Month: May 2019

Senate Democrats Pass $15 Minimum Wage For Connecticut

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Senate Democrats Pass $15 Minimum Wage For Connecticut

Connecticut’s Democratic State Senators voted early this morning to raise Connecticut’s hourly minimum wage to $15 an hour in five yearly steps by June 1, 2023 – a change that will directly benefit a third of a million state residents, or about one-fifth of Connecticut’s total workforce.

After a six-hour debate, the Senate passed the minimum wage bill on a party-line 21-14 vote at 2:45 a.m. this morning. Once the bill is signed into law by Governor Lamont, the first minimum wage increase will take effect on October 1 of this year.

“Working people deserve to work with dignity,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney (D-New Haven). “Over 300,000 hardworking people will benefit from raising the minimum wage, and I’m proud that Connecticut will join other states around the country in passing this legislation.”

“Connecticut needs to pay workers the wages they deserve,” said Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk). “By raising the minimum wage, we are ensuring that more people are lifted out of poverty and are able to provide for themselves and their families. It’s the right thing to do and our economy will benefit from it.”

“Passing this minimum wage increase will directly benefit 332,000 people in Connecticut,” said state Senator Julie Kushner (D-Danbury), who as Senate Chair of the Labor Committee brought the bill out on the Senate floor and answered legislators’ questions about it. “The public support for raising the minimum wage in Connecticut is really quite amazing. Even people who make well above the minimum wage are supportive of more pay over time for others. This support speaks volumes about the values of the people in our state, of their consideration for others. It’s wonderful to see.”

“As a business owner, I’ve thought long and hard about this issue, and I decided it was important enough to bring up the lowest-level pay for employees because I believe getting people to a higher wage is critical for the health and welfare for the State of Connecticut. It’s the fair thing to do,” said state Senator Norm Needleman (D-Essex), who is the owner of Tower Laboratories, a manufacturing company headquartered in Essex and that employs 150 people in Connecticut. “There may be unintended consequences, but I believe the good outweighs the bad. I wish the minimum wage had been indexed since I entered the workforce so we wouldn’t be dealing with an abrupt change right now. I suspect the minimum wage would be significantly higher had we done that, and we wouldn’t be fighting this battle right now. I’m glad this bill addresses that going forward.”

Increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour is a popular public policy with Connecticut residents: an August 2018 Quinnipiac University poll of more than 1,000 Connecticut residents found that nearly two-thirds (63%) support increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour, including 73% of women, 67% of people over age 67, 65% of people ages 18-24, 56% of unaffiliated voters, and 33% of Republicans.

SUMMARY:

House Bill 5004, “AN ACT INCREASING THE MINIMUM FAIR WAGE,” increases Connecticut’s hourly minimum wage from the current $10.10 per hour to:

  • $11.00 on October 1, 2019
  • $12.00 on September 1, 2020
  • $13.00 on August 1, 2021
  • $14.00 on July 1, 2022
  • and $15.00 on June 1, 2023

Tip Credit:

Current state law provides a “tip credit” to employers of hotel and restaurant staff and to bartenders who customarily receive tips. The tip credit allows employers to count these employee tips as a percentage of their minimum wage requirement, thus reducing the employer’s share of the minimum wage — as long as the tips make up the difference.
The new minimum wage bill freezes the employer’s share of these employees’ minimum wage requirement at their current values ($6.38 for hotel and restaurant staff, and $8.23 for bartenders), but the bill also requires the tip credit’s value to correspondingly increase to make up for the difference between the employer’s share and the bill’s minimum wage increases. Thus, it allows employers to count these employees’ tips towards the difference between the employer’s share and the increasing minimum wage, as long as the tips make up the difference.

Training / Youth Wage:

Today’s minimum wage bill also addresses the issue of so-called training or youth wages. Starting October 1, 2019, the bill changes the “training wage” that employers may pay to learners, beginners, and people under age 18. Current state law generally allows employers to pay these employees as low as 85% of the regular minimum wage for their first 200 hours of employment. Today’s bill eliminates the training wage exceptions for learners and beginners, and now limits the training wage only to people under age 18 (except for emancipated minors.) Thus, today’s bill requires learners and beginners who are at least age 18 to be paid the full minimum wage.

Today’s bill also requires the training wage to be the greater of $10.10 or 85% of the minimum wage, and it allows employers to pay the training wage to people under age 18 for the first 90 days, rather than 200 hours, of their employment.

ECI Indexing:

Starting on January 1, 2024, and on each January 1 every year after that, the bill requires the minimum wage to be adjusted by the percent change in the federal Employment Cost Index (ECI) for all civilian workers’ wages and salaries over the 12-month period ending on June 30 of the preceding year, as calculated by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

A history of the ECI can be found here: https://www.bls.gov/ncs/ncspubs.htm#tabs-2

Connecticut History of the Minimum Wage:

  • 1959 Act added “owner” and “partnership” to Subsec. (e) and the proviso and authority to define executive, etc., capacity by regulation to Subsec. (f); 1961 act added to Subsec. (f) the clause re employees of industry and increased the minimum wage rate provided for by Subsec. (j);
  • 1963 Act included beginners in minimum wage provisions of Subsec. (j), specified that $0.95 minimum wage for learners, beginners and persons under eighteen applies for the first 500 hours of employment, set rate at $1.25 thereafter and exempted institutional training programs designated by commissioner from pay provision;
  • 1967 Acts redefined “employee” to delete reference to individuals exempt under specified Subdivs. of Fair Labor Standards Act and individuals employed in industries for which wage orders have been established as employees, redefined “minimum fair wage”, revising wage amounts and reducing hours at which beginners, etc. are paid a lesser amount from 500 to 200;
  • 1969 Act redefined “minimum fair wage” to add provisions pegging increases to increases in federal minimum wage;
  • 1971 Acts redefined “employee” to delete exclusion for employees of state, municipalities or political subdivisions and redefined “minimum fair wage” to increase wage amounts, to delete provision re formula for increase in gratuities allowance for restaurant employees and to add provision re fair wage for agricultural employees;
  • 1972 Act redefined “employee” to delete exclusion for individuals in manufacturing establishments subject to provisions of Fair Labor Standards Act;
  • P.A. 73-82 redefined “employee” to specifically exclude persons employed in executive, administrative, professional or outside sales capacity;
  • P.A. 77-154 excluded employees of nonprofit theaters which operate less than seven months a year from consideration as employees;
  • P.A. 77-329 qualified exclusion of persons in domestic service from consideration as employees by adding exception and excluded baby-sitters;
  • P.A. 78-358 raised minimum wage, pegged rates to “highest” federal minimum wage, changed basis of wage for beginners, etc. from $1.50 for the first 200 hours and $1.85 thereafter to not less than 85% of basic minimum wage for first 200 hours and equaling basic minimum wage thereafter and deleted provision re minimum wage for agricultural employees;
  • P.A. 79-41 redefined “employer” to include the state and its political subdivisions; P.A. 83-537 amended Subsec. (f) to exempt any individual employed as a head resident or resident assistant at a college or university from the definition of “employee”;
  • P.A. 87-366 amended Subsec. (j) to increase the minimum fair wage to $3.75 on October 1, 1987, and to $4.25 on October 1, 1988;
  • P.A. 93-144 redefined “employee” to delete specific exclusion of persons employed in a bona fide executive, administrative or professional capacity;
  • P.A. 95-79 redefined “employer” to include a limited liability company, effective May 31, 1995;
  • P.A. 98-44 amended Subsec. (j) to increase the minimum fair wage to $5.65 on January 1, 1999, and to $6.15 on January 1, 2000;
  • P.A. 00-144 amended Subsec. (j) to increase the minimum fair wage to $6.40 on January 1, 2001, and to $6.70 on January 1, 2002;
  • P.A. 02-33 amended Subsec. (j) by deleting prior minimum fair wage amounts and by increasing the minimum fair wage to $6.90 on January 1, 2003, and to $7.10 on January 1, 2004, effective July 1, 2002;
  • P.A. 05-32 amended Subsec. (j) to increase the minimum fair wage to $7.40 on January 1, 2006, and $7.65 on January 1, 2007;
  • P.A. 08-92 amended Subsec. (j) to increase minimum fair wage to $8.00 per hour on January 1, 2009, and to $8.25 per hour on January 1, 2010; P.A. 10-32 made a technical change in Subsec. (e), effective May 10, 2010; P.A. 13-25 amended Subsec. (f) to redefine “employee” by adding provision re member of the armed forces of the state performing military duty;
  • P.A. 13-117 amended Subsec. (j) to redefine “minimum fair wage” by increasing minimum wage to $8.70 per hour on January 1, 2014, and $9.00 per hour on January 1, 2015, effective July 1, 2013;
  • P.A. 13-140 deleted former Subsec. (b) defining “wage board”, redesignated existing Subsecs. (c) to (j) as Subsecs. (b) to (i), and made technical changes, effective June 18, 2013;
  • P.A. 14-1 amended Subsec. (i) to redefine “minimum fair wage” by increasing minimum wage to $9.15 on January 1, 2015, to $9.60 on January 1, 2016, and to $10.10 on January 1, 2017, effective July 1, 2014;
  • P.A. 15-127 amended Subsec. (b) by deleting reference to wage board, effective June 23, 2015.

Senator Anwar Joins Democrats In Raising Connecticut’s Minimum Wage

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Senator Anwar Joins Democrats In Raising Connecticut’s Minimum Wage

HARTFORD, CT – Early this morning, State Senator Saud Anwar (D-South Windsor) joined the Senate Democrats to approve a bill designed to raise Connecticut’s hourly minimum wage to $15 an hour in five yearly steps by June 1, 2023 – a change that will benefit a third of a million state residents, or nearly a third of Connecticut’s workforce.

“There are so many in our communities who work hard but are not being paid fairly. In my work with local food banks, I know so many people who work full time – but the minimum wage does not cover their ability to buy food,” said Sen. Anwar. “Ninety percent of the people currently receiving the minimum wage are not teenagers. Almost 60 percent are women and 30 percent have children. Despite working 80 or so hours, people cannot afford safe shelter and remain food insecure. When women make $15 an hour, 50 percent of them would rise out of poverty. This bill will allow people to improve their status, invest more in their families and invest in their futures.”

House Bill 5004, “AN ACT INCREASING THE MINIMUM FAIR WAGE,” increases Connecticut’s hourly minimum wage from the current $10.10 per hour to:

  • $11.00 on October 1, 2019
  • $12.00 on September 1, 2020
  • $13.00 on August 1, 2021
  • $14.00 on July 1, 2022
  • and $15.00 on June 1, 2023

After June 1, 2023, the bill would index Connecticut’s hourly minimum wage to changes in the federal Employment Cost Index.

The bill freezes employers’ shares of “tip credits,” which allow employers to count employee tips as a percentage of their minimum wage requirement, though it also requires tip credit value to increase and cover the difference between employers’ shares and minimum wage increases. Additionally, it changes the “training wage” for youth, eliminating a standard allowing employers to pay as low as 85 percent of the minimum wage for learners and beginners. The training wage now only applies to people under the age of 18, and is limited to the first 90 days of minors’ employment, rather than 200 hours.

Once the bill is passed and signed into law by Governor Lamont, the first minimum wage increase will take effect on October 1 of this year.

 

Senate Democrats Begin Final Debate On Raising Connecticut’s Minimum Wage

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Senate Democrats Begin Final Debate On Raising Connecticut’s Minimum Wage

Connecticut’s Democratic State Senators began debate this evening on what they predict will be the successful, final passage of a bill designed to raise Connecticut’s hourly minimum wage to $15 an hour in five yearly steps by June 1, 2023 – a change that will benefit a third of a million state residents, or nearly a third of Connecticut’s workforce.

After June 1, 2023, the bill would index Connecticut’s hourly minimum wage to changes in the federal Employment Cost Index.

Once the bill is passed and signed into law by Governor Lamont, and first minimum wage increase will take effect on October 1 of this year.

“Working people deserve to work with dignity,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney (D-New Haven). “Over 300,000 hardworking people will benefit from raising the minimum wage, and I’m hopeful that Connecticut will join other states around the country in passing this legislation.”

“Connecticut needs to pay workers the wages they deserve,” said Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk). “By raising the minimum wage, we are ensuring that more people are lifted out of poverty and are able to provide for themselves and their families. It’s the right thing to do and our economy will benefit from it.”

“Passing this minimum wage increase will benefit 332,000 people in Connecticut – that’s 28 percent of our workforce,” said state Senator Julie Kushner (D-Danbury), who as Senate Chair of the Labor Committee brought the bill out on the Senate floor and answered legislators’ questions about it. “The public support for raising the minimum wage in Connecticut is really quite amazing. Even people who make well above the minimum wage are supportive of more pay over time for others. This support speaks volumes about the values of the people in our state, of their consideration for others. It’s wonderful to see.”

“As a business owner, I’ve thought long and hard about this issue, and I decided it was important enough to bring up the lowest-level pay for employees because I believe getting people to a higher wage is critical for the health and welfare for the State of Connecticut. It’s the fair thing to do,” said state Senator Norm Needleman (D-Essex), who is the owner of Tower Laboratories, which is headquartered in Essex and which employs 150 people in Connecticut. “There may be unintended consequences, but I believe the good outweighs the bad. I wish the minimum wage had been indexed since I entered the workforce so we wouldn’t be dealing with an abrupt change right now. I suspect the minimum wage would be significantly higher had we done that, and we wouldn’t be fighting this battle right now. I’m glad this bill addresses that going forward.”

Increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour is a popular public policy with Connecticut residents: an August 2018 Quinnipiac University poll of more than 1,000 Connecticut residents found that nearly two-thirds (63%) support increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour, including 73% of women, 67% of people over age 67, 65% of people ages 18-24, 56% of unaffiliated voters, and 33% of Republicans.

SUMMARY:

House Bill 5004, “AN ACT INCREASING THE MINIMUM FAIR WAGE,” increases Connecticut’s hourly minimum wage from the current $10.10 per hour to:

  • $11.00 on October 1, 2019
  • $12.00 on September 1, 2020
  • $13.00 on August 1, 2021
  • $14.00 on July 1, 2022
  • and $15.00 on June 1, 2023

Tip Credit:

Current state law provides a “tip credit” to employers of hotel and restaurant staff and to bartenders who customarily receive tips. The tip credit allows employers to count these employee tips as a percentage of their minimum wage requirement, thus reducing the employer’s share of the minimum wage — as long as the tips make up the difference.
The new minimum wage bill freezes the employer’s share of these employees’ minimum wage requirement at their current values ($6.38 for hotel and restaurant staff, and $8.23 for bartenders), but the bill also requires the tip credit’s value to correspondingly increase to make up for the difference between the employer’s share and the bill’s minimum wage increases. Thus, it allows employers to count these employees’ tips towards the difference between the employer’s share and the increasing minimum wage, as long as the tips make up the difference.

Training / Youth Wage:

Today’s minimum wage bill also addresses the issue of so-called training or youth wages. Starting October 1, 2019, the bill changes the “training wage” that employers may pay to learners, beginners, and people under age 18. Current state law generally allows employers to pay these employees as low as 85% of the regular minimum wage for their first 200 hours of employment. Today’s bill eliminates the training wage exceptions for learners and beginners, and now limits the training wage only to people under age 18 (except for emancipated minors.) Thus, today’s bill requires learners and beginners who are at least age 18 to be paid the full minimum wage.

Today’s bill also requires the training wage to be the greater of $10.10 or 85% of the minimum wage, and it allows employers to pay the training wage to people under age 18 for the first 90 days, rather than 200 hours, of their employment.

ECI Indexing:

Starting on January 1, 2024, and on each January 1 every year after that, the bill requires the minimum wage to be adjusted by the percent change in the federal Employment Cost Index (ECI) for all civilian workers’ wages and salaries over the 12-month period ending on June 30 of the preceding year, as calculated by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

A history of the ECI can be found here: https://www.bls.gov/ncs/ncspubs.htm#tabs-2

Connecticut History of the Minimum Wage:

  • 1959 Act added “owner” and “partnership” to Subsec. (e) and the proviso and authority to define executive, etc., capacity by regulation to Subsec. (f); 1961 act added to Subsec. (f) the clause re employees of industry and increased the minimum wage rate provided for by Subsec. (j);
  • 1963 Act included beginners in minimum wage provisions of Subsec. (j), specified that $0.95 minimum wage for learners, beginners and persons under eighteen applies for the first 500 hours of employment, set rate at $1.25 thereafter and exempted institutional training programs designated by commissioner from pay provision;
  • 1967 Acts redefined “employee” to delete reference to individuals exempt under specified Subdivs. of Fair Labor Standards Act and individuals employed in industries for which wage orders have been established as employees, redefined “minimum fair wage”, revising wage amounts and reducing hours at which beginners, etc. are paid a lesser amount from 500 to 200;
  • 1969 Act redefined “minimum fair wage” to add provisions pegging increases to increases in federal minimum wage;
  • 1971 Acts redefined “employee” to delete exclusion for employees of state, municipalities or political subdivisions and redefined “minimum fair wage” to increase wage amounts, to delete provision re formula for increase in gratuities allowance for restaurant employees and to add provision re fair wage for agricultural employees;
  • 1972 Act redefined “employee” to delete exclusion for individuals in manufacturing establishments subject to provisions of Fair Labor Standards Act;
  • P.A. 73-82 redefined “employee” to specifically exclude persons employed in executive, administrative, professional or outside sales capacity;
  • P.A. 77-154 excluded employees of nonprofit theaters which operate less than seven months a year from consideration as employees;
  • P.A. 77-329 qualified exclusion of persons in domestic service from consideration as employees by adding exception and excluded baby-sitters;
  • P.A. 78-358 raised minimum wage, pegged rates to “highest” federal minimum wage, changed basis of wage for beginners, etc. from $1.50 for the first 200 hours and $1.85 thereafter to not less than 85% of basic minimum wage for first 200 hours and equaling basic minimum wage thereafter and deleted provision re minimum wage for agricultural employees;
  • P.A. 79-41 redefined “employer” to include the state and its political subdivisions; P.A. 83-537 amended Subsec. (f) to exempt any individual employed as a head resident or resident assistant at a college or university from the definition of “employee”;
  • P.A. 87-366 amended Subsec. (j) to increase the minimum fair wage to $3.75 on October 1, 1987, and to $4.25 on October 1, 1988;
  • P.A. 93-144 redefined “employee” to delete specific exclusion of persons employed in a bona fide executive, administrative or professional capacity;
  • P.A. 95-79 redefined “employer” to include a limited liability company, effective May 31, 1995;
  • P.A. 98-44 amended Subsec. (j) to increase the minimum fair wage to $5.65 on January 1, 1999, and to $6.15 on January 1, 2000;
  • P.A. 00-144 amended Subsec. (j) to increase the minimum fair wage to $6.40 on January 1, 2001, and to $6.70 on January 1, 2002;
  • P.A. 02-33 amended Subsec. (j) by deleting prior minimum fair wage amounts and by increasing the minimum fair wage to $6.90 on January 1, 2003, and to $7.10 on January 1, 2004, effective July 1, 2002;
  • P.A. 05-32 amended Subsec. (j) to increase the minimum fair wage to $7.40 on January 1, 2006, and $7.65 on January 1, 2007;
  • P.A. 08-92 amended Subsec. (j) to increase minimum fair wage to $8.00 per hour on January 1, 2009, and to $8.25 per hour on January 1, 2010; P.A. 10-32 made a technical change in Subsec. (e), effective May 10, 2010; P.A. 13-25 amended Subsec. (f) to redefine “employee” by adding provision re member of the armed forces of the state performing military duty;
  • P.A. 13-117 amended Subsec. (j) to redefine “minimum fair wage” by increasing minimum wage to $8.70 per hour on January 1, 2014, and $9.00 per hour on January 1, 2015, effective July 1, 2013;
  • P.A. 13-140 deleted former Subsec. (b) defining “wage board”, redesignated existing Subsecs. (c) to (j) as Subsecs. (b) to (i), and made technical changes, effective June 18, 2013;
  • P.A. 14-1 amended Subsec. (i) to redefine “minimum fair wage” by increasing minimum wage to $9.15 on January 1, 2015, to $9.60 on January 1, 2016, and to $10.10 on January 1, 2017, effective July 1, 2014;
  • P.A. 15-127 amended Subsec. (b) by deleting reference to wage board, effective June 23, 2015.

Senate Democrats Begin Final Debate On Raising Connecticut’s Minimum Wage

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Senate Democrats Begin Final Debate On Raising Connecticut’s Minimum Wage

Connecticut’s Democratic State Senators began debate this evening on what they predict will be the successful, final passage of a bill designed to raise Connecticut’s hourly minimum wage to $15 an hour in five yearly steps by June 1, 2023 – a change that will benefit a third of a million state residents, or nearly a third of Connecticut’s workforce.

After June 1, 2023, the bill would index Connecticut’s hourly minimum wage to changes in the federal Employment Cost Index.

Once the bill is passed and signed into law by Governor Lamont, and first minimum wage increase will take effect on October 1 of this year.

“Working people deserve to work with dignity,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney (D-New Haven). “Over 300,000 hardworking people will benefit from raising the minimum wage, and I’m hopeful that Connecticut will join other states around the country in passing this legislation.”

“Connecticut needs to pay workers the wages they deserve,” said Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk). “By raising the minimum wage, we are ensuring that more people are lifted out of poverty and are able to provide for themselves and their families. It’s the right thing to do and our economy will benefit from it.”

“Passing this minimum wage increase will benefit 332,000 people in Connecticut – that’s 28 percent of our workforce,” said state Senator Julie Kushner (D-Danbury), who as Senate Chair of the Labor Committee brought the bill out on the Senate floor and answered legislators’ questions about it. “The public support for raising the minimum wage in Connecticut is really quite amazing. Even people who make well above the minimum wage are supportive of more pay over time for others. This support speaks volumes about the values of the people in our state, of their consideration for others. It’s wonderful to see.”

“As a business owner, I’ve thought long and hard about this issue, and I decided it was important enough to bring up the lowest-level pay for employees because I believe getting people to a higher wage is critical for the health and welfare for the State of Connecticut. It’s the fair thing to do,” said state Senator Norm Needleman (D-Essex), who is the owner of Tower Laboratories, which is headquartered in Essex and which employs 150 people in Connecticut. “There may be unintended consequences, but I believe the good outweighs the bad. I wish the minimum wage had been indexed since I entered the workforce so we wouldn’t be dealing with an abrupt change right now. I suspect the minimum wage would be significantly higher had we done that, and we wouldn’t be fighting this battle right now. I’m glad this bill addresses that going forward.”

Increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour is a popular public policy with Connecticut residents: an August 2018 Quinnipiac University poll of more than 1,000 Connecticut residents found that nearly two-thirds (63%) support increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour, including 73% of women, 67% of people over age 67, 65% of people ages 18-24, 56% of unaffiliated voters, and 33% of Republicans.

SUMMARY:

House Bill 5004, “AN ACT INCREASING THE MINIMUM FAIR WAGE,” increases Connecticut’s hourly minimum wage from the current $10.10 per hour to:

  • $11.00 on October 1, 2019
  • $12.00 on September 1, 2020
  • $13.00 on August 1, 2021
  • $14.00 on July 1, 2022
  • and $15.00 on June 1, 2023

Tip Credit:

Current state law provides a “tip credit” to employers of hotel and restaurant staff and to bartenders who customarily receive tips. The tip credit allows employers to count these employee tips as a percentage of their minimum wage requirement, thus reducing the employer’s share of the minimum wage — as long as the tips make up the difference.
The new minimum wage bill freezes the employer’s share of these employees’ minimum wage requirement at their current values ($6.38 for hotel and restaurant staff, and $8.23 for bartenders), but the bill also requires the tip credit’s value to correspondingly increase to make up for the difference between the employer’s share and the bill’s minimum wage increases. Thus, it allows employers to count these employees’ tips towards the difference between the employer’s share and the increasing minimum wage, as long as the tips make up the difference.

Training / Youth Wage:

Today’s minimum wage bill also addresses the issue of so-called training or youth wages. Starting October 1, 2019, the bill changes the “training wage” that employers may pay to learners, beginners, and people under age 18. Current state law generally allows employers to pay these employees as low as 85% of the regular minimum wage for their first 200 hours of employment. Today’s bill eliminates the training wage exceptions for learners and beginners, and now limits the training wage only to people under age 18 (except for emancipated minors.) Thus, today’s bill requires learners and beginners who are at least age 18 to be paid the full minimum wage.

Today’s bill also requires the training wage to be the greater of $10.10 or 85% of the minimum wage, and it allows employers to pay the training wage to people under age 18 for the first 90 days, rather than 200 hours, of their employment.

ECI Indexing:

Starting on January 1, 2024, and on each January 1 every year after that, the bill requires the minimum wage to be adjusted by the percent change in the federal Employment Cost Index (ECI) for all civilian workers’ wages and salaries over the 12-month period ending on June 30 of the preceding year, as calculated by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

A history of the ECI can be found here: https://www.bls.gov/ncs/ncspubs.htm#tabs-2

Connecticut History of the Minimum Wage:

  • 1959 Act added “owner” and “partnership” to Subsec. (e) and the proviso and authority to define executive, etc., capacity by regulation to Subsec. (f); 1961 act added to Subsec. (f) the clause re employees of industry and increased the minimum wage rate provided for by Subsec. (j);
  • 1963 Act included beginners in minimum wage provisions of Subsec. (j), specified that $0.95 minimum wage for learners, beginners and persons under eighteen applies for the first 500 hours of employment, set rate at $1.25 thereafter and exempted institutional training programs designated by commissioner from pay provision;
  • 1967 Acts redefined “employee” to delete reference to individuals exempt under specified Subdivs. of Fair Labor Standards Act and individuals employed in industries for which wage orders have been established as employees, redefined “minimum fair wage”, revising wage amounts and reducing hours at which beginners, etc. are paid a lesser amount from 500 to 200;
  • 1969 Act redefined “minimum fair wage” to add provisions pegging increases to increases in federal minimum wage;
  • 1971 Acts redefined “employee” to delete exclusion for employees of state, municipalities or political subdivisions and redefined “minimum fair wage” to increase wage amounts, to delete provision re formula for increase in gratuities allowance for restaurant employees and to add provision re fair wage for agricultural employees;
  • 1972 Act redefined “employee” to delete exclusion for individuals in manufacturing establishments subject to provisions of Fair Labor Standards Act;
  • P.A. 73-82 redefined “employee” to specifically exclude persons employed in executive, administrative, professional or outside sales capacity;
  • P.A. 77-154 excluded employees of nonprofit theaters which operate less than seven months a year from consideration as employees;
  • P.A. 77-329 qualified exclusion of persons in domestic service from consideration as employees by adding exception and excluded baby-sitters;
  • P.A. 78-358 raised minimum wage, pegged rates to “highest” federal minimum wage, changed basis of wage for beginners, etc. from $1.50 for the first 200 hours and $1.85 thereafter to not less than 85% of basic minimum wage for first 200 hours and equaling basic minimum wage thereafter and deleted provision re minimum wage for agricultural employees;
  • P.A. 79-41 redefined “employer” to include the state and its political subdivisions; P.A. 83-537 amended Subsec. (f) to exempt any individual employed as a head resident or resident assistant at a college or university from the definition of “employee”;
  • P.A. 87-366 amended Subsec. (j) to increase the minimum fair wage to $3.75 on October 1, 1987, and to $4.25 on October 1, 1988;
  • P.A. 93-144 redefined “employee” to delete specific exclusion of persons employed in a bona fide executive, administrative or professional capacity;
  • P.A. 95-79 redefined “employer” to include a limited liability company, effective May 31, 1995;
  • P.A. 98-44 amended Subsec. (j) to increase the minimum fair wage to $5.65 on January 1, 1999, and to $6.15 on January 1, 2000;
  • P.A. 00-144 amended Subsec. (j) to increase the minimum fair wage to $6.40 on January 1, 2001, and to $6.70 on January 1, 2002;
  • P.A. 02-33 amended Subsec. (j) by deleting prior minimum fair wage amounts and by increasing the minimum fair wage to $6.90 on January 1, 2003, and to $7.10 on January 1, 2004, effective July 1, 2002;
  • P.A. 05-32 amended Subsec. (j) to increase the minimum fair wage to $7.40 on January 1, 2006, and $7.65 on January 1, 2007;
  • P.A. 08-92 amended Subsec. (j) to increase minimum fair wage to $8.00 per hour on January 1, 2009, and to $8.25 per hour on January 1, 2010; P.A. 10-32 made a technical change in Subsec. (e), effective May 10, 2010; P.A. 13-25 amended Subsec. (f) to redefine “employee” by adding provision re member of the armed forces of the state performing military duty;
  • P.A. 13-117 amended Subsec. (j) to redefine “minimum fair wage” by increasing minimum wage to $8.70 per hour on January 1, 2014, and $9.00 per hour on January 1, 2015, effective July 1, 2013;
  • P.A. 13-140 deleted former Subsec. (b) defining “wage board”, redesignated existing Subsecs. (c) to (j) as Subsecs. (b) to (i), and made technical changes, effective June 18, 2013;
  • P.A. 14-1 amended Subsec. (i) to redefine “minimum fair wage” by increasing minimum wage to $9.15 on January 1, 2015, to $9.60 on January 1, 2016, and to $10.10 on January 1, 2017, effective July 1, 2014;
  • P.A. 15-127 amended Subsec. (b) by deleting reference to wage board, effective June 23, 2015.

Sen. Kushner Leads Senate Passage Of Historic Paid Family Medical Leave Bill For CT

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Sen. Kushner Leads Senate Passage Of Historic Paid Family Medical Leave Bill For CT

HARTFORD – State Senator Julie Kushner (D-Danbury) today led the Connecticut State Senate in the debate and passage of Senate Bill 1, a bill creating a statewide paid family and medical leave program to provide necessary benefits to Connecticut residents in order to care for a newborn baby or a sick family member.

If it is ultimately passed by the House of Representatives and signed into law by Governor Lamont, SB l – the Senate Democrats’ top public policy priority for 2019 – would have Connecticut join California, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Washington state in offering their residents a paid family and medical leave programs.

“Once again, Democrats are leading the way in making Connecticut a better place to live and work. And I truly believe that building this paid FMLA program will prove to be some of the best work we have ever done in the state legislature,” said Sen. Kushner, who is Senate Chair of the Labor Committee. “Throughout my campaign last fall, I heard from everyone – Democrats, Republicans, and unaffiliated voters – how important a paid family and medical leave act is for them, for their families, and for their work-life balance. Small-business owners support paid FMLA. This has not been, and it should not be, a partisan issue. Taking care of a family member during a serious illness, or welcoming a new baby into the world – these are issues that affect every family. We need a paid family and medical leave act in Connecticut so we don’t have to choose between taking care of a family member and earning a paycheck, or paying the rent. The people of Connecticut need to know the State of Connecticut has their back. And that’s what we did tonight – we voted to make Connecticut a better place to come and work and raise a family.”

The creation of a paid family and medical leave policy in Connecticut has very strong and very broad public support: an April 2016 AARP CT poll showed 82% support for paid leave, with only 12% opposed. An April 2019 poll by BLS Research & Consulting found 88% public support for paid leave in Connecticut, including 78% of Republicans and 86% of unaffiliated voters.

Connecticut’s policy change is driven in part by changing family dynamics: the percentage of two-parent households in which both parents work full-time increased from a third of all households in 1970 to nearly half of all households in 2015.

And, like other states across America, Connecticut is now trying to catch-up with the rest of the world when it comes to paid family and medical leave. According to a United Nations survey, 183 of 185 countries and territories provide some sort of paid maternity leave. Of the 41 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the European Union, the United States is the only nation that does not provide any paid leave for new parents.

Details of Senate Bill 1, “AN ACT CONCERNING PAID FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE,” include:

  • Length of Leave: Connecticut employees will be eligible for 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave. If an employee experiences pregnancy-related serious health condition that results in incapacity then the employee would be eligible for 14 weeks. Similarly, state programs in Massachusetts and Washington state provide 12 weeks of paid leave. Washington also provides an additional two weeks for serious pregnancy-related health conditions. However, in Massachusetts employees are eligible for 20 weeks of paid leave for their own serious health condition.
  • Reasons for Leave: Connecticut employees would be able to use paid family and medical leave for five reasons: care for a new child (birth, adoption, foster); care for family member with serious health condition; care for their own serious health condition; a qualifying emergency arising out of family member being on active duty; or to serve as an organ or bone marrow donor. New York, Washington state, and Massachusetts allow reasons one through four. Connecticut would be the only state in the country to allow for paid leave due to donating bone marrow or an organ.
  • Definition of Family Member: Connecticut’s definition of a family member would align with that of New Jersey and include: Child; Parent; Spouse; Domestic partner; Grandparent; Grandchild; or an individual related to the employee by blood or affinity whose close association the employee shows to be the equivalent of those family relationships
  • Benefit Amount: Beginning January 1, 2022, the weekly benefit for Connecticut employees will be 95% of 40 times the minimum wage and 60% on earnings above the minimum wage. The maximum weekly benefit cannot exceed 60 times the minimum wage, which is the equivalent of $780 on a $13 minimum wage, $840 on a $14 minimum wage, and $900 on a $15 minimum wage. Connecticut’s benefits align similarly with other states. In California the maximum weekly benefit is $1,252, $1,000 in the District of Columbia, and $850 in Massachusetts.
  • Employees Covered: Paid leave will apply to private-sector employers with one or more employees. Self-employed employees and sole-proprietors have the ability to opt-in to the program. In addition, non-union state and local government employees are covered. Unionized workers will have the ability to collectively bargain and become covered. Similarly all private sector employers are covered in state paid leave programs in California, the District of Columbia, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Washington state.
  • Program Funding: Personal disability leave and family care leave will be funded by the employee only. The withholding rate is one-half of one percent on earnings, up to the Social Security wage base. For comparison, other states fund paid leave programs through either the employee only or through a combination of the employee and the employer. In California, both personal disability and family care are funded by the employee only at 1 percent of a worker’s first $118,371 in wages. In Rhode Island, both personal disability and family care are funded by the employee only at 1.1 percent of a worker’s first $71,000 in wages.

Looney and Duff Statement in Response to GOP Press Conference on Transportation

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Looney and Duff Statement in Response to GOP Press Conference on Transportation

Statement from Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney (D-New Haven) and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) in response to the Republican press conference today on transportation:

“Our preference is to find a bipartisan solution to solving Connecticut’s transportation infrastructure problems. We thank Senator Fasano for his latest proposal and look forward to reviewing the details. However, for clarity, if the House passes a transportation bill including tolls, we intend to vote on that bill. Finding a responsible, long-term plan to invest in Connecticut’s transportation infrastructure remains a priority of the Senate Democratic caucus.”

 

Senate Democrats Begin Final Debate On Raising Connecticut’s Minimum Wage

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Senate Democrats Begin Final Debate On Raising Connecticut’s Minimum Wage

Connecticut’s Democratic State Senators began debate this evening on what they predict will be the successful, final passage of a bill designed to raise Connecticut’s hourly minimum wage to $15 an hour in five yearly steps by June 1, 2023 – a change that will benefit a third of a million state residents, or nearly a third of Connecticut’s workforce.

After June 1, 2023, the bill would index Connecticut’s hourly minimum wage to changes in the federal Employment Cost Index.

Once the bill is passed and signed into law by Governor Lamont, and first minimum wage increase will take effect on October 1 of this year.

“Working people deserve to work with dignity,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney (D-New Haven). “Over 300,000 hardworking people will benefit from raising the minimum wage, and I’m hopeful that Connecticut will join other states around the country in passing this legislation.”

“Connecticut needs to pay workers the wages they deserve,” said Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk). “By raising the minimum wage, we are ensuring that more people are lifted out of poverty and are able to provide for themselves and their families. It’s the right thing to do and our economy will benefit from it.”

“Passing this minimum wage increase will benefit 332,000 people in Connecticut – that’s 28 percent of our workforce,” said state Senator Julie Kushner (D-Danbury), who as Senate Chair of the Labor Committee brought the bill out on the Senate floor and answered legislators’ questions about it. “The public support for raising the minimum wage in Connecticut is really quite amazing. Even people who make well above the minimum wage are supportive of more pay over time for others. This support speaks volumes about the values of the people in our state, of their consideration for others. It’s wonderful to see.”

“As a business owner, I’ve thought long and hard about this issue, and I decided it was important enough to bring up the lowest-level pay for employees because I believe getting people to a higher wage is critical for the health and welfare for the State of Connecticut. It’s the fair thing to do,” said state Senator Norm Needleman (D-Essex), who is the owner of Tower Laboratories, which is headquartered in Essex and which employs 150 people in Connecticut. “There may be unintended consequences, but I believe the good outweighs the bad. I wish the minimum wage had been indexed since I entered the workforce so we wouldn’t be dealing with an abrupt change right now. I suspect the minimum wage would be significantly higher had we done that, and we wouldn’t be fighting this battle right now. I’m glad this bill addresses that going forward.”

Increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour is a popular public policy with Connecticut residents: an August 2018 Quinnipiac University poll of more than 1,000 Connecticut residents found that nearly two-thirds (63%) support increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour, including 73% of women, 67% of people over age 67, 65% of people ages 18-24, 56% of unaffiliated voters, and 33% of Republicans.

SUMMARY:

House Bill 5004, “AN ACT INCREASING THE MINIMUM FAIR WAGE,” increases Connecticut’s hourly minimum wage from the current $10.10 per hour to:

  • $11.00 on October 1, 2019
  • $12.00 on September 1, 2020
  • $13.00 on August 1, 2021
  • $14.00 on July 1, 2022
  • and $15.00 on June 1, 2023

Tip Credit:

Current state law provides a “tip credit” to employers of hotel and restaurant staff and to bartenders who customarily receive tips. The tip credit allows employers to count these employee tips as a percentage of their minimum wage requirement, thus reducing the employer’s share of the minimum wage — as long as the tips make up the difference.
The new minimum wage bill freezes the employer’s share of these employees’ minimum wage requirement at their current values ($6.38 for hotel and restaurant staff, and $8.23 for bartenders), but the bill also requires the tip credit’s value to correspondingly increase to make up for the difference between the employer’s share and the bill’s minimum wage increases. Thus, it allows employers to count these employees’ tips towards the difference between the employer’s share and the increasing minimum wage, as long as the tips make up the difference.

Training / Youth Wage:

Today’s minimum wage bill also addresses the issue of so-called training or youth wages. Starting October 1, 2019, the bill changes the “training wage” that employers may pay to learners, beginners, and people under age 18. Current state law generally allows employers to pay these employees as low as 85% of the regular minimum wage for their first 200 hours of employment. Today’s bill eliminates the training wage exceptions for learners and beginners, and now limits the training wage only to people under age 18 (except for emancipated minors.) Thus, today’s bill requires learners and beginners who are at least age 18 to be paid the full minimum wage.

Today’s bill also requires the training wage to be the greater of $10.10 or 85% of the minimum wage, and it allows employers to pay the training wage to people under age 18 for the first 90 days, rather than 200 hours, of their employment.

ECI Indexing:

Starting on January 1, 2024, and on each January 1 every year after that, the bill requires the minimum wage to be adjusted by the percent change in the federal Employment Cost Index (ECI) for all civilian workers’ wages and salaries over the 12-month period ending on June 30 of the preceding year, as calculated by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

A history of the ECI can be found here: https://www.bls.gov/ncs/ncspubs.htm#tabs-2

Connecticut History of the Minimum Wage:

  • 1959 Act added “owner” and “partnership” to Subsec. (e) and the proviso and authority to define executive, etc., capacity by regulation to Subsec. (f); 1961 act added to Subsec. (f) the clause re employees of industry and increased the minimum wage rate provided for by Subsec. (j);
  • 1963 Act included beginners in minimum wage provisions of Subsec. (j), specified that $0.95 minimum wage for learners, beginners and persons under eighteen applies for the first 500 hours of employment, set rate at $1.25 thereafter and exempted institutional training programs designated by commissioner from pay provision;
  • 1967 Acts redefined “employee” to delete reference to individuals exempt under specified Subdivs. of Fair Labor Standards Act and individuals employed in industries for which wage orders have been established as employees, redefined “minimum fair wage”, revising wage amounts and reducing hours at which beginners, etc. are paid a lesser amount from 500 to 200;
  • 1969 Act redefined “minimum fair wage” to add provisions pegging increases to increases in federal minimum wage;
  • 1971 Acts redefined “employee” to delete exclusion for employees of state, municipalities or political subdivisions and redefined “minimum fair wage” to increase wage amounts, to delete provision re formula for increase in gratuities allowance for restaurant employees and to add provision re fair wage for agricultural employees;
  • 1972 Act redefined “employee” to delete exclusion for individuals in manufacturing establishments subject to provisions of Fair Labor Standards Act;
  • P.A. 73-82 redefined “employee” to specifically exclude persons employed in executive, administrative, professional or outside sales capacity;
  • P.A. 77-154 excluded employees of nonprofit theaters which operate less than seven months a year from consideration as employees;
  • P.A. 77-329 qualified exclusion of persons in domestic service from consideration as employees by adding exception and excluded baby-sitters;
  • P.A. 78-358 raised minimum wage, pegged rates to “highest” federal minimum wage, changed basis of wage for beginners, etc. from $1.50 for the first 200 hours and $1.85 thereafter to not less than 85% of basic minimum wage for first 200 hours and equaling basic minimum wage thereafter and deleted provision re minimum wage for agricultural employees;
  • P.A. 79-41 redefined “employer” to include the state and its political subdivisions; P.A. 83-537 amended Subsec. (f) to exempt any individual employed as a head resident or resident assistant at a college or university from the definition of “employee”;
  • P.A. 87-366 amended Subsec. (j) to increase the minimum fair wage to $3.75 on October 1, 1987, and to $4.25 on October 1, 1988;
  • P.A. 93-144 redefined “employee” to delete specific exclusion of persons employed in a bona fide executive, administrative or professional capacity;
  • P.A. 95-79 redefined “employer” to include a limited liability company, effective May 31, 1995;
  • P.A. 98-44 amended Subsec. (j) to increase the minimum fair wage to $5.65 on January 1, 1999, and to $6.15 on January 1, 2000;
  • P.A. 00-144 amended Subsec. (j) to increase the minimum fair wage to $6.40 on January 1, 2001, and to $6.70 on January 1, 2002;
  • P.A. 02-33 amended Subsec. (j) by deleting prior minimum fair wage amounts and by increasing the minimum fair wage to $6.90 on January 1, 2003, and to $7.10 on January 1, 2004, effective July 1, 2002;
  • P.A. 05-32 amended Subsec. (j) to increase the minimum fair wage to $7.40 on January 1, 2006, and $7.65 on January 1, 2007;
  • P.A. 08-92 amended Subsec. (j) to increase minimum fair wage to $8.00 per hour on January 1, 2009, and to $8.25 per hour on January 1, 2010; P.A. 10-32 made a technical change in Subsec. (e), effective May 10, 2010; P.A. 13-25 amended Subsec. (f) to redefine “employee” by adding provision re member of the armed forces of the state performing military duty;
  • P.A. 13-117 amended Subsec. (j) to redefine “minimum fair wage” by increasing minimum wage to $8.70 per hour on January 1, 2014, and $9.00 per hour on January 1, 2015, effective July 1, 2013;
  • P.A. 13-140 deleted former Subsec. (b) defining “wage board”, redesignated existing Subsecs. (c) to (j) as Subsecs. (b) to (i), and made technical changes, effective June 18, 2013;
  • P.A. 14-1 amended Subsec. (i) to redefine “minimum fair wage” by increasing minimum wage to $9.15 on January 1, 2015, to $9.60 on January 1, 2016, and to $10.10 on January 1, 2017, effective July 1, 2014;
  • P.A. 15-127 amended Subsec. (b) by deleting reference to wage board, effective June 23, 2015.

 

Duff and Looney Statement in Response to GOP Press Conference on Transportation

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Looney and Duff Statement in Response to GOP Press Conference on Transportation

Statement from Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney (D-New Haven) and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk) in response to the Republican press conference today on transportation:

“Our preference is to find a bipartisan solution to solving Connecticut’s transportation infrastructure problems. We thank Senator Fasano for his latest proposal and look forward to reviewing the details. However, for clarity, if the House passes a transportation bill including tolls, we intend to vote on that bill. Finding a responsible, long-term plan to invest in Connecticut’s transportation infrastructure remains a priority of the Senate Democratic caucus.”

Senator Abrams Advocates for ‘Tobacco 21’ With Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services as House Passes Legislation

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Senator Abrams Advocates for ‘Tobacco 21’ With Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services as House Passes Legislation

abrams

State Senator Mary Abrams advocates for increasing the age of access for tobacco products to 21 Thursday at the State Capitol.

HARTFORD, CT – On the same day the House passed it, and during National Prevention Week, State Senator Mary Daugherty Abrams (D-Meriden, Middlefield, Rockfall, Middletown, Cheshire) advocated today in favour of legislation that would increase the age of access for tobacco products, commonly known as “Tobacco 21.”

At the DHMAS Health and Wellness Fair at the State Capitol, Sen. Abrams, who is Senate Chair of the Public Health Committee, joined State Representative Sean Scanlon (D-Guilford) and Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services Commissioner Miriam Delphin-Rittmon to say increasing the smoking age to 21 would play an important role in protecting youth health by preventing addiction. Sen. Abrams commended her Public Health Committee co-chair Representative Jonathan Steinberg (D-Westport), who could not speak Thursday as he was discussing the legislation on the House floor.

“We have 95 percent of addicted smokers starting before the age of 21,” said Sen. Abrams. “We know students have access to cigarette and tobacco products through 18-to-21-year-olds. We know there are 350 youth who become regular smokers every day. And we know that our youth have been targeted by tobacco companies to become their next customers. I have seen the life-long health effects, and life-ending effects, that tobacco products bring. We know that these products are related to cancer, heart disease and other ailments. And we have to do whatever we can to become a barrier between our children and the people who want to target them. That is what Tobacco 21 is about. This issue rises above politics – it is about the health and safety of our children.”

“It takes all of us working together,” said Commissioner Delphin-Rittmon. “The use of e-cigarettes and tobacco products more than doubled in Connecticut between 2015 and 2017. The goal of the “Tobacco 21” initiative is to get tobacco products out of schools and prevent new life-long smokers becoming addicted to nicotine. By raising the buying age to 21, tobacco and e-cigarettes will be less available to students in our schools. I ask that we all make an effort to do whatever we can to make a healthier tomorrow in Connecticut.”

“I smoked for 15 years until I finally quit a few years ago,” said Rep. Scanlon, who said he started smoking cigarettes at the age of 16, while he was still in high school. “No one was talking about that then, but now we know that’s too dangerous. We have to fight every single day to fight stigma in our state.”

House Bill No. 7200, “An Act Prohibiting the Sale of Cigarettes, Tobacco Products, Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems and Vapor Products to Persons Under Age Twenty-One,” passed the House by a bipartisan vote of 124-22 Thursday. The bill’s language raises the point of sale for tobacco products from 18 to 21, with penalties ranging from fines to mandated education and suspension of business licenses for violators. In a show of bipartisan support, 53 Senators and Representatives have co-sponsored the legislation. If it is made law, Connecticut would become the twelfth state, in addition to the District of Columbia, to raise the age of access to 21.

 

Legislative Leaders Request Additional DPH Guidance to Increase Vaccine Rates

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Legislative Leaders Request Additional DPH Guidance to Increase Vaccine Rates

No vote is planned for regular session

House and Senate majority leadership today announced that they have asked the state Department of Public Health (DPH) to provide additional data and policy recommendations on how to increase vaccination rates in school districts and schools with high vaccine exemption rates. DPH will report back to the General Assembly by no later than January 1, 2020. No vote on the state’s vaccination policy is expected while awaiting DPH’s legislative recommendations.

“We want DPH to clearly articulate their needs so we can ensure all school children are protected from vaccine-preventable diseases and our vaccine rates increase,” said House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz (D-Berlin).

“This data will help us find solutions that will benefit the public health of children and families across our state,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney (D-New Haven). “Vaccinating your children protects them and others against serious and preventable diseases. We must embrace our responsibility to do what we can to ensure that our schools are healthy learning environments for all children.”

Leaders will ask DPH the following questions:
What statutory authority does the Department need to increase vaccinations rates in schools?

How should the legislature handle unvaccinated children who are currently enrolled in schools to protect children who cannot be vaccinated due to medical conditions such as immune system disorders and/or risk of allergic reactions?

Should the religious exemption be removed from statute or is there an alternative that will similarly increase vaccination rates in under-vaccinated schools?

“Let me be very clear, there was overwhelming support in our Caucus to remove the religious exemption,” House Majority Leader Matt Ritter (D-Hartford) said, “But there were real concerns over what to do for unvaccinated children who are already in school – we need a solution that minimizes upheaval to these children and maximizes the overall public health benefits. Our goal is to ensure Connecticut schools are not put at risk of an outbreak and students are not exposes to dangerous, and preventable, diseases.”

“A lack of vaccinations is causing public health crises across the country,” said Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D-Norwalk). “We don’t want Connecticut to be affected next. We need to take these concerns seriously and seek out solutions that will promote the health and safety of our children.”

Recently, the state Department of Public Health (DPH) released data on the immunization rates for the state’s public and private schools – more than 100 Connecticut schools fall under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recommended 95 percent immunization rate for MMR (measles, mumps, rubella). Additional school data is expected to be release in June.