SB 435 Summary

• Protects agricultural and farming operations from nuisance liability for odor, noise, dust, chemical use, and water pollution when operations have been in effect for one year or more and follow generally accepted farming practices (effective July 1, 2024).

• Extends nuisance protection to spring water and well water collection operations that conform to generally accepted practices and comply with local zoning restrictions.

• Allows assessors to classify land as farm land or open space land based on Commissioner of Agriculture advisory opinions, which serve as prima facie evidence, and prohibits denial of applications based on minimum acreage zoning requirements (effective July 1, 2024).

• Revises the Connecticut Entity Transactions Act to change terminology from "statement" to "certificate" for merger, conversion, and domestication filings and updates definitions of entities that cannot participate in transactions under the act (effective October 1, 2024).

• Changes charitable property disposition authority from the Attorney General to the court in entity transactions and clarifies service of process provisions for foreign entities becoming effective in Connecticut.