OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS
Legislative Office Building, Room 5200
Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 240-0200
http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa
sSB-137
AN ACT CONCERNING GAS, ELECTRIC, SEWER AND WATER
DELIVERY WORK.
Primary Analyst: CR 4/8/24
Contributing Analyst(s): LG, WL, PM, TM, JP, BP, CW
Reviewer: MM
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact:
Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 25 $ FY 26 $
Labor Dept. GF - Cost 126,426 159,235
State Comptroller - Fringe
Benefits
1
GF - Cost 44,313 59,084
Labor Dept. GF - Potential
Revenue Gain
See Below See Below
Judicial Dept. (Probation);
Correction, Dept.
GF - Potential
Cost
Minimal Minimal
Resources of the General Fund GF - Potential
Revenue Gain
Minimal Minimal
Note: GF=General Fund
Municipal Impact:
Municipalities Effect FY 25 $ FY 26 $
All Municipalities STATE
MANDATE
2
- Cost
Potential Potential
Explanation
Section 1 requires any contractor who enters into a contract for a
public utility project to provide (1) apprenticeship training through an
apprenticeship program registered with the Department of Labor
1
The fringe benefit costs for most state employees are budgeted centrally in accounts
administered by the Comptroller. The estimated active employee fringe benefit cost
associated with most personnel changes is 41.25% of payroll in FY 25.
2
State mandate is defined in Sec. 2-32b(2) of the Connecticut General Statutes, "state
mandate" means any state initiated constitutional, statutory or executive action that
requires a local government to establish, expand or modify its activities in such a way
as to necessitate additional expenditures from local revenues. 2024SB-00137-R000303-FN.docx Page 2 of 3
(DOL), or (2) a preapprenticeship training program. This does not result
in any fiscal impact to DOL as its Office of Apprenticeship Training
(OAT) currently has capacity to accommodate the higher employer
participation that may result.
3
Section 2 requires DOL to predetermine the prevailing wage and
enforce that contractors pay said wage to any person performing work
for public utility projects by issuing citations and fines in the amount of
$5,000 per offense. This results in a potential revenue gain for the agency
to the extent penalties are issued and paid. Since the bill generally
applies to these public utility projects the same enforcement and record
keeping requirements as the public works prevailing wage law, this
would result in a workload increase to DOL's Wage and Workplace
Standards Division (WWSD). Such workload increase would require the
division to hire (a) one wage enforcement agent ($91,634 salary, $37,799
fringe benefits, $9,500 overhead) and (b) one clerical staff ($51,600
salary, $21,285 fringe benefits, $9,500 overhead).
Section 3 expands an existing class D felony related to filing certified
payroll, which results in a potential cost to the Department of Correction
and the Judicial Department for incarceration or probation and a
potential revenue gain to the General Fund from fines. On average, the
marginal cost to the state for incarcerating an offender for the year is
$3,300
4
while the average marginal cost for supervision in the
community is less than $800 each year for adults and $1,000 each year
for juveniles. Since FY 14, 90 offenses have been recorded for similar
violations and no revenue has been collected for fines. Few, if any,
violations are anticipated in the future.
3
There are currently over 1,700 employer sponsors registered with the OAT.
4
Inmate marginal cost is based on increased consumables (e.g., food, clothing, water,
sewage, living supplies, etc.). This does not include a change in staffing costs or utility
expenses because these would only be realized if a unit or facility opened.
Probation marginal cost is based on services provided by private providers and only
includes costs that increase with each additional participant. This does not include a
cost for additional supervision by a probation officer unless a new offense is
anticipated to result in enough additional offenders to require additional probation
officers. 2024SB-00137-R000303-FN.docx Page 3 of 3
Additionally, there is a potential cost to municipalities beginning in
FY 25 associated with an increased cost of projects. The prevailing wage
provision may result in a potential cost to municipalities (for the
municipal share of the project cost) as there will be increased contractual
costs for these projects beginning in 25.
Ratepayer Impact Statement
5
:
The bill requires the payment of prevailing wage for public utility
projects resulting in a potential rate increase. This provision will
increase some costs for public utilities that will be passed on to
ratepayers through the normal rate recovery process.
The Out Years
The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would
continue into the future subject to inflation, number of violations and
applicable projects.
5
The above ratepayer impact will apply to the state and municipalities individually
increasing or decreasing cost in line with rates as a whole.