Barron’s, the financial investor publication, conducted an overall “credit worthiness” scorecard for states and ranked Connecticut near the bottom of the pack, despite a hefty budget reserve fund. Connecticut currently has an A1 stable credit […]
Gov. Ned Lamont’s emergency powers under the public health and civil preparedness emergency statutes are set to expire on September 9, six months after he was granted those powers by a vote of legislative leaders […]
It’s midnight, Saturday night, in the middle of the statewide electrical outages after Tropical Storm Isaias. I’m lying in bed, bathed in a pool of my own sweat. And I am seething. Our family is […]
Employees at the state-run Connecticut Valley Hospital and Whiting Forensic Hospital racked up $102,213,466 in overtime over two years, according to a report by the Auditors of Public Accounts. This averages out to $38,870 in […]
The newest annual Rich States, Poor States report from the American Legislative Exchange Council dedicates an entire chapter to “Connecticut’s Economic Freefall,” citing Connecticut’s high-tax environment, high pension and debt liabilities and its government labor […]
Mark Cusson, the former nurse at Whiting Forensic Hospital who was convicted in court of abusing patient William Shehadi, is collecting an $88,229 pension while serving his sentence, according to the state’s Open Pension website. […]
A provision in the contract between UConn Health and the University Health Professionals bargaining unit allows UConn Health to raise employee salaries or issue bonuses in order to “meet competition or market demands at any […]
On July 12, 2019, Gregory W. Smith, a sergeant with the Connecticut State Police, was arrested on charges that he had engaged in numerous instances of physical and verbal domestic abuse toward his wife, Katarzyna […]
The American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut issued a report saying municipal and state police union contracts in Connecticut violate state statute, limit disciplinary action against officers, prevent complete records from being released to the […]
The Internal Revenue Service has issued rules that will possibly lower pension payouts for some retired Connecticut state employees, or force others to pay money back to the state retirement system, according to a memorandum […]
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.