One place where House and Senate Democrats and Gov.Ned Lamont agree is that they want to provide Paid Family and Medical Leave to Connecticut residents. The issue is what the program would look like and how it would be administered.
Multiple sources in the Connecticut Senate told NBC Connecticut that they plan to debate and likely vote on the issue of Paid Family and Medical Leave on Wednesday. The bill would have the state Department of Labor administer the program, which is contrary to Lamont’s position that he wants to cost compare with private operators.
“I just want to make sure they don’t put something forward that has such a top-heavy bureaucracy that makes it too cumbersome to get this $400 million program going,” he told NBC Connecticut during an interview Tuesday.
The executive branch and the legislative branches appear to agree on some of the basics. The PFML program would be funded through a .5 percent payroll tax on every employee in the state of Connecticut, public and private. That fund would then be used to pay for an individual to take up to 12 weeks off from work to help care for a loved one, care for a newborn child, and events of a similar nature.
Lamont has not made any threats of a possible veto, but he wants to at least see an option to use a private vendor.
“I want this done in the most efficient and high quality way possible and if that’s a public entity does it, that’s great, and if a private entity does it, I’m not going to deny taxpayers the opportunity to have the most efficient way to deliver paid family leave.”
