Revenue to Connecticut’s Special Transportation Fund is projected to rise this year as gasoline prices surge upward and sales tax receipts come in hotter than previously expected adding nearly $70 million to the STF this […]
Gov. Ned Lamont released his CT2030 website on Thursday after unveiling his ten-year transportation plan at a meeting at Jackson Laboratories in Farmington. The website allows the public to see details of the governor’s plan […]
“We appreciate Gov. Ned Lamont abandoning previous plans calling for 50 to 80 tolling gantries throughout Connecticut and seeking a variety of ways to leverage federal dollars in order to fund transportation projects in our […]
Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz offered a look into Gov. Ned Lamont’s new transportation plan today during a public meeting before the Western Connecticut Council of Governments. The plan involves using low-interest federal loans available through […]
Connecticut ranked 44th in the nation for “highway performance and cost-effectiveness,” in Reason Foundation’s annual study of transportation spending across all fifty states. While Connecticut scored well for fatality rates and pavement conditions, the state’s […]
A review of Connecticut transportation projects over the past three years shows Connecticut companies are awarded state contracts over 80 percent of the time, although some major projects are performed by out-of-state contractors. Construction firms […]
Move CT Forward, a coalition of construction and labor associations who have thrown their weight behind Gov. Ned Lamont’s plan to install tolls on Connecticut’s highways, spent nearly $1 million on lobbying during the legislative […]
Connecticut deserves clean, fair, open and judicious government. That government cannot be provided by backroom deals or in the dark of night, as this session amply illustrated. We therefore call upon the governor not to call any […]
For Connecticut drivers who owe toll money to other states, Gov. Ned Lamont’s toll bill says they may finally have to face the music. According to the tolling bill that passed out of the Finance, […]
Gov. Ned Lamont spoke with reporters following a meeting with Democrat and Republican leaders on Wednesday to discuss tolls and transportation funding and it was clear that nothing had changed since the end of the […]
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.