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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 5441
February Session, 2022
AN ACT ADOPTING THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE TASK
FORCE TO STUDY THE STATE WORKFORCE AND RETIRING
EMPLOYEES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective from passage) (a) The State Comptroller, or 1
the State Comptroller's designee, and the representatives of each State 2
Employee Bargaining Agent Coalition constituent union shall conduct 3
an estimate of the number of state employees who are expected to retire 4
in each position type at each state agency, including each agency that is 5
part of the executive, legislative or judicial branch and the higher 6
education system. 7
(b) The commissioner of each state agency shall conduct an analysis 8
of employee retention rates within the commissioner's agency. Such 9
analysis shall be compared to the state's year-to-year data as well as the 10
findings in the report entitled "The State of Connecticut Workforce: An 11
Analysis of Representation and Compensation Equity Across Gender 12
and Race-Ethnicity". Such agencies shall jointly report their analysis to 13
the Governor, the joint standing committee of the General Assembly 14
having cognizance of matters relating to public employees and the Chief 15
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, as established in section 3 of this 16
act. 17 Substitute Bill No. 5441
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(c) The human resources departments across all branches of state 18
government, therefore encompassing all state agencies, shall develop a 19
universal exit survey with specific data points to help inform an overall 20
view of the state's workplace conditions. Such surveys shall be 21
developed, distributed and collected by agency human resources 22
departments which shall analyze the results of the surveys and report 23
to the Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer. 24
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective from passage) (a) The commissioners of each 25
state agency shall formally engage in a strategic plan to examine: (1) The 26
positions and position types they recommend to be replaced as they are; 27
(2) the positions they recommend be replaced with a different type of 28
position because the function has changed; and (3) the positions they 29
recommend be replaced with a different position because the need has 30
changed, based on current state agency needs and current workforce 31
capacity and ability. 32
(b) The process shall involve representatives of each State Employee 33
Bargaining Agent Coalition constituent union under the savings and 34
transformation provisions of the State Employee Bargaining Agent 35
Coalition agreement. 36
Sec. 3. (NEW) (Effective from passage) (a) There shall be established a 37
Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer position to oversee a 38
transformative hiring process in state government. The Chief Diversity, 39
Equity and Inclusion Officer shall be appointed by the Governor, with 40
the approval of the General Assembly. Said officer shall report to the 41
Governor and the Equity Advisory Committee, established pursuant to 42
subsection (c) of this section. 43
(b) The commissioner of each state agency shall address its diversity 44
needs by reviewing the report entitled: "The State of Connecticut 45
Workforce: An Analysis of Representation and Compensation Equity 46
Across Gender and Race-Ethnicity" and conducting an assessment of the 47
commissioner's agency. Such assessment shall be used to determine 48
where action plans may be necessary to address any racial or gender 49 Substitute Bill No. 5441
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disparities, including a review of recruitment strategies. The assessment 50
shall include, but shall not be limited to: (1) An agency's success in the 51
last five years in recruiting and retaining women and people of color 52
into various positions; and (2) an agency's plan for achieving an 53
appropriate and fair balance in replacing vacancies left by retiring 54
employees. Each such assessment shall be submitted to the Governor, 55
the General Assembly and the Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 56
Officer not later than three months of commencing such assessment. 57
(c) (1) There shall be established an Equity Advisory Committee 58
responsible for monitoring whether the assessment goals pursuant to 59
subsection (b) of this section are being met by state agencies. The 60
committee shall consist of the following members: (A) Seven members 61
appointed by representatives of each State Employee Bargaining Agent 62
Coalition constituent union, and (B) four members appointed from the 63
current task force to study the state workforce and retiring employees, 64
consisting of (i) one member appointed by each chairperson, and (ii) one 65
member appointed by each ranking member. 66
(2) The chairpersons of the committee shall be appointed by the 67
chairpersons of the joint standing committee of the General Assembly 68
having cognizance of matters relating to labor. 69
(3) The administrative staff of the joint standing committee of the 70
General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to labor shall 71
serve as administrative staff of the committee. 72
(4) The committee shall meet as required by the chairpersons of the 73
committee. 74
Sec. 4. (Effective from passage) (a) The commissioner of each state 75
agency shall provide a list of training and professional development 76
programs currently in existence within the commissioner's agency, the 77
extent of engagement of employees in those programs during the 78
previous three years, including the number of employees enrolled, and 79
the number of employees who completed such programs. The 80 Substitute Bill No. 5441
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commissioner shall also provide a description of the agency's plans to 81
create or increase engagement in such programs in the near future. 82
(b) The Labor Department shall provide a list of existing career 83
pathway programs, including high school-to-career pathway programs, 84
vocational-technical school pathways, internships and post-graduate 85
fellowships, modeled after other federal and state programs that 86
encourage the training-to-workforce or college-to-workforce transition 87
for a range of state employee classes and positions. The Labor 88
Department shall include in such list agencies participating and the 89
number of people involved in these programs. 90
(c) The Commissioner of Administrative Services shall study the 91
feasibility of developing a paid internship program for high school and 92
college students. In conducting such study, the commissioner may 93
consult with leaders of nonprofit agencies and community advocates. 94
Sec. 5. Subsection (p) of section 5-200 of the 2022 supplement to the 95
general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu 96
thereof (Effective July 1, 2022): 97
(p) When such authority is not otherwise conferred by statute, the 98
commissioner shall issue orders to provide that (1) executive or judicial 99
department employees exempt from the classified service or not 100
included in any prevailing bargaining unit contract, except unclassified 101
employees of any board of trustees of the constituent units of higher 102
education, be granted rights, [and] benefits and wages, with movement 103
within salary ranges, not less than those granted to employees in the 104
classified service or covered under such contracts, or (2) retirement 105
benefits for state employees exempt from the classified service or not 106
included in any prevailing bargaining unit contract be adjusted to 107
provide retirement benefits for such employees which are the same as 108
those most frequently provided under the terms of approved bargaining 109
unit contracts in effect at the time of such adjustment. When such 110
authority is not otherwise conferred by statute, the board of trustees of 111
any constituent unit of the state system of higher education may issue 112 Substitute Bill No. 5441
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orders to provide that the unclassified employees of such board be 113
granted rights, [and] benefits and wages not less than those granted to 114
employees of the board who are covered under a prevailing bargaining 115
unit contract. Where there is a conflict between an order granting such 116
rights, [and] benefits and wages and any provision of the general 117
statutes, such order shall prevail. [Such orders shall be subject to the 118
approval of the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management. If the 119
secretary approves such order, and such order is in conflict with any 120
provision of the general statutes, the secretary shall forward a copy of 121
such order to the joint committee of the General Assembly having 122
cognizance of labor matters.] 123
Sec. 6. Subsection (g) of section 5-270 of the general statutes is 124
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 125
2022): 126
(g) "Managerial employee" means any individual in a position in 127
which the principal functions are characterized by not fewer than two 128
of the following, provided [for any position in any unit of the system of 129
higher education,] one of such two functions shall be as specified in 130
subdivision (4) of this subsection: (1) Responsibility for direction of a 131
subunit or facility of a major division of an agency or assignment to an 132
agency head's staff; (2) development, implementation and evaluation of 133
goals and objectives consistent with agency mission and policy; (3) 134
participation in the formulation of agency policy; or (4) a major role in 135
the administration of collective bargaining agreements or major 136
personnel decisions, or both, including staffing, hiring, firing, 137
evaluation, promotion and training of employees. 138
Sec. 7. (NEW) (Effective from passage) Each state agency shall fill all 139
open positions to levels appropriated in the 2022-2023 biennial budget. 140
Each agency shall also adopt continuous recruitment practices to fill 141
critical shortage positions, as appropriated in the biennial budget for the 142
fiscal years commencing July 1, 2022, and July 1, 2023. Such positions 143
shall not require approval from the Department of Administrative 144
Services or the Office of Policy and Management in order to fill. 145 Substitute Bill No. 5441
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Sec. 8. (Effective from passage) The Secretary of the Office of Policy and 146
Management shall consult with the State Employees Bargaining Agent 147
Coalition in order to: (1) Allow all employees to continue working 148
beyond the July 1, 2022, deadline for retirement without the applicable 149
cost-of-living adjustment or retiree health care changes until one month 150
following the hiring of the employee's replacement for the purpose of 151
training and transitioning the new employee in the position; and (2) to 152
reduce the retirement incentive caused by the 2022 changes in a way that 153
would not materially decrease the savings attributable to such changes. 154
Sec. 9. Section 5-259f of the general statutes is repealed. (Effective 155
October 1, 2022) 156
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
Sec. 3 from passage New section
Sec. 4 from passage New section
Sec. 5 July 1, 2022 5-200(p)
Sec. 6 July 1, 2022 5-270(g)
Sec. 7 from passage New section
Sec. 8 from passage New section
Sec. 9 October 1, 2022 Repealer section
LAB Joint Favorable Subst.
APP Joint Favorable