At a virtual housing forum hosted by Open Communities Alliance (OCA) on October 9, State Rep. Eleni Kavros DeGraw (D-Avon) acknowledged that the new housing bill being drafted after Gov. Ned Lamont’s veto remains unfinished […]
A U.S. Chamber of Commerce survey finds 85% of Americans want to know how unions spend their dues. In Connecticut, however, the Department of Labor (CTDOL) charged with enforcing a transparency law has chosen not […]
Yankee Institute is pleased to announce that Jack DeOliveira has joined the organization as its new Director of Policy, where he will lead Yankee’s research and advocacy initiatives. A Connecticut native, DeOliveira brings a strong record […]
A new report commissioned by Yankee Institute and the Nutmeg Research Initiative uncovers widespread overtime (OT) spiking within the Connecticut State Police that inflates pensions and imposes significant costs on taxpayers. The study — Overtime […]
On Thursday, Sept. 25, Truth in Accounting (TIA) released its annual Financial State of the States report, and once again Connecticut finds itself near the very bottom. The state earned an F, ranked 49th out […]
Connecticut made national news this month with a policy first: creating a $5 million state tax credit program to incentivize donations to a university athletics department. Supporters are quick to note the pride UConn athletics […]
According to 4Cs SEIU 1973 (4Cs) — the union representing more than 4,000 faculty at Connecticut’s community colleges, Charter Oak State College, and University of Hartford — Gov. Ned Lamont has privately warned the State […]
Connecticut’s education leaders often speak about “equity,” but recent testimony suggests that rhetoric stops when equity means giving families more options. At a Sept. 12 Education Committee Informational Forum on the State Impact of Federal […]
“Awful carnage” was the Hartford Courant’s description of the Battle of Antietam, fought between Union and Confederate forces — led by Gens. George McClellan and Robert E. Lee, respectively — in Sharpsburg, Md., on Sept. […]
Connecticut taxpayers are footing a nearly half a million dollar bill for former Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) Chancellor Terrence Cheng — who will continue to “advise” the system from his home in New […]
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.