Substitute Senate Bill No. 682
Public Act No. 19-10
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
section:
(1) "State employee" means any employee in the executive,
legislative or judicial branch of state government, including employees
in the classified and unclassified service and full-time and part-time
employees;
(2) "State agency" means any office, department, board, council,
commission, institution, constituent unit of the state system of higher
education, technical education and career school or other agency in the
executive, legislative or judicial branch of state government;
(3) "Gross waste of funds" means more than a merely debatable
expenditure that is significantly out of proportion to the benefit
reasonably expected to accrue to the government and includes, but is
not limited to, gross mismanagement; and
(4) "Gross mismanagement" means a management action or inaction
which creates a substantial risk of significant adverse impact upon the Substitute Senate Bill No. 682
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agency's ability to accomplish its mission, and excludes de minimis
wrongdoing or negligence.
(b) There is established a program to award state employees who
make a suggestion (1) concerning a practice that is an alleged gross
waste of funds in the state agency where such employee is employed
to the state agency suggestion coordinator, (2) that is subsequently
implemented by the agency, and (3) that results in cost savings to the
agency. Not later than November 1, 2019, each state agency shall
designate an existing employee within the agency to serve as the state
agency suggestion coordinator, who shall not be eligible to participate
in the program established under this section. Any state employee
other than a state agency suggestion coordinator or agency or
department head may make a written suggestion to the agency's state
agency suggestion coordinator concerning an alleged gross waste of
funds. The state agency suggestion coordinator shall review any
suggestion received to determine whether the suggestion is eligible for
consideration under this section and shall submit any eligible
suggestions to the executive head of the state agency, or a designee, for
consideration.
(c) If the agency implements the employee's suggestion, not later
than a calendar year after such implementation, the agency shall
determine the cost savings attributable to such implementation and
submit its calculations to the Auditors of Public Accounts for
verification. Once verified by the Auditors of Public Accounts, the
agency shall make a lump-sum payment to the employee using the
funds of the division or department within the agency that benefited
from the cost savings. Such award shall be equivalent to five per cent
of the state agency's estimated cost savings for the first calendar year
after implementing the employee's suggestion and remedying the
reported wasteful practice, provided such award shall not exceed ten
thousand dollars. Any award under this section shall not be added to Substitute Senate Bill No. 682
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the employee's base salary for purposes of calculating the employee's
retirement income but shall be subject to the tax imposed by chapter
229 of the general statutes.
(d) If an employee retires or leaves state service after making a
suggestion under this section that is subsequently implemented, the
executive head of a state agency shall make a lump sum award to such
former employee. If the employee is deceased, the award shall be
made to such deceased employee's estate.
(e) If a suggestion is submitted jointly by more than one employee,
the award shall be shared equally among the employees. If the same
suggestion is submitted separately by two or more employees, the first
suggestion received shall be eligible for the full amount of the award.
(f) Any suggestion that involves the following shall not be eligible
for an award under this section: (1) Deferred maintenance or
replacement of essential equipment and supplies; (2) individual
employee compensation or position classification; (3) personal
grievances or complaints; (4) suggestions that require a change to or
that conflict with, federal or state law; (5) suggestions already
submitted by another employee; (6) matters resulting from an agency
audit, study, survey, review or research; (7) suggestions that involve
correcting a condition that exists because established procedures are
not being followed; (8) suggestions that constitute opinions only, and
which cannot be supported by demonstrating a better idea, and the
need for same; (9) suggestions concerning any matter subject to
collective bargaining; (10) suggestions circumventing competitive
procurement procedures provided by state law or policy; (11)
suggestions which recommend or require formal studies, surveys,
investigation or similar research activity to establish the benefits of a
suggestion referred to; (12) suggestions which are hypothetical, vague,
based on inconclusive justification or deal with generalities; (13)
suggestions concerning the structure of lottery games conducted by Substitute Senate Bill No. 682
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the Connecticut Lottery Corporation, including, but not limited to,
game design, prize patterns, draw dates and draw frequency; (14) any
suggestion made by the agency suggestion coordinator or agency or
department head; (15) suggestions concerning a practice that is an
alleged gross waste of funds that the suggesting employee participated
in committing; and (16) any suggestion resulting in less than ten
thousand dollars in estimated savings to the agency.
(g) Any suggestion made under this section shall be a public record,
as defined in section 1-200 of the general statutes.
Sec. 2. Section 5-263a of the general statutes is repealed. (Effective
October 1, 2019)