SAVE STATE FORESTS, STATE PARKS, AND STATE WILDLIFE REFUGES

ON ELECTION DAY, NOVEMBER 6
VOTE YES ON QUESTION 2

This Is a Constitutional Amendment to
PROTECT YOUR PUBLIC LANDS

The official title of Question 2 is  Connecticut Legislative Requirement to Transfer State Property Amendment

This Amendment puts common-sense limits on the legislature’s annual gifts of public lands to towns, businesses, and individuals for uses such as parking lots, cemeteries, gravel-truck roads, boutique hotels, storage space, and more. These conveyances can be done without a public hearing, without public notice, and without fair compensation to taxpayers.

Each section of a law conveying away state land begins with the magic word “Notwithstanding“, as in text along the lines of: ...Notwithstanding any law, regulation, or policy of the state of Connecticut, we are hereby conveying this land, which belongs to the people of Connecticut, to someone else. We may or may not require the someone-else to pay for the property.

The limits established by this Amendment are modest and similar to laws in neighboring states. The provisions will require the legislature to: (1) hold a public hearing on each conveyance and (2) gain a 2/3rds majority vote. That's all.

YOUR YES VOTE will prevent valuable state-owned park, forest, wildlife management area, and farmland from being sold, swapped, or given away by the legislature without public notice or comment.

Thank You.

James Swiatek
President of the Hammonasset Trout Unlimited
jswiatek@comcast.net
860-839-7057