Month: June 2019

Sen. Kushner Votes for Balanced State Budget That Investments in People, Jobs and Communities

HARTFORD – State Senator Julie Kushner (D-Danbury) this evening joined with her Democratic Senate colleagues in passing a 2020-2021 state budget that supports working families, students and seniors while remaining fiscally responsible, paying pension obligations, and growing Connecticut’s Rainy Day Fund to an impressive $2.6 billion.

The Senate passed the budget on a 20-16 vote; it now heads to Governor Lamont for his signature.

The budget is balanced, includes no income or sales tax hikes, and keeps non-fixed state spending increases to a minuscule 0.3% in the first year of the budget.

“This budget balances a lot of competing needs, and it does so in a manner which is considerate of working families and their priorities: good jobs, good wages, and good educational opportunities,” Sen. Kushner said. “I’m also pleased with the action we are taking on single-use plastic bags. Connecticut is behind the curve in addressing this issue, and we need to find ways to better protect our environment. This is a good first step.”

Sen. Kushner praised some of the local investments in the state budget, including:

• $50,000 per year for Danbury-area early childhood programs
• $20,000 to help conduct an air quality survey in Sherman to address the opening of the Cricket Valley Energy Center in New York.
• Restoration of budget funds to keep open the Western Connecticut Mental Health Network in Danbury
• No local contributions to teacher’s pensions costs
• Increased ECS funding for Danbury, and a slower phase-in of reduced ECS funding for certain other towns compared to the governor’s plan

The biennial state budget highlights include:

Supporting Connecticut Families

• Includes funding to implement an increase in the minimum wage
• Funds a Paid Family Medical Leave program

Monumental Positive Changes for Higher Education

• Establishes debt-free community college for all Connecticut residents
• Increases funding for UConn by $9.7 million in 2020 and $20.6 million in 2021

Safeguarding Seniors

• Increases funding for nursing home workers that care for our seniors and avoids a statewide strike of workers ($11 million more in 2020 and $18.5 million more in 2021)
• Provides funding for the Center for Medicare Advocacy ($300,000 in each year)
• Increases funding for Meals on Wheels ($475,000 in each year)

Fiscal Responsibility

• Over $2.6 billion in the “Rainy Day” fund
• Only 1.7% growth in state spending in 2020 and 3.4% in 2021
• Only 0.3% growth in non-fixed cost state spending in 2020 and 2.1% in 2021
• 1,000 fewer Connecticut state employee positions
• Budget is under the constitutional spending cap, the bonding cap, the expenditure cap and the volatility cap.

Invests in Job Creation and Workforce Development

• Jobs Funnel Programs (Over $1 million each year)
• Manufacturing Pipeline Initiative ($2 million each year)
• Healthcare Apprenticeship Initiative ($500,000 each year)
• Connecticut’s Youth Employment Program ($5 million each year)
• Cradle to Career ($100,000 each year)
• Pilot Re-Entry Program ($800,000 each year)
• Veteran Machinists Training ($250,000 each year)

Holding the Line on Taxes

• No increase in the sales tax rate, though the current sales tax is modernized to cover digital downloads, dry-cleaning, parking, and interior design
• No increase in the income tax rate
• No increase in the capital gains tax rate
• Cuts income taxes for seniors on Social Security and pensions
• Eliminates the business entity tax to help new companies start-up and remove a nuisance tax on all businesses

Funding Our Pensions and Paying Down Our Debt

• Over $1.5 billion goes toward paying down last generation’s unfunded pensions
• Only $229 million or 13% is for current employees in 2020 and $220 million in 2021
• Funds 100% of pensions and benefits for current state employees and teachers

Other Investments

• Fully funds Passport to the Parks program
• Includes funding for Juvenile Justice ($11.7 Million in FY 20 and $10.2 Million in FY 21)
• Funds services for individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities including employment and day services for new high school graduates ($6.3 Million in FY 20 and $14.6 Million in FY 21) as well as individuals aging out of the Department of Children and Families and residential schools ($3 Million in FY 20 and $5.7 Million in FY 21)
• Preserves funding for mental health and substance abuse grants ($1.6 Million in each year)
• Provides funding for caseload growth in the Birth to Three program ($1.4 Million in FY 20 and $2 Million in FY 21)
• Includes funding for a new State Trooper Class in FY 20
• Provides funding to staff Welcome Centers and restore the hours of operation at the Rest Areas on our highways
• Provides $500,000 each year in new funding for the Connecticut Diaper Bank
• Funds the Foreclosure Mediation Program $1.8 Million in FY 20 and $2 Million in FY 21.

Sen. Kushner Supports
PTSD Coverage for
Police and Firefighters

After years of effort, legislature directs cities and towns to cover the effect of mental trauma on first responders

HARTFORD – After six years of effort, the state is finally providing Connecticut’s police officers and firefighters with workers’ compensation coverage for the emotional and mental injuries they suffer on the job after witnessing some particularly horrible trauma.

Senate Bill 164, “An Act Including Certain Mental or Emotional Impairments Within the Definition of Personal Injury Under the Workers’ Compensation Statutes,” passed the state Senate on a unanimous and bipartisan 35-0 vote, and passed the House of Representatives the next day. It now awaits Governor Lamont’s signature into law.

The bill expands the definition of ‘personal injury’ in state workers’ compensation laws to include a mental injury without an accompanying physical injury, as of July 1, 2019. The new provisions are expected to cover an estimated 36,000 state and local employees, including 26,800 firefighters, 8,180 police officers, 958 state police officers and 140 parole officers.

A bipartisan amendment was added to the bill which also requires the Labor and Public Employees Committee to examine the feasibility of expanding this workers’ comp definition to emergency medical services personnel and Department of Correction employees.

“It has been an incredible honor to be Senate Chair of the Labor Committee and to pass new laws that have a direct impact on the quality of working people’s lives, that will protect and help care for families. This bill will literally save the lives of some of our first responders,” Sen. Kushner said. “This bill is also an achievement in that it puts us on a path of covering even more emergency personnel. At some point I’d like to see these protections extended to all working people, because suffering and recovering from a trauma in the workplace is a potential for all employees.”

Workers’ compensation laws typically cover medical expenses and allow an employee to collect a portion of their paycheck for a certain time period if they suffer a physical injury on the job – say, a gunshot, a burn, or a broken leg. But worker’s compensation laws rarely provide coverage for the emotional or mental injuries a police officer or firefighter may suffer after experiencing a particularly harrowing scene, such as a mass shooting or a car accident.

SB 164 allows workers’ compensation benefits to be paid to police, volunteer or full-time firefighters, and parole officers diagnosed with PTSD and who experienced one of the six following events:

• Witnessing the death of a person.
• Witnessing an injury that causes the death of a person shortly thereafter.
• Treating an injured person who dies shortly thereafter.
• Carrying an injured person who dies shortly thereafter.
• Viewing a deceased minor.
• Witnessing an incident that causes a person to lose a body part, to suffer a loss of body function, or that results in permanent disfigurement.

Sen. Kushner Votes to Update
Equal Pay for Equal Work Law

HARTFORD – State Senator Julie Kushner (D-Danbury) led state Senate passage of a bill that updates Connecticut’s existing “Equal Pay for Equal Work” law, closing a loophole that could have allowed employers to count pregnancy or a protected family and medical leave against an employee’s seniority if that employer uses a seniority system to defend its wage differences.

Senate Bill 765, “An Act Ensuring Fair and Equal Pay for Equal Work,” passed the Senate on a bipartisan 34-2 vote and now heads to the House of Representatives for consideration.

“We’ve worked hard over the years in Connecticut to try and create a more equitable workplace when it comes to men and women and their pay and benefits. This minor change to the law will help ensure that fairness continues if a pay discrimination lawsuit makes its way into the court system for review,” Sen. Kushner said.

SB 765 essentially changes how an employer can defend itself in gender wage discrimination lawsuits.

Under existing state law, employers can defend themselves in wage discrimination lawsuits by showing that their differences in pay are based on seniority or certain other factors (e.g., job-related education or experience). The bill prohibits employers from counting certain types of leave against an employee’s seniority if the employer uses a seniority system to defend its wage differences.

Existing statute allows an employer to defend itself against a wage discrimination by showing that it had eliminated wage differentials for the plaintiff and had completed an equal pay analysis of its pay practices within three years before the suit was filed.