Pro-jobs efforts eclipse anti-business bills

(May 16, 2006) Lawmakers were able to accomplish a great deal this year to help the state’s economy — despite spending time on several proposals that could have canceled out their positive work.

Connecticut is a high-cost state in which to do business. But it also a place where there is a perception that the state is not as encouraging to business as it should be. A CBIA survey taken prior to the 2006 session showed a significant erosion of business confidence in the state.

With job creation in Connecticut still not meeting the state’s potential, and given the high costs of doing business here, it would have made little sense to weaken the position of employers in the state.

The good news is that lawmakers rejected most of the harmful bills early in the course of the session — which might in itself somewhat improve the perception of Connecticut’s business climate.

Some of the high-profile bills that failed this year would have blocked employer-employee communications and given labor organizations an unfair advantage in the workplace.

Legislators also rejected proposals that would have imposed a new health care payroll tax, hindered companies doing business with state from conducting their business in the most efficient way possible, and weakened the desirability of conducting research and development in the state.

And another set of bills attempted to repeal the highly effective reforms of the state’s workers’ compensation system.

Many of the anti-jobs measures originated in the Labor Committee, which annually seems to disregard how critically important job creation and economic growth are to the people of Connecticut.

Fortunately, the committee’s most harmful measures were stopped by other legislative committees that recognized the damage the proposals would do to the state’s struggling economy.

Next year, legislators will be able to accomplish even more for Connecticut’s economy if they can discard from the outset proposals that would only harm the state’s business climate and weaken prospects for job growth.

CBIA thanks the legislators who worked with the business community to prevent harmful measures from being approved. These legislators acknowledged that lawmakers and businesses need close collaboration in order for Connecticut’s economy to improve and create more jobs.

CBIA pledges to again work with lawmakers to advance legislation that will enhance the state’s prospects for job growth, and the association will help legislators identify and defeat measures that would harm the economy. n