A perk Connecticut General Assembly members currently enjoy may come to an end if a newly proposed bill passes. As of today, legislators receive reimbursements for mileage expenses even if they opt for carpooling without […]
Thank you for your leadership, and for your commitment to our wonderful state. Although national and state elections may dominate many of the headlines in 2024, as you know, there will also be many important […]
Last year the General Assembly passed a budget that provided historic income tax cuts for the middle class. In even-numbered years, new bills proposed in the “short” session are limited to “budgetary, revenue and financial […]
After seven meetings, the Motor Vehicle Property Tax Taskforce convened for the last time on Feb. 6, where they revealed their recommendations on abolishing the state’s motor vehicle property tax. These suggestions are set to […]
Labor Fellow Frank Ricci explains in National Review the common tactics used by Superintendents to prevent necessary financial and structural reforms. Find the link here.
Yankee Institute’s Director of External Affairs Bryce Chinault argues why state lawmakers should protect the 2017 bipartisan fiscal guardrails in the 2024 legislative session. The piece was published in CT Mirror. Read the article here
Environmentalists have been working behind the scenes with lawmakers to get a large omnibus bill introduced in the Environment Committee at the start of the 2024 Legislative session, Feb. 7. Omnibus bills are lengthy pieces […]
East Haven’s celebration for receiving the esteemed Democracy Cup — an award given to municipalities with the highest percentage of voter turnout — proved short-lived as the town had to forfeit the honor due to […]
A taskforce mandated by the General Assembly to devise funding alternatives to replace the car tax will miss its Feb. 1 deadline, after failing to reach an agreement during its latest meeting held Wednesday (Jan. […]
Connecticut Lawmakers Should Keep the Fiscal Guardrails Intact In a state with one of the highest per capita incomes and heaviest state and local tax burdens in the United States, it’s remarkable […]
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.