Voting may look different if progressive proposals are enacted, including switching to another system, expanding the electorate, fines, as well as allowing polls to open 10 days early. Since Election Day, Gov. Ned Lamont and […]
A proposal in the Connecticut General Assembly’s Labor and Public Employee Committee would allow workers who choose to go on strike to collect unemployment benefits—and, as at least one supporter put it, stay on strike […]
The Connecticut Office of the Attorney General is using special assistant attorneys general funded by billionaire Michael Bloomberg to assist the state in litigation related to the environment and climate change, including Connecticut’s lawsuit against […]
The City of Hartford’s Court of Common Council voted in March to create a task force to assess the possibility of a universal basic income pilot program for some of its residents. The task force […]
Yankee Institute is grateful to Gov. Ned Lamont and his team for their work, thus far, in trying to mitigate the economic damage being wrought on Connecticut during this time of crisis and for their […]
The Office of Fiscal Analysis pegs the cost of increasing the minimum wage to $15 per hour and implementing a paid family medical leave program at nearly $80 million, as the state faces projected budget […]
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.