BY HIS EXCELLENCY

THOMAS J. MESKILL

GOVERNOR

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. SEVENTEEN

    WHEREAS, Section 31-237 of the General Statutes of Connecticut as amended requires the maintaining of the established free services of the Connecticut State Employment Service to both employers and prospective employees and

    WHEREAS, Section 31-5 of the General Statutes of Connecticut requires that no compensation or fee shall be charged or received directly or indirectly for the services of the Connecticut State Employment Service and

    WHEREAS, large numbers of our citizens who have served in the Armed Forces of our nation are returning to civilian life in our state and seeking employment in civilian occupations and

    WHEREAS, we owe a duty as well as gratitude to these returning veterans including the duty to find suitable employment for them and

    WHEREAS, many of our handicapped citizens are fully capable of employment and are entitled to be placed in suitable employment and

    WHEREAS, many of the citizens of our state who are unemployed are unaware of the job openings and employment opportunities which do in fact exist in our state and

    WHEREAS, notwithstanding the free services of the Connecticut State Employment Service, many of our Connecticut employers do not use its free services or do not avail themselves fully of all of the services offered,

    NOW, THEREFORE, I THOMAS J. MESKILL, Governor of the State of Connecticut, acting by virtue of the authority vested in me under the fourth article of the Constitution of the State and in accordance with Section 3-1 of the General Statutes, do hereby ORDER and DIRECT, as follows, by this Executive Order:

I

    The Labor Commissioner shall be responsible for the administration of this Order and shall do all acts necessary and appropriate to achieve its purpose. Upon promulgation of this Order, the Commissioner of Finance and Control shall issue a directive forthwith to all state agencies, that henceforth all state contracts and subcontracts for construction on public buildings, other public works and goods and services shall contain a provision rendering such contract or subcontract subject to this Order, and that such contract or subcontract may be cancelled, terminated or suspended by the Labor Commissioner for violation of or noncompliance with this Order, notwithstanding that the Labor Commissioner is not a party to such contract or subcontract.

II

    Every contractor and subcontractor having a contract with the State or any of its agencies, boards, commissions, or departments, every individual partnership, corporation, or business entity having business with the state or who or which seeks to do business with the state, and every bidder or prospective bidder who submits a bid or replies to an invitation to bid on any state contract shall list all employment openings with the office of the Connecticut State Employment Service in the area where the work is to be performed or where the services are to be rendered.

III

    All state contracts shall contain a clause which shall be a condition of the contract that the contractor and any subcontractor holding a contract directly under the contractor shall list all employment openings with the Connecticut State Employment Service. The Labor Commissioner may allow exceptions to listings of employment openings which the contractor proposes to fill from within its organizations from employees on the rolls of the contractor on the date of publication of the invitation to bid or the date on which the public announcement was published or promulgated advising of the program concerned.

IV

    Each contracting agency of the state shall be primarily responsible for obtaining compliance with this Executive Order. Each contracting agency shall appoint or designate from among its personnel one or more persons who shall be responsible for compliance with the objectives of the Order.

V

    The Labor Commissioner shall be and is hereby empowered to insect the books, records, payroll and personnel data of each individual or business entity subject to this Executive Order and may hold hearings or conferences, formal or informal, in pursuance of the duties and responsibilities hereunto delegated to the Labor Commissioner.

VI

    The Labor Commissioner or any agency officer or employee in the executive branch designated by regulation of the Labor Commissioner may hold such hearings, public or private, as the Labor Commissioner may deem advisable for compliance, enforcement or educational purposes under this Order.

VII

1. The Labor Commissioner may hold or cause to be held hearings, prior to imposing, ordering, or recommending the imposition of penalties and sanctions under this Order. In accordance herewith, the Commissioner or the appropriate contracting agency may suspend, cancel, terminate, or cause to be suspended, cancelled, or terminated in accordance with law any contract or any portion or portions thereof for failure of the contractor or subcontractor to comply with the listing provisions of the contract. Contracts may be cancelled, terminated, suspended absolutely or their continuance conditioned upon a program for future compliance approved by the contracting agency.
2. Any contracting agency taking any action authorized by this Order, whether on its own motion or as directed by the Labor Commissioner, shall promptly notify him of such action. Whenever the Labor Commissioner makes a determination under this Order, he shall promptly notify the appropriate contracting agency of the action recommended. The agency shall report the results to the Labor Commissioner promptly.

VIII

    If the Labor Commissioner shall so direct, contracting agencies shall not enter into contracts with any bidder or prospective contractor unless he has satisfactorily complied with the provisions of this Order.

    This Order shall become effective sixty days after the date of this Order.

    Dated at Hartford, Connecticut, this 15^th day of February, 1973.