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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 682
January Session, 2019
AN ACT ESTABLISHING A REWARD PROGRAM FOR STATE
EMPLOYEE REPORTING O F WASTEFUL PRACTICES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2019) (a) As used in this 1
section: 2
(1) "State employee" means any employee in the executive, 3
legislative or judicial branch of state government, including employees 4
in the classified and unclassified service and full-time and part-time 5
employees; 6
(2) "State agency" means any office, department, board, council, 7
commission, institution, constituent unit of the state system of higher 8
education, technical education and career school or other agency in the 9
executive, legislative or judicial branch of state government; 10
(3) "Gross waste of funds" means more than a merely debatable 11
expenditure that is significantly out of proportion to the benefit 12
reasonably expected to accrue to the government and includes, but is 13
not limited to, gross mismanagement; and 14
(4) "Gross mismanagement" means a management action or inaction 15
which creates a substantial risk of significant adverse impact upon the 16
agency's ability to accomplish its mission, and excludes de minimis 17 Substitute Bill No. 682
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wrongdoing or negligence. 18
(b) There is established a program to award state employees who 19
make a suggestion (1) concerning a practice that is an alleged gross 20
waste of funds in the state agency where such employee is employed 21
to the state agency suggestion coordinator, (2) that is subsequently 22
implemented by the agency, and (3) that results in cost savings to the 23
agency. Not later than November 1, 2019, each state agency shall 24
designate an existing employee within the agency to serve as the state 25
agency suggestion coordinator, who shall not be eligible to participate 26
in the program established under this section. Any state employee 27
other than a state agency suggestion coordinator or agency or 28
department head may make a written suggestion to the agency's state 29
agency suggestion coordinator concerning an alleged gross waste of 30
funds. The state agency suggestion coordinator shall review any 31
suggestion received to determine whether the suggestion is eligible for 32
consideration under this section and shall submit any eligible 33
suggestions to the executive head of the state agency, or a designee, for 34
consideration. 35
(c) If the agency implements the employee's suggestion, not later 36
than a calendar year after such implementation, the agency shall 37
determine the cost savings attributable to such implementation and 38
submit its calculations to the Auditors of Public Accounts for 39
verification. Once verified by the Auditors of Public Accounts, the 40
agency shall make a lump-sum payment to the employee using the 41
funds of the division or department within the agency that benefited 42
from the cost savings. Such award shall be equivalent to five per cent 43
of the state agency's estimated cost savings for the first calendar year 44
after implementing the employee's suggestion and remedying the 45
reported wasteful practice, provided such award shall not exceed ten 46
thousand dollars. Any award under this section shall not be added to 47
the employee's base salary for purposes of calculating the employee's 48
retirement income but shall be subject to the tax imposed by chapter 49
229 of the general statutes. 50 Substitute Bill No. 682
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(d) If an employee retires or leaves state service after making a 51
suggestion under this section that is subsequently implemented, the 52
executive head of a state agency shall make a lump sum award to such 53
former employee. If the employee is deceased, the award shall be 54
made to such deceased employee's estate. 55
(e) If a suggestion is submitted jointly by more than one employee, 56
the award shall be shared equally among the employees. If the same 57
suggestion is submitted separately by two or more employees, the first 58
suggestion received shall be eligible for the full amount of the award. 59
(f) Any suggestion that involves the following shall not be eligible 60
for an award under this section: (1) Deferred maintenance or 61
replacement of essential equipment and supplies; (2) individual 62
employee compensation or position classification; (3) personal 63
grievances or complaints; (4) suggestions that require a change to or 64
that conflict with, federal or state law; (5) suggestions already 65
submitted by another employee; (6) matters resulting from an agency 66
audit, study, survey, review or research; (7) suggestions that involve 67
correcting a condition that exists because established procedures are 68
not being followed; (8) suggestions that constitute opinions only, and 69
which cannot be supported by demonstrating a better idea, and the 70
need for same; (9) suggestions concerning any matter subject to 71
collective bargaining; (10) suggestions circumventing competitive 72
procurement procedures provided by state law or policy; (11) 73
suggestions which recommend or require formal studies, surveys, 74
investigation or similar research activity to establish the benefits of a 75
suggestion referred to; (12) suggestions which are hypothetical, vague, 76
based on inconclusive justification or deal with generalities; (13) 77
suggestions concerning the structure of lottery games conducted by 78
the Connecticut Lottery Corporation, including, but not limited to, 79
game design, prize patterns, draw dates and draw frequency; (14) any 80
suggestion made by the agency suggestion coordinator or agency or 81
department head; and (15) any suggestion resulting in less than ten 82
thousand dollars in estimated savings to the agency. 83 Substitute Bill No. 682
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(g) Any suggestion made under this section shall be a public record, 84
as defined in section 1-200 of the general statutes. 85
Sec. 2. Section 5-263a of the general statutes is repealed. (Effective 86
October 1, 2019) 87
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2019 New section
Sec. 2 October 1, 2019 Repealer section
Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
Section 1(b) was divided into Subsecs. (b) and (c), in Section 1(b)
Subdiv. designators were added and in new Section 1(c) "taxation" was
changed to "the tax imposed by chapter 229" for clarity.
GAE Joint Favorable Subst.