A bill that made significant changes to the state’s family and medical leave law was passed by the Senate Thursday, but not without heavy Republican opposition.
The legislation now heads to the House floor.
Senate Bill 222, includes provisions that would require employers to submit reports to the Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance (PFMLI) Authority, and would increase the authority’s ability to penalize fraud cases in the program.
The bill also includes a provision that would allow federally recognized tribes to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the governor so that employees of a tribe-owned business could gain access to the PFMLI fund.
The bill would also add victims of sexual assault or abuse to the program.
Democrats say that the program is important for hourly workers who may have to deal with family emergencies or sick loved ones, but who cannot afford to miss out on a week’s worth of pay.
Sen. Julie Kushner, a Democrat from Danbury who is the co-chair of the Labor and Public Employees Committee, said that the PFMLI has been one of the most successful programs in the state “in decades.”
“I think we can all be very proud of the program. After two years of experience, we also feel like we are in a position to expand the program,” she said.
Republican senators were opposed to the bill, and said that the program itself is bad for business.
Sen. Minority Leader Stephen Harding said that the program is effectively another payroll tax, and that individuals should be given the ability to opt out of the program.
“In a day and a time when it is harder and harder to make ends meet, expanding taxes is something we should not be supporting,” he said.
A meta-analysis — published in June of last year by the National Library of Medicine — of 43 different studies on the effect of paid sick leave on success and stability of business in the short and long term.
The study, written by Candance Vander Weerdt, said that there are more positive than negative correlations between paid sick leave and business.
“Overall, our review discovered more evidence supporting the relationship between paid sick leave and favorable business conditions as compared with evidence that supported unfavorable business conditions,” the report read.
Senate President Martin Looney reflected on the lengthy debate in the chamber, and said that it reminded him of when the program was first enacted in 2019.
“It really is unfortunate that we had to struggle to pass this bill five years ago, when it really should be part of national policy,” Looney said. He said that the money that would be taken out of workers’ checks would effectively be a “very low cost insurance policy.”
Looney added that the bill was important for recognized tribes in the state to have access to the necessary insurance, and that it is a humane bill because it would include tribe-owned businesses in the original statute.
Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, said that the bill was important because it recognized the “sovereignty” of the two tribal nations in the eastern part of the state.
“These two governments acting in concert with the state of Connecticut, as equal players, can support their workers,” she said. Osten added that there are about 12,000 workers right now between the two nations, and that the nations have provided the state with $8 billion in revenue because of their businesses.
Kushner proposed an amendment to the bill, which removed the phrase “attempted willful misrepresentation” from the bill, along with some striking and substituting some other language.
There was staunch opposition from Republicans in the chamber, who said the language shouldn’t be removed.
Sen. Ron Sampson, R-Wolcott, pointed out that the authority had reported around 400 cases of “willful misrepresentation or attempted fraud” since January 2022.
“It seems to me that if you’ve had 300-400 cases of successful fraud, you might have had a few occasions where someone did not achieve that,” he said.
Kushner said that the authority has not sought penalties in cases when benefits were not paid, so the phrase “attempted” was being removed from the legislation.
She said that if someone is determined to have been willfully misrepresenting themselves to the authority or the program, they are disqualified from the program for two years.
The amendment passed along party lines with a vote of 21-12.
The program began paying benefits in 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Kushner said that as of March 31, 105,331 workers had received some form of benefits.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The original version of this story misidentified Sen. Kushner’s hometown. She represents Danbury.
