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July/August 206 — Vol. 84, No. 6

FROM THE PRESIDENT

State needs to follow up on this year’s good General Assembly session

By John R. Rathgeber

CBIA President and CEO


This year’s legislative session was a good one for businesses, but significant challenges still lie ahead. That’s something we all need to keep in mind as we look toward the November elections.

During the session, which ended May 3, the governor and state legislators worked together to enact measures that will help reduce business costs, strengthen the state’s transportation and energy infrastructures, and prepare more skilled workers. They also rejected scores of proposals that would have made Connecticut businesses less competitive, and less able to create and retain jobs here.

The challenge now is to build on this year’s progress and to keep our economic competitiveness a top priority. Connecticut businesses still face significant cost disadvantages in the global marketplace, especially for health care benefits and energy. And upgrading the state’s infrastructures and workforce skills will require a multiple-year commitment.

Those issues will need to be addressed by the winners of the November elections. On Nov. 7 Connecticut voters will elect 187 state legislators as well as a governor, lieutenant governor, four other state constitutional officers (attorney general, treasurer, comptroller and secretary of the state), one U.S. senator and five representatives to Congress.

CBIA will keep you informed about elections issues over the next few months, including on our special elections Web site, CTbizVotes.com. Although November might seem like a long way off, the elections process is already under way. And the primaries take place early this year, on Aug. 8. You can check CTbizVotes.com now for information about the primaries, including the candidates and how to obtain an absentee ballot if you will be out of the state on primary day or Election Day.

Meanwhile, if you have any elections-related questions, please call CBIA’s Public Affairs Department at 860-244-1900.