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The Committee on Children's proposed bill H.B. No. 6841, An Act Concerning the Establishment of a Universal Basic Income ("UBI") Pilot Program, will be discussed during a Public Hearing on February 13th.

The proposal calls for the Commissioner of Social Services to develop and administer a one-year pilot program to provide a universal basic income to certain residents in five municipalities in the state and demonstrate the economic impacts of providing such income at the individual, family, community and state level.

The pilot program would identify twenty individuals from each selected municipality to participate in the pilot program. Each participant would receive a monthly payment for the duration of the pilot program based on a formula developed by the commissioner.

The UBI working group would be tasked with conducting a cost-benefit analysis of the program, making recommendations for implementing a statewide UBI program, and making recommendations to implement legislation for a statewide UBI program.

The pilot program would be conducted for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2026, and the UBI working group will be required to submit its final report not later than June 1, 2027.

So far, only seven people offered written testimony on H.B. 6841, with six opposed.

One of those opposed is former Secretary of State candidate Dominic Rapini who said a UBI pilot program "is not only misguided but represents a colossal waste of legislative time and resources."

"At a time when our state faces numerous pressing issues, including exorbitant energy costs and an increasingly unaffordable cost of living, focusing on UBI is an irresponsible diversion of attention and taxpayer money," wrote Rapini who went on to describe the failure of Finland's UBI experiment.

Rapini offered four key arguments against UBI:

1. Prohibitive Costs : Implementing a UBI program in Connecticut would be prohibitively expensive, potentially leading to substantial tax increases or significant cuts to existing social programs.
2. Disincentive to Work : UBI could undermine the work ethic that is fundamental to our society. Finland's experiment showed that participants were no more likely to find employment than those who didn't receive the basic income.
3. Ineffective Poverty Reduction : Research from the OECD suggests that UBI may not be an effective tool for reducing poverty and could even lead to some individuals and households being worse off.
4. Undermining Targeted Support : UBI's one-size-fits-all approach could divert resources from those who need them most, potentially weakening our current system of targeted support.

Dr. Linda Dalessio warned that a UBI program would create "generations of welfare."

Another person opposed, Susan Bradford, urged, "STOP TRYING TO MAKE US A SOCIALIST OR COMMUNIST SOCIETY."

You can CLICK HERE to submit written testimony.

You can watch the meeting live on YouTube starting at 3pm on Thursday.

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