An Act Concerning Stolen Valor, Veterans’ Service Officers and Technical Corrections to the Definition of Veteran, which addresses the crime of falsely portraying oneself as the owner of a military medal to deceitfully acquire money, property or other tangible benefits. The penalty for such is a fine ranging between $500 to $1,000 and/or up to six months imprisonment.

An Act Concerning the Termination of “Robo” Calls, increases the maximum fine, from $500 to $1,000, for transmitting unsolicited recorded business, commercial, or advertising messages to in-state customers through telephone message devices that do not immediately disconnect when the consumer hangs up.   These messages are often referred to as “robocalls”.

An Act Prohibiting Unsolicited Commercial Text Messages and Increasing Penalties for Violations of the Do Not Call Registry, broadens the scope of the laws regulating telemarketers. It generally prohibits telephone solicitors from making unsolicited sales calls, including sending texts and media messages, to consumers on the state “Do Not Call” registry unless they receive a consumer’s prior express written consent. The act also prohibits solicitors from making or causing to be made unsolicited, automatically dialed, recorded telephonic sales calls without prior express written consent. These messages are often referred to as “robocalls. ”

The act also increases the maximum fine for each solicitor’s registry violation from $11,000 to $20,000.

An Act Concerning the Assessment of Horses and Ponies and Farm Machinery and theTransfer of Land Classified As Farm Land, Open Space Land, Forest Land and Marine Heritage Land, changes to the “490 program,” in which eligible farm, forest, open space, and maritime heritage land is assessed for property tax purposes based on its current use, rather than its full market value.  The act also allows municipalities to exempt all horses and ponies from local property taxes, regardless of their use, expands the mandatory property tax exemption for farm machinery, and extends the application deadline for property tax exemptions for farm machinery, horses, and buildings for farmers granted an extension to submit their personal property tax declarations.

Please share this information with those who may be interested.