General Assembly Raised Bill No. 531
February Session, 2018 LCO No. 3106
*03106_______FIN*
Referred to Committee on FINANCE, REVENUE AND BONDING
Introduced by:
(FIN)
General Assembly
Raised Bill No. 531
February Session, 2018
LCO No. 3106
*03106_______FIN*
Referred to Committee on FINANCE, REVENUE AND BONDING
Introduced by:
(FIN)
AN ACT CONCERNING THE ASSESSMENT OF A FEE ON CERTAIN EMPLOYERS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective from passage) As used in this section:
(1) "Person" means a natural person, corporation, limited liability company, partnership or other entity and, in the case of an entity, includes any other entity that has a majority interest in such entity or effectively controls such other entity as well as the individual officers, directors and other persons in active control of the activities of such entity, but does not include the state or any department, agency or political subdivision thereof;
(2) "Franchisor" has the same meaning as provided in section 42-133e of the general statutes;
(3) "Franchisee" has the same meaning as provided in section 42-133e of the general statutes;
(4) "Employee" means any individual employed or permitted to work by an employer, but does not include any individual employed in any park, camp or resort that is open not more than six months of the year;
(5) (A) "Covered employer" means:
(i) Any person, firm, business or educational institution that employs five hundred or more employees in the state in any one quarter in the preceding calendar year. Such determination shall be made based upon the wage information submitted to the Labor Commissioner pursuant to subsection (j) of section 31-225a of the general statutes; or
(ii) Any franchisor where the franchisor and its franchisees employ, in the aggregate, five hundred or more employees in the state in any one quarter in the preceding calendar year. Such determination shall be made based upon the wage information submitted to the Labor Commissioner pursuant to subsection (j) of section 31-225a of the general statutes.
(B) "Covered employer" does not include any private nonprofit entity, the state or any department, agency or political subdivision thereof.
(b) (1) Commencing with the quarter ending March 31, 2019, any covered employer that employs, or whose franchisee employs, any employee (A) who was listed on such covered employer's or such franchisee's payroll for at least ninety calendar days during such quarter or during any subsequent quarter thereafter, and (B) whose wages paid by such covered employer, or such covered employer's franchisee, during such quarter were less than or equal to fifteen dollars per hour, shall pay a fee to the Labor Commissioner. The commissioner shall assess such fee quarterly and shall calculate the fee by multiplying the fee rate by the number of hours that such employee worked during such quarter. The fee rate shall be four-tenths of one cent multiplied by the number of employees in excess of five hundred employed in the state by the covered employer directly or in the aggregate with its franchisees, but in no event shall the fee rate be less than ten cents or more than one dollar.
(2) Commencing January 1, 2023, and annually thereafter, the hourly wage rate specified in subparagraph (B) of subdivision (1) of this subsection shall be adjusted in accordance with the increase, if any, in the consumer price index for all urban consumers for the preceding calendar year, as published by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
(c) The commissioner shall deposit the fees collected pursuant to subsection (b) of this section with the Treasurer, who shall deposit such revenue in the General Fund. Such revenue may be used by the commissioner to administer and enforce the provisions of subsection (b) of this section or appropriated to recruit, retain and offer professional development to a qualified workforce. The commissioner shall report annually the total amount of such fees collected in the preceding calendar year to the joint standing committees of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to labor, education, human services and appropriations and the budgets of state agencies.
(d) Not later than October 1, 2018, the commissioner shall adopt regulations in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54 of the general statutes for the determination and collection of fees under subsection (b) of this section. Such regulations shall include, but not be limited to, the establishment of reasonable penalties or other remedies for a covered employer's failure to pay or late payment of such fees.
(e) Any covered employer aggrieved by the Labor Commissioner's determination of fees pursuant to subsection (b) of this section may file a complaint with the commissioner. Upon receipt of the complaint, the commissioner shall investigate such complaint and may hold a hearing in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54 of the general statutes.
(f) The Labor Commissioner may request the Attorney General to investigate any violation of subsection (b) of this section. Any information obtained pursuant to such investigation shall be exempt from disclosure under section 1-210 of the general statutes. If the Attorney General finds that a covered employer has violated or is violating any provision of subsection (b) of this section, the Attorney General may bring a civil action in the superior court for the judicial district of Hartford in the name of the state against such covered employer.
(g) Nothing in this section shall be construed to require a fee based on the hourly wage of any employee whose wage rate was established by a collective bargaining agreement that was executed prior to the effective date of this section for the term of such agreement.
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective from passage) Not later than January 1, 2019, and annually thereafter, each employer that submits wage information to the Labor Commissioner pursuant to subsection (j) of section 31-225a of the general statutes shall indicate to the commissioner, on a form and in a manner prescribed by the commissioner, whether such employer is a franchisee, and if so, such employer shall provide to the commissioner the name and address of the franchisor that granted the franchise to such employer and any other information as the commissioner may prescribe. As used in this section, "franchisee", "franchisor" and "franchise" have the same meanings as provided in section 42-133e of the general statutes.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1 from passage New section
Sec. 2 from passage New section
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1
from passage
New section
Sec. 2
from passage
New section
Statement of Purpose:
To assess a fee on employers that employ five hundred or more employees in the state and whose employees' hourly wages are less than or equal to fifteen dollars.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]