Commerce Committee votes to send bill raising skilled-trades hiring ratios to public hearing

The Commerce Committee voted to reserve HB 6786, an act concerning higher hiring ratios for skilled trades, for a subject-matter public hearing after legislators pressed for more data and stakeholder participation.

Committee Chair Representative Meskers said the intent of the item was to gather information: "the purpose of, item 9, as well as the other 8 proceeding is to have the conversation." Representative Bridal asked for a roll-call vote and said she feared acting before needed data were available: "I have concerns about, number 9, HB 6786, and would ask for a roll call vote on that." Senator Miller urged that trade unions be included in any hearings, saying she had been "told that this bill could negatively impact them." Representative Collins Maine asked about an existing Department of Labor report, "do we know when that report is going to be complete and available?" Representative Vail questioned committee jurisdiction: "It seems like this would be a general law issue, a labor issue."

Members debated whether the committee should wait for a DOL apprenticeship-quality report required by the General Assembly in 2023 before pursuing changes to ratios. Committee leaders and several members emphasized that the goal of reserving the bill for a hearing was to assemble data and hear from stakeholders, not to adopt policy immediately.

The committee also acted on other items on the agenda. By voice vote it approved a resolution to Congress urging amendment of the Jones Act to improve trade between Connecticut and Puerto Rico; the committee moved three bills to other committees (SB 1180 to Housing, HB 6739 to Finance, and HB 6787 to Finance); and it approved reserving a set of eight proposals (items 1–8 on the draft list) for subject‑matter public hearings. The proposals reserved for hearing include establishing a Connecticut Diner Trail, a central internet resource for small businesses, a Connecticut community makerspace initiative, a Connecticut Taiwan Trade Commission, operation and maintenance funding for the Freedom Schooner Amistad, redevelopment of vacant commercial property in distressed municipalities, a feasibility study on a federally subsidized industrial hemp program, and incentives for low‑embodied‑carbon concrete.

Committee staff said the roll-call vote on HB 6786 remained open for member changes until 2 p.m.; several members later changed votes by phone during the open-vote period, and the committee chair announced that the motion to reserve HB 6786 for a public hearing carried. Committee staff announced a public hearing date for moved items on Nov. 11 at 11:15 a.m. and an informational hearing with CCAT and the restaurant association on Tuesday the 4th at 1 p.m.

What remains unsettled is the timing of the DOL report on apprenticeship program quality referenced by members; the committee recorded that the report’s completion date was not specified in the discussion. The committee said hearings will solicit testimony from trade unions, employers and other stakeholders before any policy changes are pursued.