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..titleAN ORDINANCE AMENDMENT OF THE NEW HAVEN BOARD OF ALDERMEN SETTINGCONSISTENT STANDARDS FOR ASSESSING THE RELEVANCE OF PRIOR CRIMINALCONVICTIONS FOR CITY-ISSUED LICENSES AND PROVIDING FOR PUBLICIZINGORDINANCES CONTAINING COLLATERAL CONSEQUENCES FOR PEOPLE WITHCRIMINAL CONVICTIONS..bodyWHEREAS, the City of New Haven seeks to promote employment opportunities for qualified people with prior criminal convictions as part of its larger community reentry initiative; andWHEREAS, licenses issued by the City of New Haven provide significant employmentopportunities to its citizens; andWHEREAS, it is the intent and purpose of this ordinance to ensure that the City of New Havenimplements screening measures and practices that guarantee that every applicant for a licensereceives a thorough, individualized assessment of his or her suitability for a license; andWHEREAS, it is the intent and purpose of this ordinance to advance the City of New Haven’sreentry policy by ensuring that applicants with conviction histories can secure licenses for whichthey are nonetheless well suited; andWHEREAS, it is the intent and purpose of this ordinance to ensure that the City of New Havenemploys screening measures and practices that bar unsuitable individuals from obtaining licenses;andWHEREAS, it is the intent of purpose of this ordinance to publicize ordinances that authorize Cityof New Haven decision makers to take prior criminal convictions into account when assessing thesuitability of applicants for licenses, jobs, and contracts; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED that the New Haven Code of Ordinances is amended asfollows:
Definitions.
City
means the City of New Haven or any department, agency, or office thereof, unless specificallyexcluded by this section.
Collateral consequence
means a collateral sanction or a discretionary disqualification.
Collateral sanction
means a non-discretionary penalty, disability, or disadvantage, however denominated, imposed on an individual as a result of the individual’s conviction of an offense thatapplies by operation of law whether or not the penalty, disability, or disadvantage is included in the judgment or sentence. The term does not include imprisonment, probation, parole, supervisedrelease, forfeiture, restitution, fine, assessment, or costs of prosecution.
Conviction
means any sentence arising from a plea or verdict of guilty, including a sentence of incarceration, a suspended sentence, a sentence of probation or a sentence of unconditionaldischarge. Conviction also includes a ruling of juvenile delinquency by a juvenile court.
Convicted 
has a corresponding meaning.
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 Discretionary disqualification
means a penalty, disability, or disadvantage, however denominated,that a decision-maker in a civil proceeding is authorized, but not required, to impose on anindividual on grounds relating to the individual’s conviction of an offense.
Offense
means a felony, misdemeanor, violation, infraction, serious juvenile offense, or delinquentact under the law of Connecticut, another state, or the United States.
 Person
may extend and be applied to communities, companies, corporations, public or private,limited liability companies, societies, and associations.
 Reentry Initiative
means the City of New Haven’s Prison Reentry Initiative or its designatedsuccessor entity.
Interpreting Ordinances; Ambiguity, Decision To Disqualify.
a)An ordinance creating a collateral consequence that is ambiguous as to whether it imposesa non-discretionary collateral sanction or authorizes a discretionary disqualification shall beconstrued as authorizing a discretionary disqualification. b)In deciding whether to impose a discretionary disqualification, the City shall undertake anindividualized assessment to determine whether the benefit or opportunity at issue should be denied the individual. In making that decision, the City shall consider:1)The nature of the criminal offense or offenses for which the individual has been convicted and the relationship of that offense or those offenses to the benefit or opportunity that the individual seeks;2)The gravity of the offense(s);3)The age of the individual at the time of occurrence of the criminal offenseor offenses;4)The time elapsed since the individual’s conviction or release;5)Information pertaining to the degree of rehabilitation of the convictedindividual;6)Any information produced by the individual, or produced on his behalf, inregard to his rehabilitation and good conduct; and,7)The public policy of this city, as expressed in New Haven Code of Ordinances
§
2-852, to encourage the employment of persons previouslyconvicted of one (1) or more criminal offenses.
Modification of existing ordinances.New Haven Code of Ordinances § 17-1.1. - Permit and license issuer.
The permit and license issuer, hereinafter cited as "the issuer", is a city official who has beenappointed to administer the city's permitting and licensing processes. The purposes of suchappointment are to increase the efficiency of those processes, and to make it easier for persons toapply for permits and licenses issued by the city. The centralization of these activities under theissuer does not relieve the police chief, fire marshal, building official, health inspector, or any other city official
 , board or other authority
of any obligation imposed by federal, state or local law upon
 
such official,
board or other authority
to review and/or approve permits or licenses of any specificclass. Likewise, the issuer is not authorized to issue a license or permit that lacks
the
requiredapproval
by such city official, board or other authority having cognizance of the matter under  federal, state or local law
.
New Haven Code of Ordinances § 17-1.4. Disqualification of applicant.
An applicant will not be issued a license or permit if the police chief or his designee determinesthat the applicant is not a suitable person. This determination will be made on a case-by-case basis,depending upon factors that include, but are not limited to, one (1) or more of the following:(a)
The criminal history of the applicant, specifically:1)The nature of the criminal offense or offenses for which the individual has beenconvicted and the relationship of that offense or those offenses to the benefit or opportunity that the individual seeks;2)The gravity of the offense(s);3)The age of the individual at the time of occurrence of the criminal offense or offenses;4)The time elapsed since the individual’s conviction or release;5)Information pertaining to the degree of rehabilitation of the convicted individual;6)Any information produced by the individual, or produced on his behalf, in regarto his rehabilitation and good conduct; and,7)The public policy of this city, as expressed in New Haven Code of Ordinances
 § 
2-852, to encourage the employment of persons previously convicted of one (1) or more criminal offenses.
(b) The applicant was denied a license or permit under this chapter within the immediate past year,unless the applicant can and does show to the satisfaction of the appropriate city authority that thereasons for such earlier denial no longer exist.(c) The applicant had a similar license or permit previously revoked by any lawful authority for  just cause
not inconsistent 
 
with this ordinance.
(d) The applicant has named a person who has been
 found unsuitable under the criteria
insubsection (a) as having the active management or operation of a location, facility, building or  portion thereof at which the licensed or permitted activity would take place.(e) The applicant has named a person who has been
 found unsuitable under the criteria
insubsection (a) as having the active distribution, management or operation of the activity that is thesubject of the application.(f) Other just cause
not inconsistent with this ordinance
.
New Haven Code of Ordinances § 17-1.15. Suspension, cancellation or revocation by issuer.
(a) Unless otherwise provided, the issuer may suspend, cancel or revoke a license or permit at anytime for any one (1) or more of the following reasons:1)The license or permit was procured by fraud or misrepresentation of the
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