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June 2005 — Vol. 83, No. 5

FROM THE PRESIDENT

Please contact your legislators before time runs out

By Kenneth O. Decko

CBIA President and CEO

 

In this column I usually discuss what our state government must do to help Connecticut businesses be competitive in the global economy. Now, however, I’m going to talk about what you should do. And that is, contact your state legislators before this year’s General Assembly session ends June 8.

Throughout the session, legislators have considered scores of bills that would substantially raise the cost of doing business or make it a lot harder to operate a business here. These bills send an unmistakable message to businesses (both those already in Connecticut as well as out-of-state companies considering investing in our state) that our legislators do not sufficiently understand what it takes for a business to be competitive today.

To their credit, legislators have not allowed most of these bills to proceed to a floor vote in the full House or Senate. But as of early May, several very harmful bills — affecting state spending, taxes, health care benefits and workers’ compensation — were still on the table and getting serious consideration. Please read our cover story for the details.

There’s still time (although not much) for you to talk to legislators to help them understand how these bills will affect your company and the jobs it provides — or could be providing. Also let your employees know what impact these bills are likely to have on your operations; they might want to contact legislators to express their concerns, too.

Legislators need to be encouraged to resolve these issues in a way that safeguards our economy and enables our businesses to grow and create jobs. Then, we must all direct our full efforts to preserving the U.S. Navy’s submarine base at Groton. As Gov. Rell has said, this is a battle whose outcome will affect the economic health of the entire state.

If you need advice or want more information about contacting your legislators, feel free to call our Public Affairs Department at 860-244-1900.