HB 5446

General Assembly  Substitute Bill No. 5446
  February Session, 2026
 AN ACT CONCERNING TEACHERS' DISABILITY AND RETIREMENT
 BENEFITS AND PARAEDUCATORS' SALARY AND RETIREMENT
 CONTRIBUTIONS.
 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
 Assembly convened:
1Section 1. (Effective from passage) (a) The chief administrative officer of
2    the teachers' retirement system, in consultation with the president of the
3    Connecticut Education Association and the president of AFT
4    Connecticut, shall study the feasibility of making changes to teachers'
5    disability and retirement benefits to permit (1) retired teachers to be
6    reemployed full-time by local and regional boards of education without
7    the salary from such employment being included in such teachers'
8    pension calculations, and (2) retroactive application of disability
9    benefits so that former teachers are able to apply for and receive a
10    disability allowance after leaving employment as a teacher, provided
11    the disabling condition began when the former teacher was actively
12    employed.
13(b) Not later than January 1, 2027, the chief administrative officer
14    shall report, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of the
15    general statutes, to the joint standing committee of the General
16    Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to appropriations and
17    the budgets of state agencies on the results of the study. Such report
18    shall include, but need not be limited to: (1) A potential timeline for
19    implementing such benefit changes; (2) the approximate cost of such
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20 benefit changes; (3) a description of the resources needed to implement
21 such benefit changes; and (4) a description of any potential barriers to
22 implementing such benefit changes.
23    Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2026) Any collective bargaining
24 agreement entered into, amended or extended on or after July 1, 2026,
25 between a local or regional board of education and the representatives
26 of the exclusive bargaining unit for paraeducators shall establish a
27 minimum salary for a full-time paraeducator that is not less than forty-
28 five thousand dollars annually.
29    Sec. 3. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2026) For the fiscal year ending June 30,
30 2028, and annually thereafter, the Office of Policy and Management
31 shall provide to each local or regional board of education a subsidy for
32 each paraeducator employed by such board of education in an amount
33 equal to the difference between the annual salary, as of July 1, 2026, of
34 such paraeducator and the minimum salary required pursuant to
35 section 2 of this act. Any such subsidy provided to a local or regional
36 board of education under this section shall not be combined with any
37 other state grant provided to local or regional boards of education under
38 any provision of the general statutes.
39    Sec. 4. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2026) (a) Notwithstanding any
40 provision of the general statutes, each local and regional board of
41 education shall pay for each paraeducator employed by such board the
42 employee contribution required pursuant to the municipal employees'
43 retirement system or any other retirement system in which such board
44 participates, provided such payment shall not exceed the amount of the
45 employee contribution required pursuant to the municipal employees'
46 retirement system. Any amount of a required employee contribution to
47 a retirement system that exceeds the amount paid by such board
48 pursuant to this subsection shall be paid by the paraeducator.
49    (b) The Comptroller shall annually pay to each local or regional board
50 of education not less than fifty per cent of the cost to such board for the
51 payment of the employee contribution for retirement benefits pursuant
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52 to subsection (a) of this section.
  This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
  sections:
  Section 1      from passage  New section
  Sec. 2  July 1, 2026  New section
  Sec. 3  July 1, 2026  New section
  Sec. 4  July 1, 2026  New section
 Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
 The first sentence of Section 3 was rewritten for clarity.
 APP  Joint Favorable Subst. -LCO
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