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January 2007 — Vol. 84, No. 11

FROM THE PRESIDENT

Be an ‘ambassador’ for business

By John R. Rathgeber

CBIA President and CEO


By the time you read this, the state legislators we elected in November will be getting ready to begin this year’s General Assembly session. The session runs from Jan. 3 through June 6.

CBIA’s government affairs staff will be at the State Capitol and Legislative Office Building throughout the session, working to help legislators understand what they should, and should not, do to make Connecticut businesses more competitive in the global economy. Our recommendations are detailed in our 2007 Government Affairs Program, which I’ll talk more about in a minute.

But first, I’m asking you to help us get our messages across to legislators. Be an “ambassador” for business by communicating with legislators from your area. Let them know about the challenges your company faces, the people you employ, how the community benefits from your company’s presence, and so on. As the session progresses, also tell them how specific bills they’re considering will affect your business and the jobs you provide. Especially, urge them to focus on the three priority areas identified in our Government Affairs Program:

  1. Making business costs more competitive

  2. Enhancing the skills of our workforce

  3. Improving the state’s energy and transportation infrastructures

Those priorities have been identified by our board of directors as the most critical things the state needs to do to create a business climate that encourages job-creating investments here. The complete Government Affairs Program is available on our Web site at cbia.com/gov. And this issue of CBIA News explains how you can become an effective advocate for your business and others in Connecticut.