This story has been updated

The legislature’s Appropriations Committee endorsed a wage agreement with the state police union that would grant a 2.5% general wage hike and a step increase next fiscal year.

The tentative deal negotiated by Gov. Ned Lamont, which heads to the General Assembly for final action, cleared the committee with strong bipartisan support, despite recent calls from Republican leaders to freeze wages for all state employees.

The House Republican Caucus proposed a $54.4 billion biennial budget last week that counts on more than $300 million in savings over the next two fiscal years by freezing pay for all workers. 

Raises for about 885 troopers would cost Connecticut $8.2 million over the next budget cycle. But if they are granted a 2.5% annual cost-of-living adjustment and a step, which typically adds another 2 percentage points to the raise, it would be difficult for the state to convince labor arbiters it could not afford effective 4.5% annual increases for other state employees.

Lamont currently is negotiating new contracts with nearly all other state bargaining units, whose current wage agreements expire June 30.

By about 11:30 a.m., representatives on the Appropriations Committee had voted 20-5 to support the raises, while senators on the panel backed them 12-0. Though all committees include senators and representatives, legislators must vote separately — by chamber — on contracts.

Two of the seven Republican representatives who had cast ballots by 11:30 a.m. supported the raises, as did all four GOP senators who’d voted.

Though 10 committee members still hadn’t cast their ballots by mid-afternoon — and leaders had extended the time deadline for several more hours — there weren’t enough outstanding votes among either representatives or senators to change the outcomes.

Legislators from both parties lamented a state police force that’s now about 25% smaller than the 1,200-plus troopers who served Connecticut prior to 2010. And legislators unanimously praised the troopers, whether voting for or against the raises.

“I don’t think it’s as simple as money,” said Rep. Tammy Nuccio of Tolland, ranking House Republican on the Democratic-controlled Appropriations Committee, who opposed the raises while expressing a desire to beef up the police force. “The benefit package is just not what it needs to be,” she added.

But Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, co-chairwoman of the committee and a supporter of the pay hikes, quipped that — given Nuccio’s backing for better benefits — the state police’s staffing challenges would be solved soon.

“I’m so excited I can’t tell you,” Osten added. “I’m so excited I have her support for that.”

Democratic legislative leaders say most agencies, not just the state police, are understaffed and have never fully recovered from a decade of heavy personnel cuts in the 2010s and a 2022 surge in retirements that more than doubled the normal departure rate.

The state police force also is facing increasing competition from the roughly 95 municipal police departments in Connecticut, which have beefed up salaries to attract quality law enforcement personnel, said Ronnell A. Higgins, the commissioner of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, which includes the state police division.

“Those cities and towns have figured out that compensation is a way to attract qualified candidates,” he said.

Andrew Matthews, executive director of the state police union and a former president, said several union concessions packages have weakened retirement benefits for troopers.

Prior to 2011, a trooper was eligible for a hazardous duty pension based on the three highest annual salaries of a minimum 20 years of service.

Now Connecticut requires 25 years of service that offers a hybrid pension/401(k) benefit calculated on average wages over the entire 25-year span.

But Matthews also said workers deserve the raises in the tentative deal and more.

“It’s a dangerous job,” he said, adding that 26 troopers have died in the line of duty and that post-traumatic stress injuries are “a real thing” many troopers face.

Nuccio and House Minority Leader Vincent J. Candelora, R-North Branford, both said last week that while they value the role of the state police, Connecticut can’t afford to provide health pay hikes yet again given recent history. Raises for unionized state employees — considering both cost-of-living adjustments and step hikes — have averaged 4.5% over the past four years.

South Windsor Republican removed from Appropriations Committee

Candelora notified the Appropriations Committee on Monday that he was removing Rep. Tom Delnicki, a South Windsor Republican, from the panel. Delnicki could not be reached for comment.

Candelora said the South Windsor lawmaker had requested to be taken off that assignment. The minority leader added that he knew several Republicans planned to vote for the troopers’ raises, even though it contradicted the House GOP budget — and that he hadn’t pressed any supporters of the pay hikes to change their votes.

“When you have a [House] speaker that summarily dismisses your budget as fake, it’s difficult [to ask] Republicans to … stay true to that budget,” Candelora said. 

House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, responded last week to House Republicans’ budget proposal by saying, “It’s not the most serious document I’ve ever seen, so we’ll probably have to write this one off.” 

The GOP budget had several elements that run sharply counter to Democrats’ core positions including: 

• Cutting medical assistance for undocumented residents;

• Assuming big savings by imposing hiring limits and across-the-board cuts to all agencies;

• And canceling a popular anti-poverty program to assist Connecticut’s youth.

“I try very hard to take good ideas no matter where they come from, and I certainly appreciate the hard work” that all legislators put into the state budget, Ritter said, adding he remains open to hearing all GOP proposals.

The speaker also said his comment last week “was not meant to be disrespectful. But to find half a billion from mass layoffs and cuts to agencies that, in many cases, are short-staffed seemed like a tough start for our caucus.”

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported that the contract for state troopers was for two years. The deal is for one year.