SB 271 — AN ACT IMPLEMENTING THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE LABOR DEPARTMENT.

(b) Bonds issued pursuant to subsection (a) of this section shall be special obligations of the state and shall not be payable from nor charged upon any funds other than the Unemployment Compensation Advance Fund and revenues pledged to the payment thereof, nor shall sSB271the /state Fileor No.any political subdivision thereof be subject to any liability thereon other than from such sources.

123The issuance of revenue bonds under the provisions of this section and sections 3-21a, 31-222, 31-225a, LCO 9 sSB271of File17 Substitute Bill No.

123271 31-231a, 31-232b, 31-232d, 31-232f, 31-236, as amended by this act, [31- 250a,] 31-259, 31-263, 31-264a, as amended by this act, and 31-274j shall not directly or indirectly or contingently obligate the state or any political subdivision thereof beto subjectlevy or to pledge any liabilityform thereonof taxation whatever therefor or to make any appropriation for their payment other than fromthe suchappropriation sources.set forth in this section.

The issuance of revenue bonds under the provisions of this section and sections 3-21a, 31-222, 31-225a, 31-231a, 31-232b, 31-232d, 31-232f, 31-236, as amended by this act, [31- 250a,] 31-259, 31-263, 31-264a, as amended by this act, and 31-274j shall not directly or indirectly or contingently obligate the state or any political subdivision thereof to levy or to pledge any form of taxation whatever therefor or to make any appropriation for their payment other than the appropriation set forth in this section.

With the exception of subsections (i) and (p) all provisions of section 3- 20 and the exercise of any right or power granted thereby which are not sSB271inconsistent /with Filethe provisions of this section and sections 3-21a, 31- 222, 31-225a, 31-231a, 31-232b, 31-232d, 31-232f, 31-236, as amended by LCO 10 of 17 Substitute Bill No.

123271 10this sSB271act, File[31-250a,] No.31-259, 31-263, 31-264a, as amended by this act, and 31-274j are hereby adopted and may be invoked in respect to all revenue bonds authorized by the State Bond Commission pursuant to said sections.

123 inconsistent with the provisions of this section and sections 3-21a, 31- 222, 31-225a, 31-231a, 31-232b, 31-232d, 31-232f, 31-236, as amended by this act, [31-250a,] 31-259, 31-263, 31-264a, as amended by this act, and 31-274j are hereby adopted and may be invoked in respect to all revenue bonds authorized by the State Bond Commission pursuant to said sections.

(e) Revenue bonds issued pursuant to this section and sections 3-21a, sSB27131-222, /31-225a, File31-231a, 31-232b, 31-232d, 31-232f, 31-236, as amended by this act, [31-250a,] 31-259, 31-263, 31-264a, as amended by this act, LCO 11 of 17 Substitute Bill No.

123271 11and sSB27131-274j Fileare No.hereby made securities in which public officers and public bodies of the state and its political subdivisions, all insurance companies, credit unions, savings and loan associations, investment companies, banking associations, trust companies, executors, administrators, trustees and other fiduciaries and pension, profit- sharing and retirement funds may properly and legally invest funds, including capital in their control or belonging to them.

123 31-222, 31-225a, 31-231a, 31-232b, 31-232d, 31-232f, 31-236, as amended by this act, [31-250a,] 31-259, 31-263, 31-264a, as amended by this act, and 31-274j are hereby made securities in which public officers and public bodies of the state and its political subdivisions, all insurance companies, credit unions, savings and loan associations, investment companies, banking associations, trust companies, executors, administrators, trustees and other fiduciaries and pension, profit- sharing and retirement funds may properly and legally invest funds, including capital in their control or belonging to them.

(5) provisions regarding the establishment and maintenance of reserves, sinking funds and any other funds and accounts of the Unemployment Compensation Advance Fund pursuant to said sections and in the amounts and on the sSB271terms /approved Fileby the State Bond Commission in the amounts LCO 12 of 17 Substitute Bill No.

123271 12established sSB271by Filethe No.State Bond Commission;

123 terms approved by the State Bond Commission in the amounts established by the State Bond Commission;

sSB271LCO /13 Fileof 17 Substitute Bill No.

123271 13(h) sSB271The Filestate No.covenants with the purchasers and all subsequent owners and transferees of revenue bonds issued by the state pursuant to this section and sections 3-21a, 31-222, 31-225a, 31-231a, 31-232b, 31- 232d, 31-232f, 31-236, as amended by this act, [31-250a,] 31-259, 31-263, 31-264a, as amended by this act, and 31-274j, in consideration of the acceptance of and payment for the bonds, that the bonds shall be free at all times from taxes levied by any municipality or political subdivision or special district having taxing powers of the state, and the principal and interest of any bonds issued under the provisions of said sections, their transfer and the income therefrom, including any profit on the sale or transfer thereof, shall at all times be exempt from any taxation by the state of Connecticut or under its authority, except for estate or succession taxes.

123 (h) The state covenants with the purchasers and all subsequent owners and transferees of revenue bonds issued by the state pursuant to this section and sections 3-21a, 31-222, 31-225a, 31-231a, 31-232b, 31- 232d, 31-232f, 31-236, as amended by this act, [31-250a,] 31-259, 31-263, 31-264a, as amended by this act, and 31-274j, in consideration of the acceptance of and payment for the bonds, that the bonds shall be free at all times from taxes levied by any municipality or political subdivision or special district having taxing powers of the state, and the principal and interest of any bonds issued under the provisions of said sections, their transfer and the income therefrom, including any profit on the sale or transfer thereof, shall at all times be exempt from any taxation by the state of Connecticut or under its authority, except for estate or succession taxes.

(i)The state further covenantswiththepurchasersandallsubsequent owners and transferees of bonds issued by the state pursuant to this sectionandsections3-21a,31-222,31-225a,31-231a,31-232b,31-232d,31- 232f, 31-236, as amended by this act, [31-250a,] 31-259, 31-263, 31-264a, as amended by this act, and 31-274j, in consideration of the acceptance of the payment of the bonds, until the bonds, together with the interest thereon, with interest on any unpaid installment of interest and all costs and expenses in connection with any action or proceeding on behalf of the owners, are fully met and discharged or unless expressly permitted or otherwise authorized by the terms of each contract and agreement made or entered into by or on behalf of the state with or for the benefit of such owners, that the state will cause the administrator to impose, charge, raise, levy, collect and apply the pledged assessments and other revenues, receipts, funds or moneys pledged for the payment of debt service requirements in each year in which bonds are outstanding and further, that the state (1) will not limit or alter the duties imposed on the administrator, the State Treasurer and other officers of the state by the proceedings authorizing the issuance of bonds with respect to applicationLCO 14 of pledged17 assessmentsSubstitute orBill other revenues, receipts, funds or sSB271 / File No.

123271 14application sSB271of Filepledged No.assessments or other revenues, receipts, funds or moneys pledged for the payment of debt service requirements;

123 moneys pledged for the payment of debt service requirements;

and (6) will not limit, modify, rescind, repeal or otherwise alter the rights or obligations of the appropriate officers of the state to impose, maintain, charge or collect the assessments and other revenues or receipts constituting the pledged revenues as may be necessary to produce sufficient revenues to fulfill the terms of the proceedings authorizing the issuance of the bonds, including pledged revenue coverage requirements, and provided nothing herein shall preclude the state from exercising its power, through a change in law, to limit, modify, rescind, repeal or otherwise alter the character of the pledged assessments or revenues or to substitute like or different sources of assessments, taxes, fees, charges or otherreceiptsaspledged revenuesifandwhenadequate provisionshall be made by law for the protection of the holders of outstanding bonds pursuant to the proceedings under which the bonds are issued, including changing or altering the method of establishing the assessments as provided in subparagraph (B) of subdivision (2) of subsectionLCO (e)15 of section17 31-225a.Substitute Bill No.

The271 Statesubsection Bond(e) Commissionof issection sSB27131-225a. / File No.

123The 15State sSB271Bond FileCommission No.is authorized to include this covenant of the state, as a contract of the state, in any agreement with the owner of any bonds and in any credit facility or reimbursement agreement with respect to the bonds.

123 authorized to include this covenant of the state, as a contract of the state, in any agreement with the owner of any bonds and in any credit facility or reimbursement agreement with respect to the bonds.

Sec.LCO 16 of 17 Substitute Bill No.

271 Sec.

(Effective sSB271October /1, File2026) No.This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:

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123 October 1, 2026) This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:

8 October 1, 2026 Repealer section StatementLAB ofJoint LegislativeFavorable Commissioners:Subst.

SectionsJUD 5Joint toFavorable 7,LCO inclusive,17 wereof added17 for consistency with the repealer in Section 8.

LAB Joint Favorable Subst.

sSB271 / File No.

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123 The following Fiscal Impact Statement and Bill Analysis are prepared for the benefit of the members of the General Assembly, solely for purposes of information, summarization and explanation and do not represent the intent of the General Assembly or either chamber thereof for any purpose.

In general, fiscal impacts are based upon a variety of informational sources, including the analyst’s professional knowledge.

Whenever applicable, agency data is consulted as part of the analysis, however final products do not necessarily reflect an assessment from any specific department.

OFA Fiscal Note State Impact:

Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 27 $ FY 28 $ Labor Dept.

UITF - Potential See Below See Below Revenue Gain Labor Dept.

GF - Potential Potential Potential Revenue Loss Minimal Minimal Note:

GF=General Fund;

UITF=Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund Municipal Impact:

None Explanation The bill makes various revisions to labor statutes, including some concerning unemployment insurance, which results in the impacts described below.

Sections 1 and 2 make technical and clarifying changes, which do not have a fiscal impact on the state or municipalities.

Section 3 expands the Labor Commissioner's authority to abate reimbursements deemed to be uncollectible.

This results in a potential revenue gain to the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund starting in FY 27 to the extent partial abatement enables recovery of aportionofthe otherwise uncollectible amounts .

Section 4 changes where employees dismissed due to refusing to 1As of the end of January 2026, uncollectable amounts from reimbursing employers totaled $3.2 million, and the Department of Labor (DOL) estimates that between 40% to 60% could be recovered if partial amounts owed by reimbursing employers are abated as part of negotiations.

2Under current law, DOL is required to pursue the full balance due from reimbursing employers.

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123 work more than six days in any calendar week can appeal such dismissal from the State Board of Mediation and Arbitration to the Department of Labor (DOL) .

This does not result in any fiscal impact on the state or municipalities.

This section also allows for certain decisions of the Labor Commissioner to be appealed to the Superior Court, which results in no fiscalimpact tothestate.

The courtsystemdisposesofover250,000cases annually and the number of cases is not anticipated to be great enough to need additional resources.

Finally, this section eliminates the current $200 fine imposed on related violations.

This results in a potential minimal revenue loss to the General Fund to the extent fines would otherwise be collected.

As a reference, last year there were no fines collected.

Section 5 eliminates the advisory board that advises the Labor Commissioner on matters related to the Employment Security Division.

There is no fiscal impact to the state or municipalities as the advisory board serves without compensation.

The Out Years The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would continue into the future subject to the amounts that are recovered from reimbursing employers that otherwise would have been uncollectible.

3According to DOL, there has been one related complaint filed in the last few years, which was withdrawn.

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123 OLR Bill Analysis sSB 271 AN ACT IMPLEMENTING THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE LABOR DEPARTMENT.

SUMMARY This bill makes various unrelated changes to the labor statutes.

It standardizes the definition of “health care provider” used in the unemploymentstatutes.Indoingso,itexpandstherangeofoccupations that may provide documentation or diagnoses to qualify certain claimants for unemployment benefits (e.g., when they can only work part-time due to a physical or mental impairment).

The bill also allows the labor commissioner, or her duly authorized agent, to negotiate and compromise with reimbursing employers who owe payments to the unemployment system if there is doubt about the employer’s liability for, or the collectability of, the amount in question.

Existing law already allows the commissioner to do this for employers who contribute to the state unemployment fund through unemployment taxes.

Generally, reimbursing employers are those, like the state and municipalities, who directly reimburse the unemployment fund for benefits paid to former employees, rather than paying unemployment taxes (§ 3).

Existing law generally prohibits employers from firing employees in commercial occupations or industrial process work for refusing to work more than six days in a calendar week.

The bill transfers responsibility for receiving and deciding employee complaints over these violations from the State Board of Mediation and Arbitration to the labor commissioner or her designee.

It also (1) removes a mandatory fine of up to $200 and (2) allows parties aggrieved by a labor commissioner’s decision to appeal to Superior Court under the Uniform Administrative sSB271 / File No.

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123 Procedure Act (§ 4).

Lastly, the bill eliminates the Employment Security Advisory Board and makes conforming changes (§§ 5-8).

Under current law, the board advises the labor commissioner about the policy and operations of the Employment Security Division, which administers the unemployment benefit system.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

October 1, 2026, except that certain changes conforming to the repeal of the Employment Security Advisory Board (§§ 5-7) take effect July 1, 2026.

§§ 1 & 2 — “HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS” State unemployment law generally allows claimants for unemployment benefits to collect benefits if they voluntarily left employment to care for their spouse, child, or parent with an illness or disability diagnosed by a “health provider.” Under current law, these providers include:

1.

allopathic or osteopathic physicians;

2.

podiatrists, dentists, psychologists, optometrists, or chiropractors;

3.

advanced practice registered nurses, nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, or clinical social workers;

4.

Christian Science practitioners listed with the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston, Massachusetts;

5.

any medical practitioner from whom an employer or a group health plan’s benefits manager will accept certification to substantiate a claim for benefits;

6.

licensed medical practitioners in a profession listed above who practice in a different country;

and 7.

otherhealthcareprovidersapprovedbythelaborcommissioner.

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123 The bill adds physician assistants (PAs) to this list of providers.

The law also allows unemployment claimants to limit their availability for work to part-time employment if they can provide documentation that they have a chronic, long-term, or permanent physical or mental impairment that prevents them from working full- time.

Current law requires that this documentation be from a licensed physician, physician assistant, or advanced practice registered nurse.

The bill instead requires it to be from the broader range of “health care providers” described above.

COMMITTEE ACTION Labor and Public Employees Committee Joint Favorable Substitute Yea 13 Nay 0 (03/05/2026) sSB271 / File No.

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