Payroll Glitch Causes Appearance of Several Deposits For Some State Employees

State employees get paid every Thursday, but on Wednesday it looked like some of them would get paid three times based on an error with the system.

“A new file was issued this afternoon correcting the error and employees should have access to their funds as normal when payroll posts on Thursday,” Tyler Van Buren, a spokesman for the state Comptroller’s office said Wednesday.

The problem was discovered early Wednesday morning.

“While payroll funds are not available until Thursday, some banks display deposits a day early. Users of those banks may see transaction activity showing duplicate deposits, followed by identical debits, equaling $0. Another transaction will then deposit the correct direct deposit amount as normal,” he added.

Read more: https://ctnewsjunkie.com/2021/12/01/payroll-glitch-causes-appearance-of-several-deposits-for-some-state-employees/

State Issues RFP For New Payroll Vendor For DSS Home Care Workers

Union officials say they are hopeful that a state request for proposals for a new fiscal intermediary to pay home care workers will lead to people getting paid on time without a hassle – eventually.

Over the years, the more than 7,000 members of the New England Health Care Employees Union, District 1199 who work as personal care assistants – known as home care workers – have filed thousands of grievances against Allied Community Resources, the state-contracted vendor that performs their payroll.

“The unreliable payroll system breaks the camel’s back for people who have no health insurance, no retirement, no paid sick time, and make $16.25 an hour,” said Diedre Murch, union vice president and director of home care.

People like Betsy Windgate, a 66-year-old home care worker from Naugatuck, have gone weeks without pay due to clerical errors and other issues with Allied, Murch said.

Read more: https://ctnewsjunkie.com/2021/12/02/state-issues-rfp-for-new-payroll-vendor-for-dss-home-care-workers/

Trump Tested Positive for COVID Before Biden Debate, Dr. Oz Runs for Senate & #HotDogTeddy Cruz

Connecticut to audit every town's use of federal CARES Act funding

State officials are set to launch an expansive audit into how Connecticut’s 169 towns and cities spent roughly $60 million in federal relief funding — money that was meant to help local governments cover emergency costs during the pandemic.

The state Office of Policy and Management informed local officials on Nov. 19 that it had hired an independent auditing firm to examine how each municipality in Connecticut used federal CARES Act money that was distributed last year.

The rollout of the statewide audit comes on the heels of an FBI investigation into the alleged misuse of federal aid in West Haven.

The FBI arrested two former West Haven employees, including former state Democratic lawmaker Michael DiMassa, for allegedly funneling more than $636,000 in federal relief funds to a shell company they controlled.

Read more: https://ctmirror.org/2021/11/23/ct-to-audit-every-towns-use-of-federal-cares-act-funding/

Workers in Connecticut can now apply for a new paid leave program

Workers in Connecticut can now apply for a new paid family and medical leave program, which will allow people to cover basic living expenses if they take time off of work to raise a child or care for a sick relative.

Gov. Ned Lamont, several key members of his administration and a handful of state Democratic lawmakers officially announced the opening of the new program on Wednesday in downtown New Haven and celebrated the effort as a significant expansion of the state’s social safety net.

The state government, they said, has already raised more than $300 million for the program through a new payroll tax that gets deducted from employees’ paychecks. That money, which could grow to more than $410 million by the end of January, should be enough to launch the program and help keep it solvent long into the future, they said.

The opening of the enrollment process comes more than two years after the Democratic-controlled legislature and Lamont passed a sought-after family and medical leave law in 2019.

Read more: https://ctmirror.org/2021/12/01/workers-in-ct-can-now-apply-for-a-new-paid-leave-program/

New Mexico governor seeks pay increase for public schools

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Wednesday she will pursue a 7% pay increase for educators and staff at K-12 public schools as well as higher minimum salaries for teachers at various career stages.

The proposal would boost salaries for more than 50,000 public school workers across the state at an annual cost of about $280 million. The Legislature convenes in January to craft a general fund spending plan for the fiscal year that starts July 1, 2022.

“New Mexico educators deserve better compensation,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement. “It’s as simple as that. ... I want our educators to be the best-compensated in the region.”

The governor’s office estimated the proposed changes would increase the statewide average for teacher pay to just over $64,000 a year.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/business-education-new-mexico-legislature-teacher-pay-9022a3d392eb94514acbeb6d4c1f677c

Kansas man who took video of himself in Capitol riot pleads guilty to misdemeanor

A northeast Kansas man who took video of himself in the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to a single misdemeanor charge.

Mark Roger Rebegila, of St. Marys, entered a guilty plea to parading, demonstrating or picketing in the Capitol building. The hearing was held via video conference in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

“Are you pleading guilty because you are, in fact, guilty, sir?” asked U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta.

“Yes, your honor,” Rebegila said.

His sentencing is scheduled for March 10. Rebegila faces a maximum penalty of six months in prison and a $5,000 fine. He also is required to pay $500 in restitution for damage to the Capitol building. Prosecutors say repairs to the building totaled about $1.5 million.

Read more at: https://www.kansas.com/news/state/article256243842.html

Fired Kansas health secretary says he was 'Fauci'd' by COVID politics

The job of guiding Kansas through a generation-defining public health crisis for nearly two years fell to Dr. Lee Norman. Until recently, and suddenly, it didn’t.

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly recently fired him as secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment after months of reducing his role as the face of the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

She then quickly replaced him with Janet Stanek, a longtime hospital administrator who’s worked for the past 21 years at Stormont-Vail Health in Topeka.

Stanek will take the helm of the agency on Monday.

During the first several months of the outbreak, Norman, dressed in a white lab coat, was at Kelly’s side at widely broadcast briefings.

Read more: https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-11-30/fired-kansas-health-secretary-says-he-was-faucied-by-covid-politics

Kansas legislators drill into state Board of Education's tweak to district accreditation rules

TOPEKA — House and Senate education committee members chiseled away at the Kansas State Board of Education’s latest revision to school district accreditation rules and regulations, alleging objective measures were dropped in favor of subjective language not effective in promoting student achievement.

Rep. Kristey Williams of August and Sen. Renee Erickson of Wichita did their best Tuesday to define changes in the past year to the Kansas Education Systems Accreditation Model as destructive to the process of evaluating districts. They argued it would be beneficial to consider clear statistical evidence of kindergarten readiness, graduation rates or post-secondary success of students when deciding on renewal of district accreditation.

In the new standards, only assessment of social-emotional development was concretely affiliated with accreditation of the 286 public school districts in Kansas.

“We’re hearing the state board say achievement is important,” said Williams, chairwoman of the House Education Committee. “When we see things like the rules and regulations and the changes that were made, achievement is absent. It’s hidden. It’s buried. I don’t know if that’s intentional or unintentional.”

Read more: https://kansasreflector.com/2021/12/01/kansas-legislators-drill-into-state-board-of-educations-tweak-to-district-accreditation-rules/

U.S. Rep. Davids denounces gerrymandering of congressional district boundaries

TOPEKA — U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids challenged Wednesday the work of politicians motivated by personal and partisan gain to create a gerrymandered map of congressional districts in Kansas that effectively silences the electoral voice of voters in the Kansas City region.

Davids is seeking re-election in the 3rd District anchored by Wyandotte and Johnson counties, but boundaries of all four districts in Kansas could be significantly altered by the Kansas Legislature before voters head to the polls for the August primary and November general elections.

“There are leaders in the Kansas Legislature who have explicitly stated their motivation to gerrymander maps to their party’s political advantage,” she said. “I know people are tired of feeling like billionaires have more of a say than they do in our democracy, tired of having their voices taken away by partisan gerrymandering.”

She said some elected public officials were placing their partisan political goals above the public’s interests, which was “truly insulting to folks that not only want but deserve to have their voices listened to.”

Read more: https://kansasreflector.com/2021/12/01/u-s-rep-davids-denounces-gerrymandering-of-congressional-district-boundaries/