The Commissioner of Transportation may acquire by purchase but not by condemnation, in the same manner and with like powers as said commissioner possesses in purchasing real property for state highway purposes, and accept gifts of, land adjacent to state highways and take a deed in the name of the state, and transfer custody of such land to the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection when such land, in the opinion of the Commissioner of Transportation and the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection, shall replace environmental protection land acquired from the Department of Agriculture or the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection for highway purposes after October 1, 1965.

(February, 1965, P.A. 525; 1969, P.A. 768, S. 106; 1971, P.A. 739, S. 1; 872, S. 203; June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6, S. 146(f); P.A. 04-189, S. 1; P.A. 11-80, S. 1.)

History: 1969 act replaced highway commissioner with commissioner of transportation; 1971 acts substituted department and commissioner of agriculture and natural resources for state park and forest commission and made technical changes consistent with the substitution and later provisions replaced park and forest commission with commissioner of environmental protection and made technical changes consistent with the substitution, the latter provisions were enacted; June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6 replaced Department of Agriculture with Department of Agriculture and Consumer Protection, effective July 1, 2004; P.A. 04-189 repealed Sec. 146 of June 30 Sp. Sess. P.A. 03-6, thereby reversing the merger of the Departments of Agriculture and Consumer Protection, effective June 1, 2004; pursuant to P.A. 11-80, “Commissioner of Environmental Protection” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection”, effective July 1, 2011.