Let me be clear, I am no fan of Connecticut's Governor Dannel P. Malloy -- after he killed the SustiNet public option -- at the request of Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini -- I pretty much wanted to pull every piece of my hair out. Even so, what just passed both legislative bodies and will be heading to his desk soon is a real Biden BFD -- at least for the United States...the rest of the civilized world thought people should be able to stay home when sick for decades. Yes, I'm talking:
Required paid sick leave for a host of service employees in CT!
According to NBC Connecticut, it look 11 hours of debate in the House for the bill to pass (it's already passed the Senate):
In Hartford, it took 11 hours of debate, beginning Friday afternoon and lasting through Saturday morning, but the bill passed on a 76-65 vote.
The Democratic controlled House of Representatives spent the overnight hours approving the legislation that would force businesses in the service industry to allow their workers to build up sick time: one hour for every 40 hours worked.
The bill affects businesses with 50 or more workers, and would provide sick time for up to 250,000 workers in the state. Service workers in 68 occupations would be eligible including food service managers, home health aides, janitors, cashiers, cooks, bartenders, crossing guards, dental hygienists, bellhops, bakers, computer operators, bus drivers and waitresses.
Common sense, huh? It's a public health disaster for everyone -- even the rich GOPers who are running the Wal-Marts -- when the people who cook your food, clean your bathroom and ring up your pills at the CVS have to come to work deathly ill. It's also, of course, cruel to not let a parent take time off from work to care for a sick child -- which this bill will allow many low-wage workers to now do.
Still, we're still hearing from the GOPers that this is going to be a "job killer":
Republican lawmakers and some Democrats said they fear the new mandate will become a "job-killer" in a state where the unemployment rate was 9.1 percent as of April, around the national average.
House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk, said business owners are looking to state lawmakers for relief from the burdens of the slow economy. They don't want new burdens, he said.
"I guess we can be the first in the nation to pass this legislation, or we can look inward and say, `We've got to take care of our own. We've got to get back on our feet,"' Cafero said.
Unfortunately, that's just not true -- and heroic lengths were taken to assuage the concerns of business:
House Majority Leader Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, said proponents of paid sick leave took pains to address the concerns of business and scaled back the bill. For example, the bill exempts manufacturers and tax-exempt organizations. Sharkey said the issue has become too polarizing in Connecticut and urged both sides to "stop the hyperbole" and the exaggeration.
This bill won't hurt fragile businesses in CT -- it will just mean wildly-profitable businesses -- like Wal-Mart and IHOP -- have to take care of their employees.
Look forward to Fox News attacking this bill six ways to Sunday on the day of the upcoming bill signing -- yup, Gov. Malloy will be signing this bill!
The Senate cleared the bill previously to last night's late night session, so now it moves to the desk of Governor Dannel Malloy who said he will sign it into law.
"As I've said before, this is good public policy and, specifically, good public health," Malloy said in a statement issued shortly after the vote was taken. "Why would you want to eat food from a sick restaurant cook? Or have your children taken care of by a sick day care worker?"
So, here you have it: America continues to become more civilized in some states and less civilized in others. We move a little closer to having things that the rest of the world has felt all people deserve for decades: sick days, health insurance...vacation? Nahhh, vacations are for socialists!
Yes, this really matters.