Gov. Ned Lamont and Department of Public Health Commissioner Manisha Juthani announced that Connecticut is changing policy regarding COVID protections in schools during a press conference at Newington High School Starting today, schools will have […]
The Department of Public Health dropped its fines against Audrey Hussey of Putnam, one of the first state residents hit with fines for allegedly violating Gov. Ned Lamont’s travel restrictions. Hussey had traveled to New […]
On July 25, 2020, Audrey Hussey left her rented house in Putnam, Connecticut and caught a flight from Providence, Rhode Island to New Orleans. The trip would fulfill two long-time dreams for Audrey: To visit […]
The Department of Consumer Protection sent an email to local elected officials, health officials and emergency management directors on Thursday asking them to report any COVID-related rumors they may find on social media so the […]
The Department of Public Health has concerns over the presence of the chemical PFAS in solar panels that will be installed near a watershed area that supplies drinking water, but the unnamed solar company has […]
When Liz Wilson submitted her final test results to become a marriage and family therapist in early September, she thought she would be able to receive her license from the Department of Public Health within a couple weeks and move forward opening her own private practice.
Six weeks later on October 21 she finally received notification that she was now officially licensed by the state but there was one last hold up - the DPH only prints licenses once a month.
A leaked draft bill proposes to do away with municipal health departments and combine them into county districts, effectively regionalizing towns and cities in all matters related to public health.
The legislation would form county health districts and force suburban and rural towns into cost-sharing with cities. The draft plan requires each municipality to contribute 1.5 percent of their budget in order to receive state health funding and grants.
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.