The proposed legislation — An Act Implementing the Recommendations of the Vision Zero Council — unacceptably violates individuals’ property and personal rights. The bill gives the commissioner of the state Department of Transportation the ability […]
State Health Plan Takes a Beating The Connecticut Comptroller’s office released its annual report this week on the state’s Partnership Plan revealing that it paid more in claims than it took in. The Partnership Plan […]
Welcome to The Hartford Portfolio, Yankee Institute’s update on what’s happening at the State Capitol during the legislative session. This year is known as a “long session” because it generally runs from January to June in odd-numbered […]
Yankee Institute applauds Gov. Ned Lamont’s commitment to uniting both parties to fix the problems that plague our beautiful state. The Governor is right to call for “a reduction in tax rates which the state can afford and […]
A rift has opened between educators and superintendents over the implementation of K-3 reading curriculum models outlined in the “Right to Read” legislation. The Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents (CAPSS) issued a strongly worded […]
While Connecticut’s private sector added 3,330 jobs in November, it still has not fully recovered the jobs lost as a result of the pandemic, according to a report issued by the state Department of Labor […]
A new study shows Connecticut has become an even more burdensome state for would-be workers to obtain an occupational license for lower-income jobs. Last month, the Institute for Justice (IJ), released the third edition of […]
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.