Employees and union stewards at the Department of Correction took 69,169 hours of union leave time over the course of 2018 and 2019, costing taxpayers $2.3 million, according to a report from the Auditors of […]
The Department of Economic and Community Development, which awards low-interest, forgivable loans and tax credits to businesses, has been all too forgiving and generous, according to a new audit. Loans and tax credits made to […]
The Department of Developmental Services paid over $1.5 million over the course of two years for a child who had moved to Massachusetts, according to a new audit of the department. “The department paid approximately […]
The Department of Housing paid exorbitant fees to a lender administrating the Shoreline Resiliency Loan Fund, part of Gov. Dannel Malloy’s Shore Up CT program created in 2014 to give homeowners and businesses low interest […]
Employees at the state-run Connecticut Valley Hospital and Whiting Forensic Hospital racked up $102,213,466 in overtime over two years, according to a report by the Auditors of Public Accounts. This averages out to $38,870 in […]
Three years ago, Dillon Stadium was a run-down, unused and possibly dangerous area, with poor grounds and rusted bleachers that were not up to code. Today it stands renewed, hosting a professional soccer team, vendors, […]
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 Connecticut Department of Revenue Services paid more than $12 million in interest for tax refunds totaling nearly $5 billion because they withheld some refunds for upwards of seven years, according to a new audit. […]
The Connecticut Workers Compensation Commission, which oversees and administers worker compensation claims, lacked approvals for medical leaves of absence for its own employees, according to a new audit. “The commission did not have medical certificates […]
A former director of the Wage and Workplace Standards Unit in the Department of Labor reported that “a field investigator falsely reported time for years, but the department did not take action to investigate or […]
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.