In April of 2018, Commissioner of the Department of Economic Development Catherine Smith sent a letter to the president of the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology advising the nonprofit organization to cease and desist using […]
On August 18, police officers in Westport voted 42-5 in favor of switching union representation from AFSCME Council 4, AFL-CIO, to the National Fraternal Order of Police, the nation’s largest police union. And they were […]
**This is the third article in our series on the eviction moratorium. Read the first and second installments by following the links** Jennifer owns a multi-family house in Bristol in which she lives on the […]
**This is the second story in a series on Connecticut’s eviction moratorium. Read the first story here and the third story here** A Facebook post on March 30 of 2021 by David Haberfeld went viral […]
**This is the first of a three-part series looking at the eviction moratorium’s effect on rental property owners. Read the second installment here and the third installment here** When Alvin Blount, a 56-year-old postal worker […]
During a press conference at a Stratford train station announcing his $10 billion plan to speed up the New Haven Line, Gov. Ned Lamont was asked by a reporter about the highway use tax – […]
On July 25, 2020, Audrey Hussey left her rented house in Putnam, Connecticut and caught a flight from Providence, Rhode Island to New Orleans. The trip would fulfill two long-time dreams for Audrey: To visit […]
Every year, fire fighters across the country participate in the Fill the Boot campaign, standing outside stores or on street corners raising cash for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Since 1954 the charity drive has raised […]
Three years ago, Dillon Stadium was a run-down, unused and possibly dangerous area, with poor grounds and rusted bleachers that were not up to code. Today it stands renewed, hosting a professional soccer team, vendors, […]
On July 12, 2019, Gregory W. Smith, a sergeant with the Connecticut State Police, was arrested on charges that he had engaged in numerous instances of physical and verbal domestic abuse toward his wife, Katarzyna […]
The Connecticut State Legislature will begin its 2023 session on January 4th and will adjourn on June 7th. The “long session,” as non-election years are called in Hartford, will be centered around the biennial budget. The Office of the State Comptroller reports that state government found a way to spend $47.11 billion in 2022 and, if trends continue, we can expect that number to grow even more going forward. Concerns over energy prices, inflation, and general cost of living continue to dominate the headlines and the threat of a recession hovers over economic forecasts.
What will our elected officials be working on to improve policy outcomes for Connecticut residents? What tax reform proposals will there be? What can be done to lower home heating bills? How will state and local budgets be affected by fewer federal resources? How will schools be implementing to curriculum requirements?
While we wait to see the thousands of individual and committee bills that while dominate the myriad policy debates this year, Yankee Institute is hard at work promoting free-market solutions to the problems we face from Stamford to Putnam and Mystic to Salisbury. To that end, we have produced a new edition of our Charter for Change. The Charter provides commonsense reforms to make Connecticut’s government work for its residents.
Though the list of reforms may be exhausting to review, it is far from exhaustive! And that’s why we want to work with you to build a broad-based coalition to encourage sound policy reforms to enable Connecticut residents to forge a better future for themselves and their families.
It’s also imperative that we do so. As we noted in a report and CT Mirror op-ed last year, the debate over whether we’re in a national recession really misses the point for Connecticut residents. We had more people employed in the private sector in 2007 than we do today. Our economy has grown at one of the slowest rates in the nation for the past decade, and we are getting outpaced year after year. We’re not attracting innovation and industry. We’re losing some of our best and brightest as they seek other parts of the country where it’s easier to make a living.
But together, we can reverse this trend.
At Yankee Institute, we know Connecticut is a state with boundless opportunity, and we intend to help make our state more than a place where people are just able to make ends meet! Connecticut should be a place where everyone can thrive – and with your help, it will be.