With winter’s fierce grip on us continuing, there’s nothing like a warm dish to make the outside chill melt away.  Certainly, there will be a few of us having some chili this weekend to watch football. 

So, a few weeks into the new legislative session, it’s time to see what’s cooking at the Connecticut General Assembly.

A look at the Labor & Public Employee’s Record Book, shows a lot of familiar proposed bills make reappearances.  Proposed Prohibitions of Captive Audience Meetings (PSB-129)   Proposed Changes to the Prevailing Wage Laws (PHB-5088-5095). Proposed Bans on the Use of Credit Reports in Making Employment Decisions (PHB-5284).  Paid Sick Leave. (PHB-5466) These were all referred to the Labor committee earlier today.

A bill addressing bullying is the state workplace also makes a repeat appearance in another bill (PHB-5494), sponsored by Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield, who has been moving up the leadership ranks. 

But there are also a few bills that have been proposed that are also worth a mention.  One proposed bill (PHB-5461) wants to provide more protection to mothers who breastfeed in the workplace, but it fails to describe how the current state law (which already provides such protection) is ineffective.  Another proposal (PHB-5112) would extend the hours that minors can work in retail establishments to 11 p.m.

However, so far there are only 2 substantive bills that have been raised in the house — relating to Captive Audience meetings and and providing family and medical leave to municipal employees.  But even those have not made much progress in recent years.

The projected budget deficit is looming large over this session, so it’ll be worth watching to see how these bills get considered in the upcoming weeks and months.  Go draw a cup of hot chocolate, put some logs in the fireplace, and stay tuned