Striking Workers Unemployment Benefits Bill Vetoed

06.13.2024
Issues & Policies

Gov. Ned Lamont vetoed controversial legislation June 11 that was designed to provide taxpayer-funded unemployment benefits for striking workers.

HB 5431 passed the Senate on a 23-12 party line vote with eight minutes left in the legislative session May 8.

The bill passed the House on a 90-59 vote May 3, with seven Democrats—Hector Arzeno (D-Greenwich), Jill Barry (D-Glastonbury), Lucy Dathan (D-New Canaan), Jamie Foster (D-Ellington), Rachel Khanna (D-Greenwich), Jennifer Leeper (D-Fairfield), and Christopher Poulos (D-Southington)—joining all Republicans present in opposition.

Originally drafted as a review of General Fund appropriations, the bill was amended to incorporate the intent of another bill, HB 5164, which allowed striking workers to claim unemployment benefits.

The House did not act on HB 5164, which the legislature’s Labor and Public Employees Committee approved on an 8-4 party line vote in March despite broad criticism.

‘Lacks Clarity’

HB 5431 created a $3 million “Connecticut families and workers account” administered by the state Comptroller “for the purposes of assisting low-income workers.”

In his veto letter, the governor wrote that the bill “lacks clarity in terms of impact, financial accountability, and oversight.”

“Without a clear mechanism for monitoring the transfer and utilization of the funds, there is risk of inefficiency, mismanagement, and lack of transparency in their intended allocation,” he noted.

“There is risk of inefficiency, mismanagement, and lack of transparency.”

Gov. Ned Lamont

Lamont’s veto letter did not address his previously reported concerns with using taxpayer dollars—or in the case of HB 5164, the employer funded Unemployment Trust Fund—to support labor union actions.

“I’m a strong supporter of labor and the right to organize and making sure that people have fair representation,” Lamont said in February.

“And I’m also somebody that supports small business. And I don’t want to put my thumb on that scale.”

Reaction

CBIA president and CEO Chris DiPentima applauded the veto decision, citing concerns with the bill “both on policy grounds and the process surrounding its adoption.” 

“Not only was the bill poor public policy, its passage in the final minutes of the 2024 session was flawed and undermined public confidence in the democratic process,” he said.

CBIA and other organizations called for the measure to be vetoed shortly after its passage last month.

“Long-standing employee protections under state and federal law already achieve the proper balance between the unemployment system’s policy goals and collective bargaining rights,” DiPentima wrote in a letter to the governor.

“That balance is critical. While workers have the right to organize, bargain collectively, and strike, those rights should not be subsidized by taxpayers.”

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