May 2019 Building Connections

STATE LEGISLATIVE NEWS Lamont Leaves Tolls For Special Session Gov. Ned Lamont conceded Tuesday that the 2019 session of the General Assembly will end June 5 without a vote on highway tolls, recasting his focus for the final weeks to delivering a budget that will provide a reliable fiscal blueprint for Connecticut for the next two years. “My first priority is to get an honestly balanced budget done on time,” Lamont said. “That was a promise I made during that campaign. I heard from every superintendent of schools and mayors. ‘Even if I don’t get all the money I want, get it to me on time, so I can plan accordingly.’” Lamont made his comments a day after meeting with legislative leaders, when it became clear to administration officials that a special session would offer the governor his best chance of convincing the General Assembly to accept a comprehensive system of highway tolls as the most reliable way finance overdue improvements to the state’s transportation infrastructure. Read More

Not all builder and trade associations endorse tolls Recent headlines in CTMirror read, “Builders, trades, launch new ad to push for tolls on CT highways.” The Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Connecticut (HBRA-CT) does not count itself among this coalition nor has it endorsed the implementation of tolls on our highways. HBRA-CT is a statewide trade association of small businesses whose members are responsible for 70 to 80 percent of all residential construction in Connecticut in a given year. While our association has not taken an official position on the tolls question, I would personally suggest policy makers to think long and hard about the potential ramifications to our industry and consequential impacts on housing accessibility and affordability before tolls are implemented.

Report: High Taxes, Mandates Hurt State’s Small Business Climate Connecticut’s small business climate ranks seventh worst in the country according to a new national study released this week. The Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council ranked Connecticut 44th in its annual Small Business Policy Index, one spot worse than in 2018. The index ranks the 50 states according to 62 different policy measures, including taxes, regulatory burdens, state spending, and government debt. High taxes and fees and government red tape, which the council’s report said “drain enterprises of vital resources, distort decision-making and incentives, and redirect energies,” were key elements in the rankings. Connecticut fared poorly across a number of those metrics, with bottom 10 rankings for per capita government debt, state and local spending, energy costs, workers’ compensation premium costs, state and local tax rates, and business taxes. “Most small business owners have firsthand knowledge of the costs and burdens imposed by government,” the SBE Council report said.” Read More