On January 1, 1979, state government took on a new look—at least in name. Some 250 separate and largely independent departments, agencies, and commissions were 'merged into twenty-four state departments.

Though the public, which receives the services from these departments, has seen few differences in me services provided, the reorganization provided the governor with more clearly defined administrative control and an auxiliary staff which provides specific policy and budgetary functions related to overall governmental activities. The description which follows provides a summary of the responsibilities and major activities of each department. The departmental descriptions are grouped by me functional categories as contained in the governor's $4.0 billion budget for 1984-1985. The state government employs approximately 49,100 people.

General Government

Budget
Established       Employees      (In Millions)

Elected Officials                                                                              656                $24.9

These offices were previously described above.

Office of Policy and Management                              1978                 198                $ 7.9

Advises the governor in formulation and coordination of executive policy concern­ing budgeting, management, planning, energy, intergovernmental relations, program evaluation, and criminal and juvenile justice planning.

Department of Administration Services                      1978                 1,288             $53.1

Provides staff services to all state agencies encompassing personnel administration include collective bargaining, purchasing, planning of capital improvements (except highways and bridges), and collections from individuals "aided, cared for or treated in" state facilities ($104.1 million in 1981-82).

Department of Housing                                             1979                 131                $ 7.7

Responsible for housing and community development assistance. Provides low-in-rest loans to the state's twenty-six housing authorities which manage 7,227 units I assisted, since 1959, in me construction of 162 elderly housing projects on 6,238 ts of housing.

Department of Revenue Services                               1901                 965                $73.1

Administers and enforces all Connecticut tax laws and collects all taxes due ($2.5 billion as of June 1983). The Commission on Special Revenue (Gaming Commission), which is attached to the department, operates the lottery and other gaming activities generating $146.1 million in revenues for the state budget.

Regulation and Protection of Persons and Property

Department of Public Safety                                     1979                 1,384             $47.9

Coordinates the various programs established to protect life and property. This includes the State Police, State Fire Marshall, and special task forces initiated for organized crime, narcotics, and welfare fraud. State Police also provide in those towns organized police forces resident troopers who perform all necessary police functionss. The Military Department, attached to this department, includes the various nationaI guard units and state armories.

Banking Department                                                1837                 136                $ 6.3

Regulates the financial institutions doing business in the state. This includes, for example, 162 banks (with 820 branch officers), and 17,000 financial brokers. The $3.6 million in fees and assessments collected is more than three times the department's expenditures.

Insurance Department                                              1865                 82                  $ 2.3

Provides supervision of all Connecticut based and non-resident insurance com­panies licensed to do business in Connecticut (825), licenses insurance brokers (33,500), and reviews rate changes for accident and health insurance policies.

Department of Motor Vehicles                                   1917                 934                $23.8

Responsible for issuing some 1.8 million vehicle registrations, 714,000 drivers licenses, and 61,000 boat registrations each year. The department licenses all motor vehicle dealers and repairers. It additionally operates the state's new auto emissions inspection. The department generates over $100 million per year in receipts which are included in the state budget.

Department of Public Utility Control                           1853                 128                $ 4.1

Provides specified regulatory authority over 144 public service companies supply­ing electric, gas, water, sewer, telephone, telegraph, and community antenna television (CATV) service. Exercises limited authority over fifty municipalities, primarily water utilities.

Department of Consumer Protection                          1959                 181                $ 5.1

Charged with protecting the consumer from product injury or merchandising deficit. The department regularly inspects 5,000 wholesale and retail food establish­ments; 45,000 weighing and measuring devices; investigates allegations of fraud, sales pricing, deceptive advertising, and unfair trade; licenses 8,700 pharmacists; and reg­ulates all boxing and wrestling exhibitions.

Department of Labor                                                1873                 2,016             $76.1

Responsible for providing unemployment compensation for eligible jobless, assist­ing the unemployed to find work, developing employment and labor statistics, monitors working conditions and job accidents, and provides labor-management mediation and arbitration assistance.

Conservation and Development

Department of Agriculture                                         1959                 85                  $ 2.8

Responsible for insuring a constant supply of food. The department licenses and registers the 614 dairy farms and 2,800 stores which sell dairy products; regulates livestock production which includes 20,000 cattle, goats and swine and 45,000 chick­ens; administers 41,000 acres of shellfish grounds; and supervises the municipal licens­ing of 230,000 dogs.

Department of Environmental Protection                    1971                 613                $22.8

Responsible for the state's: (a) environmental quality to include hazardous waste, noise control, oil and chemical spills, air quality, solid waste disposal, waste water disposal, and coastal and tidal wetlands and (b) conservation and preservation to include fisheries, forests and fire control, wildlife protection, and management of the state's parks and recreation areas.

Department of Economic Development                      1973                 71                  $ 4.1

Charged with fostering the development, of business, industry, jobs, commerce, and tourism. In the past twelve months 271 companies have expanded, fifty-five have moved to the state and 27,000 jobs have been created or retained. The department vides numerous incentive programs: the Connecticut Development Authority in seven years has provided $1.2 billion in financing for over 900 projects; through the Urban Jobs Program assisted 260 firms and investment of $460 million in the state's central cities; and the department's international program assisted 225 foreign firms to either locate or expand in the state, creating or retaining employment for 30,000 individuals.

Tourism is increasingly becoming a part of the state's economy. The department estimates that Connecticut attracts over 25 million people per year, who spend over $1 billion.

Health and Hospitals

Department of Health Services                                  1878                 804                $29.9

Responsible for providing prevention, improvement and direct health services. The department supervises the State Medical Examiner (in 1982 mere were 7,416 investigations and examinations of deaths); the Commission on Hospitals and Health Care (reviews and sets rates for the thirty-five community hospitals); the development of long-term nursing home facilities; the operating of the Veteran's Home and Hospital (750 patients); and keeping records on vital statistics.

Department of Mental Retardation                              1975                 5,287             $156.5

Charged with the planning, developing and administering direct care to 4,850 clients annually at me twelve regional centers and two training schools and indirectly the care of others in the 224 training homes, supervised apartments, sheltered workshops, and community-based training, health, recreational, and rehabilitation

Department of Mental Health                1953      4,288           $149.1

Responsible for providing care, treatment and rehabilitation services to mentally ill and alcohol and drug dependent persons at state facilities or supported programs. 'Eight hospitals are operated which provided services to 14,022 in 1982.

Transportation

Department of Transportation                 1969      4,785           $241.1

Responsible for operating and maintaining the state's transportation facilities which include:

Highways:

     10,160 Lane miles of road

       3,425 Bridges

    160,000 Signs

       5,850 Trees maintained or removed annually

            14 Toll stations to operate generating $65 million in revenues

            20 Gasoline stations to lease and supervise

       4,800 Pieces of highway equipment

Airports:

6 Airports are operated. Bradley International, the largest, is scheduled for a $100 million
    expansion.

     71,500 Aircraft operations are handled annually.

2 Million passengers are accommodated annually. 74.1 Million Ibs. of cargo
    are handled annually.

Public Transportation:

41 Million passengers are transported on 619 buses, operated by 17 transit systems,
     subsidized by the state at an annual cost of $32.8 million.

24 Million passengers are transported to and from New York and New Haven on state
    owned rail cars, and subsidized at an annual cost of $27.1 million.

Welfare

Department on Aging                                                1969                 38                  $ 4.9

Responsible for improving the quality of life for the state's 525,000 elderly citizens over sixty years of age. The department provides grants to over 100 social and supportive service programs; provides, through thirteen nutrition programs, over 10,000 meals daily at 192 meal sites; assists 3,200 elderly in their homes, and assists low-income elderly with part-time employment.

Department of Human Resources                              1979                 538                $30.6

Provides supportive services to recipients of financial assistance and administers social service and day care programs. Approximately 45,000 persons per month and 200,000 different individuals per year receive assistance; 29,000 applications for winter fuel assistance were approved during the winter in 1983-84 ($17.7 million in stale and federal funds); and 2,230 dwelling units have been winterized for low-income homeowners within the past four years.

Department of Income Maintenance                           1935                 1,587             $934.1

Responsible for administering state and federally reimbursed income maintenance (welfare) programs. The department's major programs are Aid to Families With De­pendent Children (AFDC), which has an average monthly caseload of 44,000 families; the Food Stamp Program which assists 67,000 families on an average monthly basis; and Medicaid, which assists 194,000 medically needy persons each month. The depart­ment also oversees the state-funded General Assistance Program administered by Connecticut's 169 municipalities for those who do not qualify for AFDC. In 1980 the General Assembly enacted workfare legislation requiring municipalities to place elig­ible recipients in work, training or education sites.

Education

Department of Education                                          1838                 1,728             $693.1

The department is unique from other state agencies in two respects. First, it has a constitutional mandate ("there shall always be free public elementary and secondary schools in the state."), and, second, a nine-member Board of Education appointed by the governor provides policy direction for the department, enforces educational man­dates, and employs the Commissioner of Education who carries out the Board's decisions. The department is responsible for providing an appropriate educational program for the state's 512,000 (K-12) students in the local school districts. The department also administers the state's seventeen regional vocational-technical schools.

Department of Higher Education                                1977                 13,348           $1,094.4

Responsible for coordination of the public system of higher education (the newly created 11-member Board of Higher Education establishes policy), which includes me University of Connecticut, its health center and branches (enrollment 22,500 full and part-time); four state universities (enrollment 32,000 full and part-time); five technical colleges (enrollment 7,950 full and part-time); and twelve community colleges (enroll­ment 35,000 full and part-time).

Corrections

Department of Corrections                                        1958                 2,393             $   82.4

Responsible for all incarcerated adult persons including pretrial detainees, misdemeanants, and felons and provides supervision for persons released on parole. Over the past five years the fifteen correctional facility population has increased by 70.4%, or 5,169 men and women. In 1974 the department established a volunteer services program which now includes 1,002 individuals active in thirty-seven departmental programs who have contributed 164,474 hours of work within the last twelve months.

Department of Children Youth Services                      1970                 1,459             $ 75.0

Provides assistance on an average daily basis to 12,300 children in the areas of child protection, foster care, adoption, juvenile corrections and rehabilitation, and treatment of mental illness and emotional disturbance.