State Senate Democrats unite to back concessions
Wyman breaks tie after 3 holdouts are lured into the fold
On a tie-breaking vote by Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman, the Senate gave final approval Monday to a state-employee concessions deal after Democratic leaders drew three dissenting colleagues back into the fold with a promise to make a good-faith effort for fiscal reforms.
Uniting all 18 members of the caucus hinged on the willingness by Senate Democratic leaders to at least endorse in concept a dozen fiscal and collective-bargaining reforms sought by three wary Democratic colleagues, any one of whom held the power to kill the deal by voting with Republicans in the evenly divided Senate.
“I’m very pleased that we achieved Democratic unity on this proposal today, and it now helps set us up for the remainder of what will be very difficult budget negotiations,” said Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven.
The show of unity did not go beyond the vote. The trio of hold outs — Sens. Paul Doyle of Wethersfield, Joan Hartley of Waterbury and Gayle Slossberg — skipped a post-session press conference with Looney and other Democrats, a sign of remaining difficulties in resolving an impasse that has left Connecticut without a budget for 31 days.
Aside from the promise of support for fiscal reform, the three holdouts conceded they saw no clear path to an alter-
native that could produce the $1.57 billion the concessions are projected to yield over for the overdue two-year budget. Doyle said he saw “potential chaos” in rejecting the concessions.
Republicans warned the accepting concessions now would do little to stabilize the state’s long-term finances, articulating what is likely to be a wedge issue in the 2018 campaign for control of the closely divided General Assembly.
“Once you vote for this deal you are trapped,” said Senate Republican Leader Len Fasano of North Haven. He warned that labor costs under this deal largely will be fixed for the next decade, Democrats who ratified it will be responsible what he says are certain tax hikes and program cuts.
Democrats and Republicans are sharply divided over whether Connecticut needs to end decades of setting pension and health benefits by collective bargaining and dictate them by legislation. The GOP, whose candidates for governor declined to campaign on weakening collective bargaining in 2014, is getting more aggressive on the issue.
“People look to us for leadership,” Fasano said, dismissing Democrats’ arguments that the GOP approach would lead to court fight with unions. “People look to us for strength. And we’re afraid to take an issue up and lead with it?”
The intra-party turmoil in the Democratic caucus largely overshadowed the partisan differences. The day’s source of drama was the question of whether Doyle, Hartley and Slossberg would give the Democrats 18 votes for passage.
Doyle told his colleagues on the floor he was placing faith that the Senate leadership would deliver on its promises to him, Hartley and Slossberg.
“They assured me they would do their best to advocate for systemic reforms,” Doyle said. “I have to take a leap of faith with all of you in this chamber.”
All Looney could promise was his best efforts. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, and rank and file Democrats in both chambers will dictate what, if anything, is accepted.
Doyle, Hartley and Slossberg retain significant leverage — their support for a budget, when one is finished — to ensure that some of their demanded reforms end up in policy language implementing the budget. Hartley hinted her vote would depend on seeing support for the systemic reforms.
“I do believe that the SEBAC [concessions] with systematic changes will help to make a path forward and bring equilibrium,” she said, “and will be — for me personally — pivotal in adopting a budget.”
Until a speech on the floor at 6 p.m., Hartley declined to say how she intended to vote. But the Senate opened debate at 2:20 p.m., an indication that the Senate leadership believed all 18 Democrats were on board, setting up the tie-breaking vote by Wyman.
With the holdouts missing from the chamber, Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, began outlining the case for concessions by SEBAC, the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition.
“SEBAC’s position is it will always be willing to sit down and help the state,” said Osten, who was leader of the correction guard supervisors’ union before her retirement from the Department of Correction.
The Democratic holdouts avoided reporters for much of the day.
But Slossberg eventually arrived and chatted amiably with Looney before explaining her support for the agreement to the chamber.
“I believe in collective bargaining,” Slossberg said.
Doyle followed and briefly engaged Looney in a one-sided conversation in which neither man smiled. Doyle spoke, and Looney listened.
A resolution accepting the terms of a concession deal negotiated by the Malloy administration could be voted up or down, but not amended. The holdouts’ demands would have to be addressed in a side deal inserted in the budget or a new piece of legislation at a later date.
Some of the reforms sought by the trio would restrict in statute benefits the state could offer in future contracts, when the latest concessions deal expires in mid-2027.
They would end automatic cost-of-living adjustments to pensions, remove overtime earnings from pensions calculations, and restrict future benefits contracts with state employee unions to no more than four years in duration.
Other reforms proposed by the three moderate senators would revise the arbitration process to better reflect the state’s ability to pay increased wages and benefits, repeal the rule that allows the legislature to ratify contracts and arbitration awards without votes and create a commission to develop a sustainability plan for pension fund for municipal teachers. One study projects the state’s annual contribution will grow from $1 billion last fiscal year to more than $6.2 billion by 2032.