LAB Committee Hearing Transcript for 03/11/2021
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1 March 11, 2021 ma/km LABOR AND PUBLIC EMPLOYEES 10:00 A.M. COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS: Senator Julie Kushner Representative Robyn Porter SENATORS: Cabrera, Kushner, Lesser, Sampson REPRESENTATIVES: Anderson, Arora, Hall, Hughes, Porter, Rutigliano, Vargas, Winkler SENATOR KUSHNER (24TH): Good morning, I am Senator Julie Kushner, as you can see now on the screen, and I am Co-Chair of the Labor and Public Employees Committee. I want to start off this morning by thanking the Committee Members who got here on time and were waiting for the Co-Chairs. We did have a press conference this morning, and we are now-- it ran a little over. I must remind you that if we were in the building, the same thing happened all the time, sometimes in the hearing room, and we had to clear everybody out so that we can begin the hearing. But having said that, we have a lot of people signed up to testify on the Bills that are before us this morning, we're looking forward to hearing from all of them. I would just like to do a little housekeeping and remind Committee Members that because we have such a long list of 100 plus people, I would ask that Committee Members remember that we're gonna continue the rule of three minutes for Committee Members to ask their questions, and we want to remind people to make sure the questions are germane to the issues that were addressed by the speaker. We have seen in some other Committees that have long lists that they actually don't allow any questions and appropriations and that's really to underscore how important it is to hear from the public and, to be able to get through all the testimony. So, with that, I will just entertain brief remarks from my Co-Chairs and Ranking Members. Representative Porter, do you have any remarks you'd like to make? 2 March 11, 2021 ma/km LABOR AND PUBLIC EMPLOYEES 10:00 A.M. COMMITTEE REP. PORTER (94TH): Just, good morning, which I've already said, but I'll say again, good morning. I'm looking forward to a long day it seems, but I'm looking forward to hearing from the public and what their concerns and issues, and thoughts are regarding the Bills that we have before us. And I'm not sure, I'm gonna remind you, I don't know if we convened, yeah. So, I don't remember hearing you say that, I just wanted to remind you of that. And I'm done, I'm ready. SENATOR KUSHNER (24TH): I'm not sure I said that we're convened, if not I'll repeat it. I didn't mention this is the Labor and Public Employees Committee, but I will say I'm convening that meeting, the public hearing of the Labor and Public Employees Committee. Thank you for that reminder. And I will go now to Representative (SIC) Sampson. SENATOR SAMPSON (16TH): Thank you, Madam Chairman. It's, Senator Sampson these days, but I appreciate-- SENATOR KUSHNER (24TH): What did I say? Did I say Representative? SENATOR SAMPSON (16TH): It's fine. I'm not sensitive to it, I just thought the viewers might need to be informed. I just wanted to start by welcoming everyone to the public hearing today, our fellow Members, the members of the public that are going to participate, and those watching us today, thank you, I think you are participating in this process is extremely important to helping us do our jobs and make the best public policy that we can. I wanna just repeat the same comments I've made at each public hearing and it is just a polite objection, not to the Chairs themselves, but to this process of the online zoom meeting. It has some benefits, for sure, I think we are allowing some people who might not otherwise have the chance to participate, actually, come forward to testify and speak with us. 3 March 11, 2021 ma/km LABOR AND PUBLIC EMPLOYEES 10:00 A.M. COMMITTEE But I do have some concerns that there's a portion of our population in the state that does not have the technology or access to the internet, or whatever the case may be, to participate in the online hearing process. And I just wanted that on the record. I also will politely just say to the Madam Chairman, that I disagree with the limiting of the Members asking questions, I understand the time concerns. I think that the Members recognize that fully, no one wants to drag the hearing out into a multi-day affair, but it is important because this is the only chance, we really get sometimes to flesh out what the intricate details and concerns of the public is. And we will do our best, for certain, to follow your guidelines, but I do wanna repeat that I hope you reconsider that going forward. 'Cause while we might wanna ask some person 10 minutes' worth of something, the next person might not get any questions, just based on the relevance of what we need to know. And I appreciate you, at least, giving me the opportunity to voice my concerns, and I wish everyone a great day today. Thank you. SENATOR KUSHNER (24TH): Thank you, Senator Sampson. And we have tried to be, somewhat, flexible in our approach, although I will say that early on in this process, we did see the hearing get away from us, where every speaker was being asked the same questions and multiple times, and it did make it difficult to see how we were possibly gonna get through the whole speaker list. So, I know there have been a few times when we've been at these three minutes and we've allowed it a little bit of extra time to get the final question out, but our goal is to make sure that everyone that signed up has an opportunity to speak. Thank you for your comments today, it's always good to see you, and I will now call on Representative Aurora. REP. ARORA (151ST): Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to everyone joining us today, members of 4 March 11, 2021 ma/km LABOR AND PUBLIC EMPLOYEES 10:00 A.M. COMMITTEE the public, my colleagues, and other experts here today. I really look forward to hearing on these Bills from the public. As Senator Sampson mentioned, we do wanna have a good discussion, because some of the very important points do come out when, really, in a dialogue and many participants from the public also do appreciate that, when beyond the three minutes, they are allowed to kind of specifically go into certain details, which may not be possible in their testimony as it is. But nevertheless, we will, as Senator Sampson pointed out, that we will, certainly-- we all have the same interest of keeping this in a timely-- doing this in a timely manner and having everyone participate in it. And I look forward to today, there is some very-- things which we'd really need to discuss, so I look forward to this hearing. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. SENATOR KUSHNER (24TH): Thank you. And you remind me there's another rule of the public hearings and Committee meetings, for that matter, that I do wanna remind folks of as well. Sometimes when you get started asking questions, you get on a roll and you forget some of the rules that we have long established in the legislature, which is questions need to be asked through the Chair. So just for members of the public, what that means is, before a Committee Member ask a question they say, "Through you, Madam Chair," and they get permission to continue. And that really does help keep an orderly process. So, we're gonna try and do these things right today. I don't see our Co-Chairs today, and that reminds me, our Vice Chairs of the Committee, Representative Emmanuel Sanchez, and State Senator, Jorge Cabrera, it does remind me to let the public know that there are multiple hearings and Committee meetings going on at all times, which would happen if we were in session in the LLB as well, people run from room to room. Here they're running from zoom meeting to zoom meeting and hearing, but I'm sure they will be joining us throughout the day, so I just wanted-- And that's true for all Committee 5 March 11, 2021 ma/km LABOR AND PUBLIC EMPLOYEES 10:00 A.M. COMMITTEE Members who you might see pop in and then have to leave for another meeting. But I think we're fortunate all the testimony is provided to us, and we're able to read or watch the recording of the hearing if there's something we missed. So, I wanna start off today by calling our first speaker. Our first speaker is Representative Michael Quinn, is State Representative Quinn. Yes, I him see right in front of me here, good morning. REP. MICHAEL QUINN (82ND): Good morning. And good morning to the Co-Chairs, Representative Porter, and Senator Kushner and the Ranking Members, Representative Arora and Senator Sampson. I'm Representative Michael Quinn from the 82nd District, which is Meriden, Middlefield and Rockfall, and I'm here this morning to testify in favor of House Bill 6478, an act concerning workers' compensation. In particular, I'm here to testify on Section 1, which was a Bill that I proposed under Bill number 6277.