Connecticut’s overtime costs rose $5 million over the course of fiscal year 2021, topping out at $239 million, according to the Office of Fiscal Analysis. Despite declining numbers of incarcerated people in Connecticut’s prison system, […]
Connecticut saw a 6.4 percent decline in the number of businesses over the course of a ten-year period during which the nation on average saw a 2.5 percent increase, according to a report by Commercial […]
Retired Connecticut state employees will see a substantial bump to their pension payments as a result of increasing economic inflation. The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Workers and Clerical Workers – known as the […]
Connecticut’s employment numbers are trailing the rest of the country in all income groups as the state struggles to bounce back from the COVID lockdowns, but the jobs gap remains especially pronounced for low wage […]
In July, Gov. Ned Lamont announced Connecticut was increasing its rebates for the purchase of an electric or zero-emission vehicle, boosting the rebate from a maximum $5,000 to $7,500 depending on the type of vehicle […]
Proponents for the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) plan to use a special legislative session in September to implement the program in Connecticut, according to a key supporter. Legislative leaders haven’t yet announced formal plans […]
**This is the third article in our series on the eviction moratorium. Read the first and second installments by following the links** Jennifer owns a multi-family house in Bristol in which she lives on the […]
**This is the second story in a series on Connecticut’s eviction moratorium. Read the first story here and the third story here** A Facebook post on March 30 of 2021 by David Haberfeld went viral […]
**This is the first of a three-part series looking at the eviction moratorium’s effect on rental property owners. Read the second installment here and the third installment here** When Alvin Blount, a 56-year-old postal worker […]
The Connecticut Office of State Ethics fined former State Contracting Standards Board member Robert Sember $2,500 after he attempted to use his position to get the Department of Administrative Services to purchase personal protective equipment […]
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.