Gov. Dannel Malloy released his 4th budget proposal this year in an effort to reach a bipartisan consensus to pass a budget. Connecticut is well over 100 days into the new fiscal year, and is […]
Connecticut state employee unions threatened a lawsuit against the state if future reforms to state employee benefits are included in a bipartisan budget.
While state employees were given a 4-year no layoff guarantee through the union concessions deal, municipalities will have few options but to layoff teachers, staff and municipal employees. Following the governor’s veto of the bipartisan […]
Connecticut would have to pay 35 percent of its tax revenue over 30 years in order to meet all its pension and retiree healthcare liabilities, according to a report by financial powerhouse JP Morgan. In […]
**For full charts, graphs, and citations please download the PDF** It sounds almost too good to be true – there is a way both to improve opportunity for our state’s children and save money. Education […]
Carrying signs that read "Support UConn" and “Respect Collective Bargaining,” approximately 300 University of Connecticut staff and students rallied outside the Legislative Office Building to protest proposed cuts to the university included in the bipartisan […]
As Connecticut faces a continuing budget crisis, a new study has found Connecticut has the third highest taxpayer burden in the nation due to its unfunded pension liabilities. Connecticut’s high debt burden earned it the […]
In 2017, facing a $220 million out-year budget deficit, Gov. Dannel Malloy proposed a one-dollar per month surcharge for cellphone use, which quickly raised eyebrows throughout the state. The cellphone surcharge would be in addition […]
According to the new budget proposal released today, state employee fringe benefit costs - including pensions and retiree health benefits - will grow by more than $222 million. Overall, the new general fund budget will […]
The nine Connecticut state employees arrested by police for abuse of a patient at the Whiting Forensic Division of Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown continue to be paid by the state, according to the Department […]
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.