State environmental programs receive revised grant, hunting, and permit rules

The environmental commissioner may award open-space grants for habitat restoration or urban farming and must run electric-vehicle rebate and voucher programs; grants may also help fund zero-emission school buses and charging equipment. Open-space grants cover qualifying land owned by certain municipalities or nonprofit conservation groups. Vehicle rebates and vouchers cover eligible residents, municipalities, businesses, nonprofits, and tribal entities. School-bus grants cover municipalities, school districts, and bus operators. Open-space grants may cover restoration, habitat protection, urban farming, or vegetation replacement, but those grants may not exceed 20 percent of the program's yearly grants. Vehicle rebates and vouchers must prioritize low-income residents and people in listed assistance programs. Municipalities, businesses, nonprofits, and tribal entities face annual and lifetime limits, subject to available funds. School-bus grant applications receive preference when the bus will mainly operate in an environmental justice community, and applicants must provide a commissioner-set match. These provisions take effect from passage. The vehicle price limit applies through June 30, 2027, inclusive.

The environmental commissioner must set deer-hunting standards and permits, may approve plans to control resident Canada geese, and allows specified hunting on private property on Sundays. The hunting rules cover deer hunters, private-land owners and their family members, municipalities, homeowner associations, nonprofit land holders, and approved corporate entities managing resident geese. Deer hunters generally need the required license and permit. Private-land deer permits are available without a fee to owners of at least ten acres and certain relatives, with one permit per person each season. Sunday private-property hunting requires written owner permission, except for people using the listed free private-land turkey permit or resident game-bird stamp. Hunting may not occur within 40 yards of a public blazed trail. Goose-control plans must describe the nuisance or damage, prohibit feeding, use less goose-friendly native landscaping, notify adjoining landowners, and may not authorize snares. These hunting and goose-management provisions take effect October 1, 2026. Private-land deer permits cover November 1 through December 31, inclusive.

The environmental commissioner may issue general permits for activities with minimal environmental effects, while the act also defines certain treatment-system wastewater and sets rules for brush burning and forest-fire control. The permitting rules cover activities under environmental law and wastewater from public or private drinking-water systems. Burning and fire-control rules cover residents, municipalities, local officials, fire wardens, firefighters, and people in areas covered by a gubernatorial fire proclamation. A general permit may cover an activity otherwise eligible for an individual permit only when its separate and combined environmental effects are minimal. Covered treatment-system wastewater includes tank or line draining, process samples, equipment leakage or bleed-off, and periodic hydrant flushing. Brush burning requires the applicable local permit and remains barred during specified air-quality, health, fire-danger, pollution, local-ordinance, or landfill hot-spot conditions. Municipal facilities may receive no more than six such permits each year. Ten or more people may petition for fish passage at a hydroelectric dam outside federal jurisdiction. The act also repeals the statute adopting the Connecticut River Atlantic Salmon Compact. The general-permit and wastewater provisions take effect July 1, 2026, and from passage, respectively. The brush-burning and forest-fire provisions take effect October 1, 2026. The fish-passage petition rule and compact repeal take effect from passage.