Appropriations Confirms Final Year Of SEBAC Contract, Sending It On To House And Senate | CT News Junkie (2024)

HARTFORD, CT – The Connecticut General Assembly’s Appropriations Committee voted Friday to send a pair of resolutions confirming an existing labor agreement for state workers to the Senate and House.

The resolutions, Senate Resolution 12 and House Resolution 15, came up because of a reopener clause in the contract between the state and the State Employees Bargaining Agreement Coalition (SEBAC), which represents about 45,000 workers from 35 labor units across various state agencies. The reopener clause allowed the legislature to consider continuing for a fourth year the pattern of the past three years of the contract, which included annual 2.5% pay increases for SEBAC workers.

The resolutions passed out of the committee after some debate regarding the impact of the contract on the biennial budget.

Supporters of the deal said it is consistent with pay raises for many private sector workers. The deal is also similar to the agreement between the state and the State Police bargaining units, except the State Police deal did not include a reopener in the fourth year.

Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, said that based on the budget that was passed last year, the state has already appropriated the money for the contract. She said the state’s General Fund Reserve for Salary Adjustments (RSA) has $121.1 million set aside for this part of the contract and has a fund balance of $141.9 million.

“There is absolutely no reason to not support this agreement because the money is already in the bipartisanly approved budget from last year,” Osten said, later adding: “We have more than enough money to pay for this contract.”

Osten, who co-chairs the committee, said that approving the contract is what the state should do for its workers.

“Right now, today, for the workers we have that are state employees, I believe we should support this contract,” Osten said. “Not only today, but whenever it shows up on the floor of the Senate or the House.”

Republicans in leadership, and those on the committee, voiced concerns about the process and timing.

Sen. Eric Berthel, R-Watertown, said that he had concerns about the contract within the constraints of the budget deficit currently facing the state, which he says is about $220 million. Berthel said he still has questions that have not been answered, and that he would rather wait for more information.

Some of his Republican colleagues from the House echoed his concern.

Rep. Tammy Nuccio, R-Tolland, said she thinks that there has not been enough information available, and that they don’t know the possible impact.

“My frustration with this process is that we may have known a contract was coming, but without having all of the information laid out in front of us we don’t know what this means for the full impact of the budget,” Nuccio said. “I’m not comfortable voting on something where I don’t have the information to back up voting yes or no.”

However, Rep. Toni Walker, a New Haven Democrat who also co-chairs the committee with Osten, challenged Nuccio’s assessment.

Walker and Osten said that the contract reopener and negotiations have been upcoming, and they reiterated that the money for the contract has already been appropriated. Gov. Ned Lamont announced that he had reached a tentative agreement with SEBAC on March 6.

Regarding Berthel’s comments about the budget being in deficit, Walker said that the deficit can fluctuate while budget negotiations are still ongoing, and that it is not yet known what the deficit could look like.

“We do [the contracts] with the expectation of first evaluating the RSA and evaluating what we have and going from there,” Walker said. “And we did do this last year.”

During the course of the debate, Republican committee members repeated assertions that the reopener represented new spending, but Osten responded each time saying that the money was already budgeted.

House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora and Senate Republican Leader Stephen Harding said in a joint statement Thursday prior to the public hearing that they were “deeply concerned” with the Democrats’ decisions regarding public money, and that they do not think that

“By embracing the bad practices of the past, they are putting at risk the long-term fiscal stability of Connecticut,” the statement read. “Every resident should be concerned about this reckless approach, especially considering that we’re less than a decade removed from the fiscal crisis that nearly paralyzed our state government.”

According to Democrats, the legislature was required to address the reopening of the contract this year.

In a statement released after the vote Friday, SEBAC said that the positive vote was a sign that lawmakers were not fooled by “misinformation,” and that the contract will support services upon which all residents of the state depend.

“Put simply, there’s a cost to not investing in the professionals who provide public services – the cost of not educating our students, not maintaining our roads and bridges, not providing mental health and addiction services,” the statement read. “No one wins in a race to the bottom. The majority of the legislature’s budget-writing committee understands the need to invest in our quality of life, and these contracts are a step in that direction.”

SR 12 passed with a vote of 9-3, and HR 15 with a vote of 28-10. The resolutions now head to the Senate and House respectively, but Osten said there has been no determination as to when they will be voted on in her chamber.