As the 2025 legislative session opens on Jan. 8, Yankee Institute is a policy agenda designed to ensure Connecticut is a place where families can stay, grow, and thrive together.
Yankee Institute’s priorities include securing Connecticut’s fiscal future by protecting the 2017 bipartisan fiscal guardrails, expanding educational access and opportunity for low-income students through a tax-credit scholarship, resisting efforts to force taxpayers to subsidize striking workers, protecting taxpayers by supporting a wage freeze for state employees, fighting for lower energy costs to make our state more affordable, fostering workforce participation through reforming occupational licensing requirements, and increasing access to healthcare by repealing certificate of need regulations.
“We want hardworking people — generations of families, from retirees to young adults just starting their careers, along with job creators across our state — to be able to call Connecticut home for the long-term,” said Carol Platt Liebau, president of Yankee Institute. “But policies that make our state unaffordable force people to make a hard decision: should I stay and pay higher costs, with limited take-home-pay and fewer job opportunities or should I go to places like Florida, South Carolina or Texas?”
She added, “At Yankee Institute, we believe Connecticut’s families should be able to stay together. We want our seniors to be able to retire here comfortably. We want our young people to find a well-paying job and housing that’s safe and affordable. We want entrepreneurs to build thriving businesses here. But this can only happen if we enact fiscally responsible policies — and resist the pressure to surrender to special interest groups.”
Yankee Institute has created a “Legislative Toolkit” with research supporting its policy positions, along with a “Take Action” platform, providing Connecticut residents a mechanism to contact their representative and/or Senator.
Securing Connecticut’s Fiscal Future: Protecting the Fiscal Guardrails
The fiscal guardrails were passed by a bipartisan legislature in 2017 — and then extended for five years by unanimous agreement of the General Assembly less than two years ago. The guardrails are a set of spending reforms designed to help create financially sound budgets. Since enacting them, Connecticut has saved $170 million and freed up more than $700 million for vital services. The state has continued to pay down millions of state debt, improved budget stability and credit ratings, and even led to the historic 2023 income tax cut. Weakening or removing the guardrails would set the state back financially to a pre-2017 era, when Connecticut was on the brink of bankruptcy.
Read the Yankee Institute and Reason Foundation study, “The Case for CT’s Fiscal Guardrails,” here.
Expanding Educational Access & Opportunity
Tax credit scholarship programs encourage individuals and businesses to support nonprofits, which then provide scholarships to low-income students. In Connecticut, more than 150,000 students would be eligible to receive a scholarship that would offer them the educational access and opportunity that only their more affluent counterparts now enjoy. A Tax Credit Scholarship program would cost less per student than traditional public school funding, and promote competition and innovation. Tax Credit Scholarships will take no money from public schools. More than 20 states have similar programs, including Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Ohio, Florida and Virginia.
Ensuring Taxpayers Aren’t Forced to Subsidize Striking Workers
Striking workers who are struggling financially already have access to union strike funds. Providing unemployment for striking workers will only incentivize labor unrest, prolong strikes, spike companies’ unemployment insurance rates (making our state less competitive), and raise the price of everything from food to construction projects. Workers could actually collect more on strike than they would have made doing their jobs. Gov. Ned Lamont vetoed the “striking workers” bill last year — and he should do so again if this concept passes the General Assembly.
Protecting Taxpayers by Pushing for a Wage Freeze for State Employees
State employees have received six consecutive years of pay raises and step increases, totaling a whopping 33% increase. Not only does this raise concerns about fairness and the state’s long-term fiscal health, but state employee wages are also now the largest expenditure in the state budget. A wage freeze would temporarily pause salary increases for state employees. The governor should consider freezing wages because it would mean more funding for important programs and priorities, potential tax cuts for Connecticut’s hardworking families and businesses, and stabilizing the payment for the state’s long-term pension obligations.
Lowering Energy Costs By Expanding Our Options & Not Only “Going Green”
Connecticut plans to join other New England states in reducing their carbon dioxide emissions at least 80% by 2050. But “green” renewable energies like wind and solar don’t meet the rising demand for electricity, making residents more susceptible to blackouts. To meet demand, more than 12,000 wind turbines and 129 solar panels would have to be built. Meanwhile, if Connecticut stays the course, rates will double by 2046.
To learn more, read Yankee Institute’s joint report, “The Staggering Costs of New England’s Energy Policies,” here.
Fostering Workforce Participation Through Reforming Occupational Licensing
Occupational licensing requires individuals to meet specific educational, training, and testing requirements to work in certain professions. But these requirements aren’t always related to health or safety, and often impose barriers to entry (particularly for low-income individuals), thereby limiting economic mobility. In Connecticut, nearly one in five workers is required to get an occupational license before they can legally work. Reforming occupational licensing standards will increase workforce participation, boost entrepreneurship, lower consumer costs, improve state competitiveness, and create opportunities for residents to achieve the American Dream.
Increasing Access to Healthcare through Certificate of Need Repeal
Certificates of Need are state-level regulations requiring healthcare providers to seek government permission before expanding facilities, purchasing medical equipment, or offering new services. They have stifled competition and limited access to care, driving up healthcare costs. Repealing Certificate of Need regulations will increase access to healthcare, reduce costs, encourage innovation and foster competition.
About Yankee Institute
Yankee Institute is a research and citizen organization founded in 1984 under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Service Code. YI is the eyes, ears and voice for hardworking people who want a prosperous Connecticut.
