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IT’S CRUNCH TIME! Just four weeks remain in the state legislative session and a number of bills that could negatively affect your business are still on track.
State lawmakers will soon act on bills related to:
Act now and make your voice heard! Below is the contact list (with emails & phone numbers) for members of the local legislative delegation. Be sure to reach out to all of them! Rep. Larry Butler, D-72nd District (which includes the eastern & northern sections of Waterbury): [email protected]; 860-245-8585 Rep. Stephanie Cummings, R-74th District (which includes the East Mountain area): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Rep. Anthony D'Amelio, R-71st District (which includes the Town Plot area and a portion of Middlebury): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Rep. Ron Napoli Jr., D-73rd District (which includes the Bunker Hill area and western portion of Waterbury): [email protected]; 860-240-8585 Rep. Geraldo Reyes Jr., D-75th District (which includes the Central Business District): [email protected]; 860-240-8585 Sen. Joan Hartley, D-15th District (Waterbury, Naugatuck, Prospect): [email protected]; 860-240-0006 Sen. Rob Sampson, R-16th District (Cheshire, Prospect, Southington, Waterbury, Wolcott); [email protected]; 860-240-8800 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Rep. David Labriola, R-131st District (Naugatuck, Oxford, Southbury): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Sen. George Logan, R-17th District (Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Bethany, Derby, Hamden, Naugatuck, Woodbridge): [email protected]; 860-240-8800 Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria, R-105th District (Beacon Falls, Derby, Seymour): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Rep. Rosa Rebimbas, R-70th District (Naugatuck): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Sen. Eric Berthel, R-32nd District (Watertown, Bethlehem, Bridgewater, Middlebury, Oxford, Roxbury, Seymour, Southbury, Washington, Woodbury): [email protected]; 860-240-8800 Rep. Joe Polletta, R-68th District (Watertown, Woodbury): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Sen. Mary Abrams, D-13th District (Cheshire, Meriden, Middlefield, Middletown): [email protected]; 860-240-8800 Rep. Craig Fishbein, R-90th District (Cheshire, Wallingford): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Rep. Liz Linehan, D-103rd District (Cheshire, Southington, Wallingford): [email protected]; 860-240-8585 Rep. Gale Mastrofrancesco, R-80th District (Southington, Wolcott): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Rep. Lezlye Zupkus, R-89th District (Bethany, Cheshire, Prospect): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Sen. Henri Martin, R-31st District (Bristol, Harwinton, Plainville, Plymouth, Thomaston): [email protected]; 860-240-8800 Rep. Arthur O'Neill, R-69th District (Bridgewater, Roxbury, Southbury, Washington): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Rep. John Piscopo, R-76th District (Burlington, Harwinton, Litchfield and Thomaston): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Rep. David Wilson, R-66th District (Bethlehem, Litchfield, Morris, Warren, Woodbury): [email protected]; 860-240-8700
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Two of the three bills proposing a paid family & medical leave program were approved by the Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committee on Monday.
The two bills, Senate Bill 1 and House Bill 5003, were each approved by the committee by a vote of 27-21, mostly along party lines. It is noteworthy, though, that two freshman Democrats — Rep. Jill Barry of Glastonbury and Rep. Kerry Wood of Rocky Hill — voted against the bills, citing concerns that the numbers for the program do not add up. You can read about the vote here. Six legislators from the Greater Waterbury delegation are members of the Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committee, including 5 Republicans and 1 Democrat. All 5 Republicans — Rep. Nicole Klarides Ditria of Ansonia, Rep. John Piscopo of Thomaston, Rep. Joe Polletta of Watertown, Sen. George Logan of Ansonia, Sen. Henri Martin of Bristol and Sen. Rob Sampson of Wolcott — all voted no. The sixth member from the region — Rep. Larry Butler, D-Waterbury — was absent and did not vote. He has, however, previously stated his support for paid FMLA. You can see the vote tally sheet for SB 1 here, and for HB 5003 here. There are 7 weeks left in the legislative session, so it is urgent that business owners who have concerns about these bills contact legislators, either by phone or by email. Once again, here is the contact list for local legislators: Rep. Larry Butler, D-72nd District (which includes the eastern & northern sections of Waterbury): [email protected]; 860-245-8585 Rep. Stephanie Cummings, R-74th District (which includes the East Mountain area): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Rep. Anthony D'Amelio, R-71st District (which includes the Town Plot area and a portion of Middlebury): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Rep. Ron Napoli Jr., D-73rd District (which includes the Bunker Hill area and western portion of Waterbury): [email protected]; 860-240-8585 Rep. Geraldo Reyes Jr., D-75th District (which includes the Central Business District): [email protected]; 860-240-8585 Sen. Joan Hartley, D-15th District (Waterbury, Naugatuck, Prospect): [email protected]; 860-240-0006 Sen. Rob Sampson, D-16th District (Cheshire, Prospect, Southington, Waterbury, Wolcott); [email protected]; 860-240-8800 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Rep. David Labriola, R-131st District (Naugatuck, Oxford, Southbury): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Sen. George Logan, R-17th District (Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Bethany, Derby, Hamden, Naugatuck, Woodbridge): [email protected]; 860-240-8800 Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria, R-105th District (Beacon Falls, Derby, Seymour): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Rep. Rosa Rebimbas, R-70th District (Naugatuck): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Sen. Eric Berthel, R-32nd District (Watertown, Bethlehem, Bridgewater, Middlebury, Oxford, Roxbury, Seymour, Southbury, Washington, Woodbury): [email protected]; 860-240-8800 Rep. Joe Polletta, R-68th District (Watertown, Woodbury): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Sen. Mary Abrams, D-13th District (Cheshire, Meriden, Middlefield, Mddletown): [email protected]; 860-240-8800 Rep. Craig Fishbein, R-90th District (Cheshire, Wallingford): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Rep. Liz Linehan, D-103rd District (Cheshire, Southington, Wallingford): [email protected]; 860-240-8585 Rep. Gale Mastrofrancesco, R-80th District (Southington, Wolcott): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Rep. Lezlye Zupkus, R-89th District (Bethany, Cheshire, Prospect): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Sen. Henri Martin, R-31st District (Bristol, Harwinton, Plainville, Plymouth, Thomaston): [email protected]; 860-240-8800 Rep. Arthur O'Neill, R-69th District (Bridgewater, Roxbury, Southbury, Washington): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Rep. John Piscopo, R-76th District (Burlington, Harwinton, Litchfield and Thomaston): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Rep. David Wilson, R-66th District (Bethlehem, Litchfield, Morris, Warren, Woodbury): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 It is vitally important for business owners to call or email state legislators to tell them how harmful the paid Family & Medical Leave program, as currently proposed, will be to their business. See my previous blog post about FMLA for all of the local legislators' contact information.
And here are some talking points:
To have the greatest impact, focus on members of the Democratic caucus. Please be respectful, whether calling or writing, but make sure you are as specific as possible about how this program will harm your business. Here is contact information for each legislator in Waterbury, followed by other towns: Rep. Larry Butler, D-72nd District (which includes the eastern & northern sections of Waterbury): [email protected]; 860-245-8585 Rep. Stephanie Cummings, R-74th District (which includes the East Mountain area): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Rep. Anthony D'Amelio, R-71st District (which includes the Town Plot area and a portion of Middlebury): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Rep. Ron Napoli Jr., D-73rd District (which includes the Bunker Hill area and western portion of Waterbury): [email protected]; 860-240-8585 Rep. Geraldo Reyes Jr., D-75th District (which includes the Central Business District): [email protected]; 860-240-8585 Sen. Joan Hartley, D-15th District (Waterbury, Naugatuck, Prospect): [email protected]; 860-240-0006 Sen. Rob Sampson, D-16th District (Cheshire, Prospect, Southington, Waterbury, Wolcott); [email protected]; 860-240-8800 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Rep. David Labriola, R-131st District (Naugatuck, Oxford, Southbury): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Sen. George Logan, R-17th District (Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Bethany, Derby, Hamden, Naugatuck, Woodbridge): [email protected]; 860-240-8800 Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria, R-105th District (Beacon Falls, Derby, Seymour): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Rep. Rosa Rebimbas, R-70th District (Naugatuck): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Sen. Eric Berthel, R-32nd District (Watertown, Bethlehem, Bridgewater, Middlebury, Oxford, Roxbury, Seymour, Southbury, Washington, Woodbury): [email protected]; 860-240-8800 Rep. Joe Polletta, R-68th District (Watertown, Woodbury): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Sen. Mary Abrams, D-13th District (Cheshire, Meriden, Middlefield, Mddletown): [email protected]; 860-240-8800 Rep. Craig Fishbein, R-90th District (Cheshire, Wallingford): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Rep. Liz Linehan, D-103rd District (Cheshire, Southington, Wallingford): [email protected]; 860-240-8585 Rep. Gale Mastrofrancesco, R-80th District (Southington, Wolcott): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Rep. Lezlye Zupkus, R-89th District (Bethany, Cheshire, Prospect): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Sen. Henri Martin, R-31st District (Bristol, Harwinton, Plainville, Plymouth, Thomaston): [email protected]; 860-240-8800 Rep. Arthur O'Neill, R-69th District (Bridgewater, Roxbury, Southbury, Washington): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Rep. John Piscopo, R-76th District (Burlington, Harwinton, Litchfield and Thomaston): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Rep. David Wilson, R-66th District (Bethlehem, Litchfield, Morris, Warren, Woodbury): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 If there was any doubt that Democrats in the 2019 General Assembly and Gov. Ned Lamont have made passing a mandate for paid Family & Medical Leave a priority, it was removed the other day.
Here is what Lamont told the Republican-American's Paul Hughes: “We are going to pass paid family leave,” Lamont said. “I’m going to work my heart out to make sure that gets done, and I’m going to do it in the most fiscally responsible way so taxpayers know this is something that is going to be managed in an efficient way going forward.” Lamont also said he is "exploring" private management of the state's proposed paid FMLA program. "If I have somebody who wants to administer this thing and take the financial risk in return for a 10-year contract, that’s the way I like to think about these things,” Lamont said. You can read more about the privatization discussion at CTMirror.org, here. The article also notes that "Negotiations are underway with legislative committee co-chairs and other stakeholders about the variables of such a benefit: How much weeks of wages would be offered? What percentage of wages would be replaced? Who would be eligible? What constitutes a family member?" These are all red flags that the Waterbury Regional Chamber, CBIA and other business organizations have raised about the paid FMLA bills, Senate bills 001 and 881 (the governor's bill), and House Bill 5003. The bills currently propose paying employees 90% to 100% of their wages, up to $1,000 per week, for 12 weeks of leave. Two of the bills also broadly define "family member" as not just a blood relative but anyone who is "equivalent to a family member." (Emphasis added.) It also imposes the paid FMLA mandate on every company, regardless of size, including sole proprietors. The CTMirror article notes that the criteria must be set in order for actuaries to determine the program's sustainability. The bills fund the program via a mandatory 0.5% deduction from all privately employed workers. Given the current parameters of who is eligible for leave and how much they will be reimbursed, CBIA and others have determined that the fund would become insolvent almost immediately, requiring the wage deduction to increase dramatically. No one can opt out, though unionized state workers are exempt from the program. Given all of this, it is vitally important for business owners to call or email state legislators and tell them how harmful this legislation will be to their business. See my previous blog post about FMLA for all of the local legislators' contact information. And here are some talking points:
To have the greatest impact, focus on members of the Democratic caucus. Please be respectful, whether calling or writing, but make sure you are as specific as possible about how this program will harm your business. The following is the text of Chamber President & CEO Lynn Ward's "Chamber Happenings" column from Monday's Republican-American, concerning the state's proposed Paid Family & Medical Leave bills:
Many small business owners who are members of the Waterbury Regional Chamber are outraged over the legislature’s efforts to pass bills creating a state-operated paid family & medical leave program, saying the bills will put them out of business. “What’s right with the bills? Nothing. Zero,” said Donald Piombo, owner of American Heating & Air Conditioning Service LLC in Waterbury. There are three state bills proposing the program: Senate bills 1 and 881, and House Bill 5003. (Click on the bill numbers and you can read each bill.) Each bill allows employees up to 12 weeks of paid leave in a 12-month period and would deduct 0.5 percent from every employee’s weekly earnings to pay for it. Each also requires all companies to participate, regardless of the number of people they employ — unlike the federal, unpaid FMLA program, which limits the requirement to companies with 50 or more workers. Piombo’s company, which installs and services heating and air conditioning systems, employs just six people. That includes four technicians, each of whom must be certified to do the work. Replacing a tech on paid family or medical leave is impossible, Piombo said, because of the state’s low unemployment rate and the difficulty in finding people with the proper skills. “I advertised one position for two years,” he said. “There’s a very shallow pool of potential employees. These are people you can’t replace, because there’s nobody out there. Trade businesses are going to get creamed with this kind of thing. You can always find somebody to stock shelves, but in a trade business if you lose somebody, you’re done.” For employers with 50 or more workers, losing one or two is probably not a problem. For a company with six employees, losing two means trying to replace a third of your workforce. “This bill is a smallbusiness killer,” Piombo said. David Mulhall, a CPA and financial adviser with LPL Financial Services in Middlebury, said many businesses are seasonal, so losing employees at the busiest time of year could cause it to fail. “A seasonal business such as tax preparation could not survive where employees could be compensated for taking the months of February, March and April off with pay,” he said. “If my two parttime workers did take those 12 weeks off, they would return to a closed business.” Mulhall also worries about the program’s sustainability. The bills would pay either 90 percent or 100 percent of a worker’s base weekly pay, up to $1,000 per week for the 12 weeks of leave, yet they propose taking just 0.5 percent from weekly paychecks (the deduction is mandatory). As the Connecticut Business & Industry Association notes, for an employee paid $52,000 per year, it would collect just $260 annually, meaning it would take 47 workers paid at a similar rate to cover the cost of one taking paid leave. “This program will never be paid for by a 0.5 percent payroll tax,” Mullhall said. Especially, he added, because state employees are exempt. Business owners also are concerned about language in two of the bills that broadly define “family,” allowing leave not just for a parent or sibling, but for anyone “whose close association with the employee is the equivalent of a family member….” “The ambiguity of it is rife for abuse and fraud,” Piombo said. Another concern is provisions that entitle two spouses employed by the same company to a combined 26 weeks of leave, or that allow immediate relatives of a current member of the armed forces up to 26 weeks of leave “for each armed forces’ member per serious injury.” The legislature’s Labor & Public Employees Committee has approved the bills, and now they head to the Appropriations Committee. The Waterbury chamber and our members urge legislators to vote against this family-leave legislation or, at the least, we hope legislators will modify them to limit the size of businesses required to participate to those with 50 or more workers; limit compensation to 60 percent of weekly pay, and limit the number of employees who can take leave at any time. We also urge business owners to call or email their legislators to let them know how these bills will affect businesses. For help with that, contact Chamber Public Policy Director Dave Krechevsky at dkrechevsky@waterburychamber. com or 203-757-0701. Here is contact information for each legislator in Waterbury, followed by other towns: Rep. Larry Butler, D-72nd District (which includes the eastern & northern sections of Waterbury): [email protected]; 860-245-8585 Rep. Stephanie Cummings, R-74th District (which includes the East Mountain area): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Rep. Anthony D'Amelio, R-71st District (which includes the Town Plot area and a portion of Middlebury): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Rep. Ron Napoli Jr., D-73rd District (which includes the Bunker Hill area and western portion of Waterbury): [email protected]; 860-240-8585 Rep. Geraldo Reyes Jr., D-75th District (which includes the Central Business District): [email protected]; 860-240-8585 Sen. Joan Hartley, D-15th District (Waterbury, Naugatuck, Prospect): [email protected]; 860-240-0006 Sen. Rob Sampson, D-16th District (Cheshire, Prospect, Southington, Waterbury, Wolcott); [email protected]; 860-240-8800 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Rep. David Labriola, R-131st District (Naugatuck, Oxford, Southbury): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Sen. George Logan, R-17th District (Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Bethany, Derby, Hamden, Naugatuck, Woodbridge): [email protected]; 860-240-8800 Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria, R-105th District (Beacon Falls, Derby, Seymour): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Rep. Rosa Rebimbas, R-70th District (Naugatuck): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Sen. Eric Berthel, R-32nd District (Watertown, Bethlehem, Bridgewater, Middlebury, Oxford, Roxbury, Seymour, Southbury, Washington, Woodbury): [email protected]; 860-240-8800 Rep. Joe Polletta, R-68th District (Watertown, Woodbury): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Sen. Mary Abrams, D-13th District (Cheshire, Meriden, Middlefield, Mddletown): [email protected]; 860-240-8800 Rep. Craig Fishbein, R-90th District (Cheshire, Wallingford): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Rep. Liz Linehan, D-103rd District (Cheshire, Southington, Wallingford): [email protected]; 860-240-8585 Rep. Gale Mastrofrancesco, R-80th District (Southington, Wolcott): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Rep. Lezlye Zupkus, R-89th District (Bethany, Cheshire, Prospect): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Sen. Henri Martin, R-31st District (Bristol, Harwinton, Plainville, Plymouth, Thomaston): [email protected]; 860-240-8800 Rep. Arthur O'Neill, R-69th District (Bridgewater, Roxbury, Southbury, Washington): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Rep. John Piscopo, R-76th District (Burlington, Harwinton, Litchfield and Thomaston): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 Rep. David Wilson, R-66th District (Bethlehem, Litchfield, Morris, Warren, Woodbury): [email protected]; 860-240-8700 |
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