The number of Connecticut state government employees making more than Governor Ned Lamont’s $150,000 salary last year surged to 2,927, state pay records show. The number, which stood around 2,000 between 2015 and 2018, follows […]
The Connecticut Comptroller’s Office released its updated report on savings generated by Gov. Dannel Malloy’s 2017 agreement with the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition, showing the that actual savings to the state were $200 million […]
Is it every year? Or every other year? That appears to be a perplexing question facing the Office of the State Comptroller concerning a report on taxpayer savings generated from the 2017 SEBAC Agreement. In […]
State employee contract negotiations between the governor’s administration and government unions typically happen in secret, but part of that negotiation is playing out in public as various government employee unions plan to picket the governor’s […]
In an effort to spend down an accumulated $7 million in excess allocations, the Connecticut Board of Regents for Higher Education spent $3.3 million on employee bonuses and furlough compensation, according to a newly-released audit […]
Thirteen unit directors at the Connecticut Department of Labor were granted permission by the state Board of Labor Relations to join the Administrative & Residual Union 4200 AFT in a decision handed down in March. […]
A provision in the contract between UConn Health and the University Health Professionals bargaining unit allows UConn Health to raise employee salaries or issue bonuses in order to “meet competition or market demands at any […]
The University of Connecticut is facing an estimated $50 million budget shortfall due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is having to furlough managers and cut its athletics department to make up for the deficit. Although […]
With Connecticut’s budget on the rocks and a state employee pay increase just weeks away, SEIU 1199 launched a commercial on television and social media saying some politicians are “going to take away my wages […]
**Meghan Portfolio contributed to this article** States and state universities from Hawaii and California to Maine are proposing employee pay cuts, pay freezes and furloughs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has wrecked havoc […]
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.