A bill that would allow workers to accumulate one hour of paid sick time for every 40 hours worked died Wednesday night.
The Paid Sick Days bill passed the senate, but was stalled for the second year in a row on the House calendar. Sen. Edith Prague, D-Columbia, who championed the bill, said its defeat was making her sick.
“It’s dead,” she said as the clock approached midnight. “Next year.”
There had been talk earlier in the day that if lawmakers intended to call themselves back into special session to extend the real estate conveyance tax then they could include Paid Sick Days in the call to special session. However, Democratic leadership in the Senate didn’t want to make it part of the debate, since it had already passed the bill twice.
“This is a disappointment for the thousands of Connecticut residents who called, emailed, and wrote to their legislators in support of Paid Sick Days,” Jon Green, executive director of the Working Families Party said.
“Of course, the real shame here is that a majority of legislators in both the Senate and the House—and the vast majority of Connecticut voters—support this policy and would like to see it become law,” Green said. “This legislation offers something that really matters in the lives of hundreds of thousands of Connecticut residents, and Working Families will continue to fight for this issue on their behalf.”