General Assembly Proposed Bill No. 5150
January Session, 2021 LCO No. 84
Referred to Committee on COMMERCE
Introduced by:
REP. NUCCIO, 53rd Dist.
AN ACT ESTABLISHING A STATE HIRING PROGRAM FOR RECENT
COLLEGE GRADUATES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
1 That title 32 of the general statutes be amended to require the
2 Department of Economic and Community Development, in
3 consultation with the Department of Administrative Services, to
4 establish a program for the hiring of recent college graduates. Any
5 employee who chooses to participate in such program shall: (1) Have
6 graduated from or completed an accredited post-secondary program or
7 curriculum within the one-year period immediately preceding hiring;
8 (2) be a member of such program for the first five years of state service;
9 (3) be ineligible to join any collective bargaining unit during service in
10 such program and exempt from the terms of any applicable collective
11 bargaining agreement covering similarly situated state employees; (4)
12 be subject to a compensation formula that withholds up to ten per cent
13 of the employee's regular annual salary, not to exceed ten thousand
14 dollars annually, to be paid directly to the employee's student loan
15 servicer, and that guarantees the employee a lump-sum bonus equaling
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16 three per cent of the employee's regular annual salary upon every year
17 of completed service; (5) not be permitted to deduct from income on
18 state income tax returns the portion of student loan interest paid by the
19 state on behalf of such employee; (6) be eligible for participation in the
20 state employees' 403(b) or 457 defined contribution retirement plans, but
21 ineligible for participation in Tier IV, or any subsequent tier, of the state
22 employees retirement system; (7) be given preference for hiring into a
23 permanent position upon completion of five years of service, or
24 transition into a permanent position upon mutual agreement of the
25 employee and the state, and be eligible for participation in a collective
26 bargaining unit upon such hiring or transition.
Statement of Purpose:
To incentivize recent graduates to work and live in Connecticut,
replenish our aging state workforce and assist with the burden of
student debt.
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