Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee
JOINT FAVORABLE REPORT
Bill No.: HB-6231
AN ACT CONCERNING HEALTH INSURANCE BENEFITS FOR PART-TIME
FACULTY EMPLOYED BY THE CONNECTICUT STATE UNIVERSITY
Title: SYSTEM.
Vote Date: 3/22/2021
Vote Action: Joint Favorable Substitute
PH Date: 2/18/2021
File No.:
Disclaimer: The following JOINT FAVORABLE Report is prepared for the benefit of the
members of the General Assembly, solely for purposes of information, summarization and
explanation and does not represent the intent of the General Assembly or either chamber
thereof for any purpose.
SPONSORS OF BILL:
REP. DEMICCO, 21st Dist.
REASONS FOR BILL:
Part-time faculty at Connecticut institutions of higher education are not guaranteed health
insurance benefits. This bill requires the comptroller to include any part-time professional
Connecticut State University System (CSUS) employee in the states group health insurance
plan, if the employee (1) elects to participate and (2) has taught at least 90 credit hours total
in the past five academic years at any university within the CSUS (18 credit hours per
academic year, over any combination of semesters, for five years). The bill also requires the
state to pay the portion of the premium charged for the employees coverage on the same
terms/conditions offered to those part-time CSUS employees who teach nine or more credit
hours total each semester.
SUBSTITUTE LANGUAGE:
Allows faculty members to meet the 90 credit hour eligibility threshold by teaching at
multiple universities in the system during the five-year period
Specifies that the state must pay the premium charged for the employees coverage
on the same terms/conditions offered to those part-timers who teach nine or more
credit hours each semester
RESPONSE FROM ADMINISTRATION/AGENCY:
Sean Bradbury, Senior Director of Government Relations and External Affairs
Connecticut State Colleges & Universities (CSCU):
Submitted written testimony in opposition. Mr. Bradbury says CSCU shares the goal of this
legislation, particularly in light of the Pandemic, but has a number of concerns. They say this
bill will create a "massive unfunded liability which would be borne by our students and their
families." Another challenge results from fluctuating part-time faculty employment, which
leads to questions of fluctuating participation and contribution regarding health plans. Mr.
Bradbury adds that health benefits are subjective to collective bargaining, and CSCU
believes "this subject is best left to the negotiating table."
NATURE AND SOURCES OF SUPPORT:
Maureen Chalmers, President, Congress of Connecticut Community Colleges (4Cs):
Submitted written testimony in support with substitute language. Ms. Chalmers says their
members' contracts limit them to a maximum of 8 credits per semester, therefore the earliest
the 90-credit threshold could be reached is in the 6th year of employment and would likely
take longer. " By the time a member has worked six or more years for an employer, the
employer should be willing to make some commitment to the employee." She says many of
their members are those trying to make a full-time living out of teaching part-time at more
than one college. It is they who need healthcare from the state; "dedicated instructors who
are driving from college to college, piecing together a living not by choice, but by
circumstance."
Kevin J. Kean, Ph.D., Part-time Lecturer, Department of Psychological Science, CSCU
(1) (2):
Submitted written testimony in support with substitute language. Dr. Kean says while this bill
is focused on the CSCU system, "part-time faculty at UCONN and the community colleges
are also impacted by this issue." He says that not all public college and university faculty are
well compensated. He explains that 56% are part-time and contingently employed, and they
are excluded from important benefits and paid "considerably less" than their full-time peers
for the work they do. Regarding health insurance specifically, he says the attached memo
clearly lays out policies which seem written "to keep the majority of part-time faculty from
being able to access these benefits." Explains that benefits are only available to those
teaching 9 or more credits, but part-time faculty are allowed no more than 8 in any of the
three collegiate systems, forcing them to work at least 2 "simply [to] access a benefit that
other professional employees take for granted." The state adds further impediments, he says,
by requiring eligible members to pay the full cost up front and reimbursing them later, and
that "the state apparently does not do this to any other group of employees." Dr. Kean details
three other unfair structures with the system losing benefits because a full-time employee
takes a class from a part-time employee; the prohibitive costs of COBRA; and coverage
during retirement.
Dr. Kean discusses three recommended changes:
1. Remove the 9 credit per semester requirement. Make it so an adjunct teaching 2
courses (6 credits) can receive at least a partial health insurance subsidy. This also
means an adjunct teaching at just one school would also be eligible.
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 2. Remove the prerequisite for continuous employment at a certain number of credits. An
adjunct can have one or all of their classes taken away for many reasons that are not
their fault. Let the requirement be a total number of credits taught only, regardless of
how long it took to get there or whether.
3. Lower the number of total credits for eligibility in retirement from 180 total. A 120-
credit total would still require a member teaching 6 credits per semester 10 years to
meet the requirement. Part-time faculty get few enough benefits as it is, and their pay
is considerably lower than that of their full-time colleagues. Shouldnt their years of
service afford them some benefits in retirement?
Christopher L. Montes, MA, FDC, Adjunct Faculty - Part Time Lecturer, Department of
Psychological Science, CSCU:
Submitted written testimony in support with substitute language. Mr. Montes says that
"despite the 26 years of part time teaching, an equivalent to 13 years of full time teaching, I
am not eligible for state sponsored health insurance when I retire." He calls the qualifications
for insurance "arbitrary" and "nearly impossible" to reach without taking on excessive
burdens. He asks you to consider cumulative hours worked when calculating the threshold to
receive health insurance in retirement.
Amy Prescher, Adjunct Professor, Multiple Campuses:
Submitted written testimony in support. Ms. Prescher says adjuncts are required to pay
health premiums in full in advance of the semester the promise of reimbursement at its
conclusion. "If, for any reason, I were to become ill or have an accident, and could not finish
the semester," she says, " I would lose coverage and would not receive a reimbursement for
the premiums I paid in full." She explains the premium for her family of three is nearly half her
wages and is always due before her first check, so she is forced to borrow from savings to
cover it. She says this is especially hard after the summer when work is unavailable and she
has accumulated debt. Compounding the problem, she says reimbursement is unreliable.
She lists her yearly struggles with insurance (found below), and says "I am heartened that the
Higher Education Committee is taking up the issue of health insurance for parttime faculty.
On the surface, it looks like we are insured. But, the struggles I face to access that insurance
are real and unrelenting, and my situation is not an anomaly."
"Struggles I encounter every year:
1) Paying the entire premium out of pocket at a cost of $2471.45, about half of my total
monthly earnings.
2) Having to pay the premium before I receive my first paycheck.
3) According to the terms of part-time employment, I will lose my reimbursement if I have
any late premium payments.
4) Worry that I could become ill during the semester and lose my coverage and eligibility
for reimbursement.
5) In the month of January I have to pay the full premium of $2471.45 with no
reimbursement.
6) My resources are spread thin until I receive the reimbursement well into the spring
semester. I dont know when the reimbursement will arrive. (This semester it did come
promptly.)
7) The rising cost of premiums affects my Cobra premium when my contract expires and
the total annual cost of health insurance.
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 8) Loss of income in the summer and exorbitant Cobra premiums.
9) Lack of pension or retirement benefits despite years of a full-time teaching load in
higher education."
Louise Williams, PhD, Professor of History, CSCU:
Submitted written testimony in support. Dr. Williams says she is now a full-time professor with
tenure, but she used to be a "freeway flyer" with three jobs one at Lehman College, one at
NYU, and one as a legal assistant at a corporate law firm making only $30,000 per year.
She soon became ill, lost 20 pounds without trying, and had no health insurance. She
discovered City University of New York offered insurance for qualifying adjuncts and signed
up immediately. Dr. Williams says, "Without it I would be dead It literally saved my life."
She says she realizes the bill is intended for retirees, but begs you find a way to extend
insurance to all part-time faculty. Dr. Williams explains that were she under the same rules as
Connecticut adjuncts are now, she would not have qualified for insurance, and "If CUNY was
able to provide their adjunct free and easy to get health insurance 25 years ago, surely
Connecticut can do the same today."
NATURE AND SOURCES OF OPPOSITION:
None expressed.
Reported by: Jeremy Salyer Date: 04/01/2021
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Statutes affected:
Committee Bill: 5-259c
HED Joint Favorable Substitute: 5-259c
File No. 300: 5-259c
APP Joint Favorable: 5-259c