Published: January 15, 2009

HARTFORD -- The General Assembly convened Wednesday to ostensibly further whittle down the current fiscal year's deficit, which some estimate is approaching $1 billion.

But the draft bill being circulated shows the Democratic-majority has managed, despite the budget hole, to find $274,000 in the general fund to continue providing health insurance to the families of 600 janitors who clean state buildings.

Those impacted include employees contracted with the state who clean Norwalk Community College, the University of Connecticut's Stamford campus and the Stamford train station.

The Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, which held a rally on behalf of the janitors during the opening day of the session on Jan. 7, said unless the money was found, those janitors' children and other dependents would lose their insurance as of Feb. 1.

The situation arose because the state's so-called standard wage law has not kept pace with rising health care costs.

Under that law, workers employed under private contacts with the sate receive benefits equal to 30 percent of their wages.

But that amount no longer covers costs of providing insurance for an entire family, so the union wanted lawmakers to find more money to help foot the bill through the fiscal year ending June 30.

Proponents of the move, including Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy, argued it was cheaper for the state to budget the money than for the janitors' families to sign-up for state low income health programs like HUSKY or seek treatment in emergency rooms.

"It's not a long term fix," Lynsey Kryzwick, a union spokesman, said. "Obviously it saves the children from being uninsured or going onto the HUSKY program immediately, but July 1 the situation starts again, so there still needs to be a long term solution to this problem."

The House and Senate have to vote on the entire bill later Wednesday.