03/12/2024
March 12, 2024 Labor and Public Employees Committee, SB 410
Public Hearing Testimony
Danté Bartolomeo
Commissioner
Department of Labor
Labor and Public Employees Committee
March 12, 2024
Good morning Senator Kushner, Representative Sanchez, Senator Sampson, Representative Weir and members of the Labor and Public Employees Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to provide you with written testimony regarding SB 410: AN ACT CONCERNING PAID INTERNSHIPS FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS. My name is Danté Bartolomeo and I am the Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Labor.
The Connecticut Department of Labor (CTDOL) appreciates the intent of SB 410, however we respectfully express several concerns with this proposal as currently written. CTDOL’s primary concern is that schools and educators are already generally permitted to offer students of an appropriate age Work Based Learning (WBL) opportunities.
CTDOL has been proud to partner with the State Department of Education (SDE) on the Cooperative Work Education/Diversified Occupations (CWE/DO) programs offered throughout the state. CTDOL is particularly proud of the involvement of our Office of Apprenticeship Training (OAT) and our Wage and Workplace Standards Division (WWSD) in helping to facilitate, review, and when appropriate, approve paid WBL experiences for students between the ages of 16 and 17 to work and learn as registered pre-apprentices. At times these students could be in potentially hazardous occupations, in addition to non-hazardous WBL programs for students between the ages of 14-17. Both programs are paid, credit-bearing, and structured pursuant to existing statutes.
In summary, CTDOL sees SB 410 as duplicative, and if it were to pass it would place an additional unfunded burden on both the OAT and WWSD units. This is especially concerning as WWSD is currently operating under a backlog of investigation cases, yet to be assigned, and does not have the resources to divert to satisfy this potential mandate. Again, this program that is already largely available to students of an appropriate age through existing statutes and regulations.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
Connecticut Department of Labor • www.ct.gov/dol
An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer