Senator Kissel Strongly Opposes Harmful Contractor Legislation

HARTFORD – Friday evening, Senator Kissel spoke in strong opposition to Senate Bill 409: An Act Concerning Wage Theft Responsibility. In this bill, if a contractor on a construction project hires a sub-contractor for a piece of the job, and the sub-contractor fails to pay their workers, the original contractor would be liable for the unpaid wages. This anti-business legislation, Senator Kissel argued, goes against the spirit of commonly accepted jurisprudence and would deter builders from doing business in Connecticut.

“There are intricate relations between contractors and subcontractors, spelled out in contractual agreements that are carefully agreed to, where every term is carefully spelled out. This bill will do nothing but muddy the waters for all those delicately balanced relationships, deterring developers from building new housing developments, office buildings, government buildings, and more. We would be upending centuries of precedent surrounding contracts, and for those reasons, this legislation should be strongly opposed.” Senator Kissel stated.