(a) The Commissioner of Administrative Services shall assign office space and provide necessary accommodations in state-owned facilities for state agencies, other than institutions, the Legislative Branch and the Judicial Branch. Subject to the provisions of section 4b-23, the commissioner shall execute all leases for offices or any other type of space or facility necessary to meet the needs of all state agencies, the Judicial Branch, the Division of Criminal Justice, the Public Defender Services Commission and institutions. Any provisions of the general statutes to the contrary notwithstanding, the Commissioner of Administrative Services shall be the sole authority for negotiating such leases, provided any such leases, intending to provide for the needs of institutions, shall further be subject to the approval of the board of trustees of the institution involved and provided further, the Commissioner of Administrative Services shall expedite the handling of leases to meet emergency and short term needs. Subject to the provisions of section 4b-23, the commissioner may delegate authority to the Chief Court Administrator to negotiate and enter into leases for office, court or parking facilities for the Judicial Branch when the commissioner deems such delegation to be appropriate and such leases will be consistent with relevant real estate and contracting laws. For the purposes of this section, the term “Judicial Branch” does not include the courts of probate, the Division of Criminal Justice and the Public Defender Services Commission, except where they share facilities in state-maintained courts.

(b) The Commissioner of Administrative Services shall have the primary responsibility for ensuring that the lessor of the offices, space or other facilities which are covered by each such lease complies with the provisions of the lease. In carrying out such responsibility, the commissioner shall inspect such offices, space and other facilities at least once annually.

(1949 Rev., S. 201; March, 1950, S. 69d; 1971, P.A. 572, S. 1; P.A. 73-214, S. 1; P.A. 75-425, S. 22, 57; P.A. 77-573, S. 24, 30; 77-614, S. 73, 610; P.A. 80-220; P.A. 82-218, S. 37, 46; P.A. 84-241, S. 2, 5; 84-436, S. 4, 12; P.A. 85-301, S. 11–13; P.A. 87-496, S. 30, 110; 87-570, S. 3, 5; 87-589, S. 74, 87; P.A. 88-117, S. 2, 5; P.A. 91-230, S. 7, 17; June 18 Sp. Sess. P.A. 97-11, S. 31, 65; P.A. 99-75, S. 3; P.A. 11-51, S. 44; P.A. 12-168, S. 3.)

History: 1971 act clarified leasing procedure and required approval of commissioner of finance and control as well as of attorney general and approval of boards of trustees of institutions involved and of commission for higher education if higher education institution involved; P.A. 73-214 established public works commissioner as sole leasing authority and required him to expedite leases for emergency and short term needs; P.A. 75-425 omitted requirement for approval by attorney general and finance and control commissioner; P.A. 77-573 replaced commission for higher education with board of higher education; P.A. 77-614 replaced public works commissioner with commissioner of administrative services; P.A. 80-220 specified that leases exceeding $1,000 a year involving higher education institutions require approval of board of higher education; P.A. 82-218 replaced board of higher education with board of governors pursuant to reorganization of higher education system, effective March 1, 1983; P.A. 84-241 added “of higher education” to board's title; P.A. 84-436 excluded the judicial department from the agencies for which the commissioner assigns office space and provides necessary accommodations in state-owned facilities, included the judicial department, the division of criminal justice and the public defender services commission among the agencies for which the commissioner executes leases, and defined “judicial department,” effective July 1, 1985; P.A. 85-301 excluded the legislative department from the agencies for which the commissioner assigns office space and provides necessary accommodations in state-owned facilities; P.A. 87-496 substituted public works commissioner for administrative services commissioner; P.A. 87-570 designated existing section as Subsec. (a) and added Subsec. (b) requiring commissioner of administrative services to have primary responsibility for ensuring that lessor complies with lease provisions; P.A. 87-589 made technical changes, replacing administrative services commissioner and department with public works commissioner and department as needed to comply with P.A. 87-496; P.A. 88-117 in Subsec. (a) substituted “constituent units of the state system” for “institutions”; Sec. 4-128 transferred to Sec. 4b-30 in 1989; P.A. 91-230 amended Subsec. (a) to delete provision requiring that leases exceeding $1,000 per year which concern constituent units of higher education system be approved by board of governors; June 18 Sp. Sess. P.A. 97-11 amended Subsec. (b) by repealing prohibition on Public Works Department lease negotiator being assigned commissioner's duties under this section, effective July 1, 1997; P.A. 99-75 amended Subsec. (b) by repealing provision requiring commissioner to submit annual report to State Properties Review Board re lease inspections; pursuant to P.A. 11-51, “Commissioner of Public Works” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “Commissioner of Administrative Services”, effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 12-168 amended Subsec. (a) by substituting “Branch” for “Department” and authorizing Commissioner of Administrative Services to delegate authority to Chief Court Administrator to negotiate and enter into leases for office, court or parking facilities for Judicial Branch, effective July 1, 2012.

Annotation to former section 4-128:

Wording of statute does not explicitly or by necessary implication waive defense of governmental immunity in action on a lease. 35 CS 180.