Democratic leaders in the General Assembly Thursday rebuffed Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's request for legislation to give him expanded authority to privatize state services now being performed by state workers who may be laid off.
The legislative leaders also rejected Malloy's proposal to decrease the number of accrued sick days that state employees receive from the present 15 down to 10.
A spokesman for Senate President Pro Tempore Donald Williams said Thursday afternoon that neither of two bills to be acted on in the special session will include the Malloy privatization or sick days proposals. The language of the bills was determined in discussions between Williams, House Speaker Christopher Donovan, and other Democratic leaders and staff.
The privatization proposal had been denounced on Wednesday by the state labor unions' bargaining coalition almost as soon as Malloy unveiled it. Malloy wanted to suspend for two years a section of state law that imposes restrictions and requires a formal process before any state service can be contracted out to a private business.
Williams' spokesman, Derek Slap, said the law in question was adopted in 2007 after scandals and major failures involving state contractors -- including the corruption scandal surrounding former Gov. John G. Rowland, who resigned in mid-2004 and later went to federal prison for 10 months.
Slap said leaders of the Senate and House were concerned about dismantling for two years a law put in place to protect against "either corruption or either state money not being used properly."
Malloy proposed the changes in privatization rules and sick days "late in the game" -- only on Wednesday, that is -- and there was not enough time to discuss them, Slap said the Democratic leaders believed.
He said Malloy's staff was informed of the leaders' decisions as to what will be cut out of Malloy's proposed legislation, and said the governor's office is "supportive" of what that the leaders have come up with.
Malloy's senior adviser, Roy Occhiogrosso, confirmed that later Thursday. "He supports the bill," he said. As to the short-lived privatization proposal, Occhiogrosso said: "I think he thinks it should be part of a conversation going forward," but not immediately.