A report by the Las-Vegas based Better Cities Project found the Stamford-Bridgeport-Norwalk area to have the fourth largest gig economy of the nation’s major metropolitan areas, with 10.2 percent of the area’s workforce per capita […]
Gov. Ned Lamont’s push to ease occupational licensing requirements for military spouses and people moving into the state received support from the Office of Military Affairs, the American Civil Liberties Union, independent contractors and business […]
A bill that would determine prevailing wage rates for large building and highway construction based on “dominant collective bargaining agreements” will likely be voted on by the legislature during special session. Although much attention has […]
President of the CT AFL-CIO Sal Luciano sent a letter to Gov. Ned Lamont requesting the governor extend his executive order requiring school districts to continue paying staff and vendors until June of 2021 in […]
A coalition of public sector unions in Connecticut are running advertisements on television and social media calling for increasing taxes on the wealthy and list off the names of Connecticut’s billionaires they feel should be […]
Connecticut union activists are planning a drive-by rally outside the homes of Connecticut’s wealthiest individuals in Greenwich on Thursday, May 21, calling for increasing taxes on the rich to plug an estimated $7 billion budget […]
State Representative and vice-chair of the Labor and Public Employees Committee Joshua Hall, D-Hartford, is running for president of the Hartford Federation of Teachers, AFT, following the retirement of Andrea DiBella Johnson. Hall is facing […]
In testimony before the Public Safety and Security Committee, House Republican Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby, and Rep. Mitch Bolinsky, R-Newtown, said there has been no evidence that the CT AFL-CIO replaced missing funds dedicated to […]
Sen. Julie Kushner, D-Danbury, was treasurer of the John J. Driscoll United Labor Agency during years in which $103,713 of state money dedicated to compensating workers affected by the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting went missing. […]
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 […]
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.