Over the weekend, Gov. Ned Lamont signed a bill into law that will allow government unions to have more access to new and current employees and enshrine union dues authorizations into state law. Senate Bill […]
AFSCME International has taken over the New Haven Local 884 union following the suspension of the Local’s president and treasurer because of unpaid dues and attempting to interfere with collection of those dues. According to […]
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 […]
The New Haven Firefighters Local 825 in 2014 paid the Uniformed Professional Fire Fighters Association nearly $26,000 in dues for “legislative representation” at the Capitol, but an internal audit of the UPFFA showed the union […]
In what could be a very costly blow to organized labor, a regulatory change enacted by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services states that union dues can no longer be automatically deducted from home […]
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’ […]
Two House Democrats filed a bill to make restrictions in union membership cards state law, potentially opening Connecticut to a legal challenge based on the Supreme Court’s Janus v. AFSCME decision. Proposed Bill 6936 was […]
Officials in the Uniformed Professional Fire Fighters Association of Connecticut used dues money to fund the Miss Connecticut Scholarship Organization, pay for trips for UPFFA President Peter Carozza and his fiancé, and borrowed money from […]
State employee unions gained 2,952 members between April and December of 2018, according to figures from the State Comptroller’s Office, but half of those gains came from just two bargaining units: Corrections Officers and the […]
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 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.