Raising minimum wage to move forward

HARTFORD — Three significant bills were passed out of committee Thursday: a minimum wage increase, limits on what employers can say to employees in the workplace, and the creation of a public health insurance option for small businesses.

The Labor and Public Employees Committee voted in favor of all three, mostly along party lines.

Two bills would raise the minimum wage from its current $10.10 to $15 an hour by January 2022. Another, supported by Gov. Ned Lamont, would increase the minimum wage to $15 — but his bill would take a year longer to get to that goal, hitting the $15 mark in January 2023.

All five Republican members of the committee objected to increasing the minimum wage, while all nine Democratic lawmakers supported it.

State Rep. Richard Smith, R-New Fairfield, said the business owners in his community aren’t worried about increasing the minimum wage for the 30-year-old single mom working a minimum wage job. He said they don’t want to increase the wage to support teenagers.

“If you have to pay the student $15 an hour and you have to pay the mom $15 an hour there’s only so much money at the end of the day,” Smith said.

Rep. Joe Polletta, R-Watertown, said he’s concerned about applying future increases on the Consumer Price Index once the state reaches $15 an hour.

“I fear that with the CPI this minimum wage could get up to $20 an hour,” Polletta said.

He said he also has concerns about hurting the employees they’re actually trying to help.

An estimated 330,000 Connecticut workers earn the minimum wage.

Rep. Robyn Porter, DNew Haven, said they are trying to give people more disposable income so the state can see more tax revenue. And in an era when the price of everything from rent to groceries continues to go up while the minimum wage stays at $10.10 an hour, “how are we supposed to keep up?”

She said the minimum wage is not a livable wage, but minimum wage service jobs are what have proliferated since the 2008 recession.

The committee also approved a captive audience bill that would limit what employers can say to employees in the workplace.

Former Attorney General George Jepsen tossed cold water on a similar “captive audience” bill in 2011 following an 11-hour debate in the House. Years later, Jepsen issued a formal opinion on April 26, 2018, that said similar legislation was pre-empted by federal law and warned lawmakers about passing it.

Sen. Julie Kushner, DDanbury, said she believes the language in the bill is legal.

“We believe this language will stand up to pre-emption laws,” Kushner said.

Senate Republican Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, disagreed.

“To ignore the Attorney General’s definitive judgment is an abdication of our responsibility as legislators to uphold the law,” Fasano said. “Attorney General Jepsen’s opinion provides a clear analysis of the law that leaves no room for question. Any opinion to the contrary would certainly raise eyebrows.”

All five Republicans voted against the measure while all nine Democrats voted in favor of it.

There was a little more bipartisan support for expanding Connecticut’s state employee health insurance plan to include small businesses.

A bill that would allow businesses to join the Connecticut Partnership Plan offered by state Comptroller Kevin Lembo was approved 11-3.