Researcher: LRH Page 1 4/3/25 OLR Bill Analysis sHB 5574 AN ACT REQUIRING THE REPORTING OF THE STATUS OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE CREATES PROJECT REPORT CONCERNING DIGITIZATION AND OTHER UPGRADES AND REPORTS CONCERNING OVERTIME AND FINGERPRINTING. SUMMARY This bill creates several reporting requirements related to the state’s digitization efforts, employee overtime, and fingerprinting for criminal history checks, as discussed in the CREATES project’s 2021 report. In general, the state commissioned the CREATES project to evaluate workforce efficiency and organizational design and to (1) recommend how to best mitigate the risk to service continuity caused by anticipated state employee retirements in 2022 and (2) identify efficiency opportunities that would reduce state spending. The bill requires the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) secretary, by February 1, 2026, to give the Government Oversight Committee a report on state agencies’ efforts to implement the CREATES report’s recommendations on digitization. The OPM report must at least include the status of hiring staff needed to implement the recommendations, capital funding, implementation, and any realized savings for the following initiatives as of December 31, 2025: 1. the Department of Revenue Service’s data-driven tax compliance program; 2. OPM’s state-wide grants program and portal; 3. the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities streamlining affirmative action reporting; 4. the Office of the Treasurer, Department of Administrative Services (DAS), and OPM creating a common payment platform; 2025HB-05574-R000501-BA.DOCX Researcher: LRH Page 2 4/3/25 5. DAS creating a state-wide digital service center; 6. the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services implementing an electronic health record system; and 7. the Department of Labor’s unemployment insurance modernization upgrades. The bill also requires the OPM secretary, starting by February 1, 2026, to annually give the Government Oversight Committee a report that at least includes a summary of the overtime granted by each state agency and the management tools they used to try to curtail it. Lastly, the bill requires the commissioner of emergency services and public protection, by January 15, 2026, to give the Public Safety and Government Oversight committees a report with data on State Police fingerprinting for statutorily required criminal history records checks. The report must cover the period from July 1, 2025, through December 31, 2025, and include the number of people fingerprinted, why they were fingerprinted, and how long it took to grant each request after receiving it. EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage COMMITTEE ACTION Government Oversight Committee Joint Favorable Substitute Yea 12 Nay 0 (03/18/2025)