Rep. Fishbein Votes to Increase Transparency

State Representative Craig Fishbein (R-90) yesterday joined his colleagues and supported a Republican amendment to the House rules to force the general assembly to cast votes on all state employee labor contracts or amendments subject to collective bargaining.

The amendment failed along party lines, 76-72.

“Instead of allowing the legislature to cast votes on behalf of their constituents Democrats voted to continue the practice of approving state employee contracts that cost the state millions of dollars annually through inaction, and taxpayers don’t get a say,” Rep. Fishbein said.

Currently, state employee contracts go into effect if neither the House nor Senate reject them within a 30-day window after being filed with the legislative clerks’ offices. Republicans have long argued that allowing such important contracts to go into place by default is a disservice to the taxpayers of Connecticut, and is essentially an end-run around transparency that allows legislators to avoid scrutiny.

“I fully support transparency in government and will continue to fight for responsible legislation to shine a light on practices I feel are detrimental to taxpayers, and our state economy overall.” Rep. Fishbein said. “The people of Cheshire, Wallingford and Connecticut deserve to know where their elected leaders stand on the issues that impact the state so greatly.”