A Labor and Public Employees Committee bill set for a public hearing would allow the automatic deduction of union dues or political donations from pension checks. The bill – An Act Concerning the Right of […]
A new union agreement between the state of Connecticut and supervisors in the Department of Children and Families will cost the state $1.2 million per year in annual wage and benefit increases was approved in […]
A bill to classify probate court employees as state employees and allow them to unionize for collective bargaining purposes is currently under consideration by the Labor and Public Employees Committee. An Act Strengthening the Probate […]
During the legislative session lawmakers approved $44 million in raises and benefits through a series of twelve collective bargaining agreements, according to a review of arbitrated labor agreements approved by the House of Representatives and […]
As debate over privacy issues related to social media continue across the country, in Connecticut a series of union-backed bills would give union leaders continual access to the personal contact information for state employees, home […]
What would have been an un-eventful labor contract renewal in the small town of Harwinton became highly-charged altercation on January 18 when AFSCME Council 4 representative Kelly Cashman “stormed” into the office of First Selectman […]
Three years after SEIU 1199 ignored requests by Connecticut prison nurse Cheryl Spano Lonis to have her dues donated to charity, the union will have to return $2,500 in dues taken from her paycheck. Lonis’ […]
In the six months since the controversial Supreme Court decision in Janus v. AFSCME, state employee unions gained 2,952 members but lost income from 11 percent of state employees, according to a comparison of union […]
The Connecticut Board of Labor Relations approved full day union business leave and pay for union officials to attend an August 31 Connecticut AFL-CIO convention in Hartford that was scheduled to last only three hours, […]
As the Town of Wallingford faces a challenge by AFSCME for allowing employees to resign from union membership without AFSCME’s permission, the town council signed off on new contract extensions that contain language contrary to the Supreme Court’s Janus decision.
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.