Chris DiPentima highlights the good, the bad, the worrisome
May 9th, HARTFORD—The 2024 General Assembly session fell short of fully leveraging Connecticut’s post-pandemic economic momentum, the state’s largest business organization said today.
CBIA president and CEO Chris DiPentima said the state’s strong fiscal health offered policymakers “the perfect platform to address economic roadblocks and set a strategic course for continued growth.”“There was every reason for optimism coming into this session, given the state’s fiscal health, positive economic and job growth numbers, and the broad bipartisan collaboration that was expected to carry over from last session.” DiPentima said.
“While some positive measures were adopted, the session didn’t take full advantage of Connecticut’s current fiscal and economic position. “Unfortunately, too much of the session was consumed by bills reflecting past detrimental policy habits or solutions in search of problems that do not exist.”
Missed Opportunities
DiPentima highlighted the legislature’s failure to address small business employee healthcare costs as one of the biggest disappointments of the session. “For the second consecutive session, lawmakers were presented with bipartisan, transformational legislation that would change the lives of hundreds of thousands of small business employees,” he said.
“It’s not news that the small group health insurance market is broken—reinforced by the departure of yet another carrier this week—with small businesses and their employees battling rising costs and shrinking options. “There was a meaningful solution on the table and it is incredibly frustrating that the bill failed to even receive a committee vote.”
DiPentima said that frustration was compounded by the legislature’s focus on additional costly workplace mandates, including a one-size-fits-all expansion of the state’s paid sick leave law and a payout fund for striking workers.
“Too much time and energy was spent this session on counterproductive measures like giving striking workers unemployment benefits, rather than addressing our real economic needs,” he said.
“Small businesses are the heart and soul of our economy and need more legislative champions to drive policies that help small employers, and their employees, survive, compete, and thrive.” CBIA and allied organizations were successful in defeating other costly workplace mandates, including bills banning noncompete and nondisclosure agreements.
“It’s unfortunate to see the legislature again insert itself into the middle of the employer-employee relationship,” DiPentima said. “While we’re grateful for those lawmakers who were willing to reject new mandates, these measures erode efforts to develop and implement solutions for growing our economy and expanding opportunities for all residents.”
Fiscal Health
Chris Davis, CBIA’s vice president of public policy, added that the legislative session was also marked by fiscal decision-making that signaled a potential return to “the bad habits of the past.”
“By using one-time federal funding to fill budget gaps, legislators opened the door for future tax hikes and difficult spending cuts,” he said. “The fiscal guardrails enacted in 2017, and unanimously extended last year, are working as intended and are the key factor behind our current strong fiscal position and economic momentum.
Read more at CBIA.
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