The Democratic co-chairwoman of the legislature's labor and public employees committee says that she was "appalled" by disclosures in The Courant Aug. 14 concerning tens of thousands of dollars a year in overtime collected by state prison nurses, and that she agrees with the Senate Republican leader that there should be a legislative hearing on the issue.
Sen. Edith Prague, D-Columbia, wrote a letter Wednesday to Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, in response to his call for a joint hearing by Prague's labor panel and the legislature's appropriations committee on the issue. She wrote that she agreed there should be a hearing.
Democrats control both chambers of the General Assembly and nearly all committees, so the decision on whether to conduct the hearing is up to committee leaders such as Prague, as well as top legislative leaders such as Senate President Pro Tempore Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn and House Speaker Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden.
Those top leaders have not committed themselves so far. But Prague's letter keeps the possibility of an investigative/informational hearing open.
Prague's letter is part of Sunday's Government Watch column in The Courant, which can be read by clicking here. The column examines the fact that the newly approved concessions deal with state unions -- although it saves money -- actually extends for five years, through 2022, the current method of calculating state employees pensions by including overtime pay with regular salary. Workers often work heavy overtime in those three yeas to inflate the lifetime pensions that they will receive for decades, in many cases, after they retire.
McKinney is criticizing the fact that Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Democratic legislative leaders do not plan to push forward with Senate-passed legislation that would have reformed that system.
