Public Hearing Testimony of
Danté Bartolomeo
Commissioner
Department of Labor
General Law Committee
February 26, 2025
Good morning, Senator Maroney, Representative Lemar, Senator Cicarella, Representative Rutigliano, and members of the General Law Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to provide you with written testimony regarding SB 2: AN ACT CONCERNING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. My name is Danté Bartolomeo, and I am the Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Labor.
The Connecticut Department of Labor (CTDOL) understands that the intent of Section 12 of SB 2 is to establish the “Connecticut AI Academy”. CTDOL appreciates that Section 12 would require the Board of Regents to consult with our agency in establishing the academy and agrees that employers should also be a part of the process.
We would, however, like to make the committee aware of our concern with subdivision (b)(6) of SB 2 which would require the academy to “Develop courses concerning artificial intelligence that the Labor Department and Workforce Investment Boards may incorporate into workforce training programs.”. We would respectfully request that the committee consider removing CTDOL from this subdivision, as the Department does not provide training directly to participants. All state and federal training dollars directed to CTDOL are administered and contracted to the Workforce Development Boards for their employees and subcontractors to provide training, or they are contracted to statutorily prescribed entities for their direct programming and workforce training.
We would also respectfully request that the committee amend the term “Workforce Investment Boards” in lines 1044 and 1048 and replace it with the current designation per CGS 31-3k, “Workforce Development Boards”. CTDOL understands that Section 13 of SB 2 would require CTDOL to provide information on the Connecticut AI Academy to individuals filing for Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits. While CTDOL supports providing information to UI claimants, this would result in a fiscal impact to the agency that is not currently accounted for in the Governor’s proposed budget. There are both staff and vendor costs to design, develop and produce such a change in ReEmployCT, our state’s UI claims portal. Lastly on Section 13, CTDOL would appreciate continued dialogue with the General Law Committee regarding potential conflicts with the effective date of July 1, 2025 if this bill passes as written.
Thank you for the opportunity to provide the Committee with this written testimony. My staff and I are reachable to further discuss SB 2 by directing any questions you may have to Billy Taylor, Legislative and Administrative Advisor at william.b.taylor@ct.gov or 203-947-4136.
