Josh Elliott

There are plenty of reasons to be thrilled with what we accomplished during the legislative session. We successfully cut taxes to many residents, we beefed up our gun reforms including an expansion of an existing assault weapons ban, and our state will offer an in-person early voting option start in 2024.

Despite these successes, we were not able to update and expand upon our paid sick days law. I was quoted in a recent article talking about our failed attempt and wanted to provide some more context.

“It’s really frustrating to me the more and more I see how labor and the left is very often unwilling to take wins, to get to that next thing to fight for. And you just get logjams because it can only be perfect,” said Rep. Josh Elliott, D-Hamden, a liberal who worked on passage.

The crux of the proposal on paid sick leave this year was whether we were going to cover all businesses or not. This is determined on the number of employees that work somewhere. Right now, the law covers businesses of 50 of more employees.

The negotiated agreement, after more moderate members of the Caucus wanted us to go to 30 (which I felt was not a deal worth accepting), was five years of phasing in lower thresholds.

Year 1: 25 employees
Year 2: 20 employees
Year 3: 15 employees
Year 4: 11 employees
Year 5: Mandatory vote on whether we get to 1 employee.

The idea was confusing, but it was a great deal to get us to all businesses so that we could focus our attention on other things - because opportunity costs are real, and we don't have infinite time to work on issues.

On the other hand, I do the work that the advocates want me to do. I will make myself known both internally and externally, but if the advocates want something - that's what I will help with. The work doesn't get done without the advocates and paid sick days went from zero to 60 this year directly as a result of the advocates doing exceptional work.

Let's juxtapose this bill with the proposal to make telecommunications free for incarcerated people. That was a three-year process, and we stuck to a strategy of being pure. There were plenty of times we could have taken deals. The primary difference was that this idea was already politically popular, and we needed to figure out how to get folks to agree to the cost ($12MM/year).

In this case, paid sick days had many detractors who felt that covering all businesses would hurt small business owners, and we were overcoming a much different barrier.

It's now relevant to mention that I believe we have the votes to pass a bill that covers all businesses. It is also razor thin margin. The problem with having razor thin numbers is that my count needs to be perfect. There's always a discrepancy between internal counts from advocates and colleagues versus counts by leadership. People will say they will support a bill if it's on the board but will tell leadership they don't want the bill on the board.

This happens all the time. It doesn't mean they or leadership is lying, and it’s just an aspect of the work. It also means that counting votes takes this into account, and you have to always be conservative with your estimation.

With a vote that is razor thin, it becomes so much less likely that the bill goes up on the board. Leadership, rightfully, doesn't want to put up a six-hour debate and have 5+ other bills die, just to make a statement. To go up, the bill must pass because time is the most important currency in the Capitol (followed closely behind "your word.")

Oddly, I no longer think of incrementalism as the dirty word I used to. It doesn't feel like a choice. It feels like the rule. Even with the telecommunication bill, the progress itself was incremental. It took us three years to convince people to get there. With paid sick we may get there next year. We may also lose seats and have to take a deal in the next legislature - or perhaps we wait indefinitely.

Despite some frustration, my colleagues and I are happy to continue pushing for the best version of the bill. We will come back to this next year with wind at our sails and a much better idea of what we are up against as the session begins. We were absolutely blindsided by the hostile reaction to covering all businesses, and we will be able to work through those concerns.

Hopeful for next year and curious to hear your thoughts.