Advisory Opinion 2004-7
Advisory Opinion 2004-7
Application Of
Public Act No. 04-38
On
May 4, 2004, the Governor signed P.A. No. 04-38,
AN ACT MAKING CERTAIN REFORMS UNDER THE STATE
CODES OF ETHICS.
The Act, effective
July 1, 2004:
extends the Ethics Codes statutes of
limitation from three to five years; increases the State Ethics Commissions civil
penalty authority from $2,000 to $10,000 per violation; makes criminal
violations of the Codes a Class D felony; and extends the time for voiding
illegal contracts from 90 to 180 days.
The
Commission has been asked by various parties whether, and if so which of, the
provisions in the Act are retrospective in their application?
The Act is silent on this issue.
Under such
circumstances, the rules of statutory construction, as codified by the General
Assembly, allow for the consideration of extratextual
evidence. See, P.A. No.
03-154. When examining questions of
retrospective application of a statute, traditional analysis involves
determining whether a provision is procedural or substantive. In general, the Courts have applied
procedural provisions retroactively; while treating substantive provisions as
prospective. See, Coley v.
Camden Associates, 243 Conn. 311 (1997) and Miano
v Thorne, 218 Conn. 170, 175
(1991).
In this instance,
however, a procedural/substantive analysis is unnecessary, because the
unambiguous legislative history preempts all other considerations. Specifically, in the debate on this
legislation in the House of Representatives, on April 21, 2004
, the House Chairman of the GAE Committee, James ORourke, was asked
whether the provisions in the Bill were intended to apply on a prospective
basis only. Chairman ORourke answered
in the unequivocal affirmative. This
response reflected both the intent of the General Assembly and the
understanding of the Commission, which had agreed to such a prospective
application as part of the process of passage of the Act. As a consequence, all provisions of P.A. No.
04-38 will be applied prospectively commencing July 1, 2004.
By
order of the Commission,
Rosemary
Giuliano
Chairperson