Despite a state budget deficit and a slowing economy, troubling trends emerged from the legislative session that could put additional economic pressures on state businesses and risk their ability to continue to provide and create good jobs for Connecticut residents.

"Businesses are worried about the direction of the General Assembly. They are losing confidence in the state legislature's ability and desire to help them through the financial turmoil facing the economy. They hoped that legislators would take actions to create a pro-growth, pro-jobs business climate that can weather the current downturn and help businesses, residents and the state through the economic recovery,” said John R. Rathgeber, CBIA president and CEO.

The Connecticut Business & Industry Association today released a special report: “Myth vs. Facts: Jobs, The Economy and Doing Business in Connecticut.” The report focuses on the key issues that affect the businesses community in Connecticut and provides measures of how businesses in the state are affected by the state, regional and national economies.

The Connecticut business community is urging the state Senate to oppose HB 5536. The bill would open the state employee health plan to municipalities and small businesses in a way that would not save them money, and could be costly for Connecticut taxpayers.

“The issues of health care quality, cost and access are very important to everyone in Connecticut, but this bill does not address these key issues. Instead, it is the beginning of a state takeover of the health care system in Connecticut,” said John R. Rathgeber, Connecticut Business & Industry Association president and CEO.

“Legislators must take steps to reform our current health care system and make insurance more affordable by concentrating on reducing the cost drivers, improving the quality of care and providing the uninsured access to health care,” added Rathgeber.

Among the problems with the bill are the proposal's inherently high cost and illusory savings potential; absence of consumer safeguards; potential for rate increases within a three-year “lock-in” period; and its true intent of merely paving the way for a taxpayer-funded, state-run health care system.

With just eight days left in the legislative session, a dwindling state budget surplus and a slowing Connecticut economy, business leaders from the Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA) and eight chambers of commerce, held a news conference at the Legislative Office Building calling on legislators to pay more attention to the state economy. They urged lawmakers to exercise fiscal restraint in regard to the state budget and avoid imposing on businesses new mandates and costs that would further hurt their ability to retain jobs, make investments and spur an economic recovery.

"With the state budget surplus estimates shrinking and the national economic slowdown affecting Connecticut, it is critical that legislators don't take actions that would worsen our present situation or impede our economic recovery,” said John R. Rathgeber, CBIA president and CEO.

"Business leaders must have confidence in the state government's ability and desire to help us through the financial turmoil facing the economy and encourage investments needed for a robust recovery,” said Christopher P. Bruhl, president and CEO of the Business Council of Fairfield County. “Any actions taken should focus on making the delivery of programs and services more efficient, not more expensive.”

The Connecticut Business & Industry Association Education Foundation President John R. Rathgeber, along with Connecticut Education Commissioner Mark K. McQuillan, announced the first Connecticut high schools selected for CBIA's Project Opening Doors (POD). The project will help expand Advanced Placement (AP) programs to prepare students for future careers in science and technology.

The announcement was made today during a news conference at the East Hartford Middle School. The first POD schools are:

These nine schools will receive a total of up to $4 million over the next six years for training and incentives to increase Connecticut students' participation in AP courses.

Connecticut businesses are urging state legislators to oppose SB-217 which mandates paid sick leave, because it would significantly increase business costs, make Connecticut companies less competitive, cause workplace disruptions and hurt our employees, not help them. The bill would hit small businesses and those that rely on part-time and seasonal help the hardest.

Connecticut 's business costs are already among the highest in the nation, and companies are struggling to remain competitive in the global marketplace. And according to Expansion Management magazine, which provides information to help companies make business location decisions, Connecticut's “legislative quotient” is dead last in its 50-state ranking for 2007. The “legislative quotient” examines the impact state legislatures have on the local business climate.

Atlantic Steel and Processing President Joe Vrabely, Vice President Scott Williams and several employees appear in CBIA's new TV and radio ads that are running on stations across the state. In the ads, state lawmakers are asked to apply a simple test before they vote on legislative propsoals: Will they help, or hurt, the ability of businesses to compete and create jobs? Because we're all in this together.

CBIA At The Capitol

These are risky times for Connecticut’s economy. Good public policy decisions can hasten Connecticut’s economic recovery, produce and preserve jobs, and enhance the state’s competitiveness. CBIA’s activities on business related bills and hearings at the state capitol will be posted below. For more information regarding state government issues please contact Nancy Andrews, Media Relations Manager, at 860-244-1957.

A BLUEPRINT FOR A HEALTHY CONNECTICUT ECONOMY

CBIA’s 2008 Government Affairs Program

CONNECTICUT RESIDENTS AND THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY HAVE THE SAME CONCERNS, ACCORDING TO A NEW CBIA/ZOGBY POLL
Improve current health care system and reject a state takeover

VIEW COMMON SENSE HEALTH CARE REFORM VIDEO

Developments at the State Capitol and state regulatory agencies

Friday, May 9, 2008

Overall: Troubling trends of session affect
businesses and Connecticut's economy

Businesses are worried about the direction of the legislature

First look at results of '08 session
(more complete info next week)

Expanded state health plan potentially costly, risky
Most harmful Labor Committee bills die, finally, at end of session
No revisions made to state budget
Fiscal outlook reshapes tax results
State retirement plan proposal fails
Global warming tops environmental issues
DOT in focus this year
Increasing privacy protections
Harmful energy proposals lose steam

CBIA At the Capitol Archives
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ADVANCED PLACEMENT (AP) STUDENTS EARN HIGHER COLLEGE GRADES AND GRADUATE FROM COLLEGE AT HIGHER RATES THAN THEIR PEERS 1

Eighty-one percent of Connecticut 's high school graduates enter college 2

Only 28 percent take advantage of AP classes in high school

Seventy-five percent of U.S. high school graduates enter college 3

About half of all college freshman take at least one remedial course 4
Remedial courses in college cost taxpayers an estimated $1 billion a year 5

Connecticut 's public high schools have seen growth in AP Exam participation and success 6

28 percent of Connecticut 's public high school class of 2007 took at least one AP Exam, compared with 25 percent nationally

But there is a gap between white and minority students 7

Number of Connecticut students who took at least one AP Exam:

Year	Total	White	Black/African American	Hispanic/Latino
2007	10,092	7,532	584	680
2006	9,272	6,898	464	665
2002	6,989	5,494	320	365

Earning a 3 or higher on an AP Exam is one of the best predictors of college performance 8

In 2007, more than 20 percent of Connecticut students graduated from high school having earned an AP exam grade of 3 or higher.

But there is a gap between white and minority students in Connecticut 9

Number of Connecticut students who earned a 3 or higher on at least one AP Exam:

Year	Total	White	Black/African American	Hispanic/Latino
2007	7,325	5,810	161	430
2006	6,818	5,308	127	466
2002	5,142	4,179	109	276

1 - University of California at Berkley, the National Center for Educational Accountability and the University of Texas at Austin.

2 - Connecticut Department of Education, ED540 Graduating Class Report, June 2007.

3 - Katie haycock “Closing the Achievement Gap” Educational Leadership (2001) Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

4 - “Preparing Students for Success in College,” Policy Matters (2005), American Association of State Colleges and Universities.

5- “Paying Double: Inadequate High School and Community College Remediation,” Alliance for Excellent Education (August 2006).

6 - College Board's AP Report to the Nation (Feb. 2008).

7 - College Board's AP Report to the Nation (Feb. 2008).

8 - Saul Geiser and Veronica Santelices, “The Role of Advanced Placement and Honors Courses in College Admissions” (2004), Center for Studies in Higher Education, University of California : Berkeley.

9 - College Board's AP Report to the Nation (Feb. 2008).

CONNECTICUT COMPANIES GENEROUS WITH PAID TIME OFF FOR EMPLOYEES

According to a recent Connecticut Business & Industry Association Time Off Survey:

More than a third (34%) of Connecticut businesses give their employees five days of paid vacation days after six months on the job.
More than two-thirds (68%) give two weeks of vacation after two years of service.
Companies with a paid time off policy provide an average of 10 days of paid time off to workers with up to one year of service.

The majority of employers (69 percent) offer paid sick leave to their employees:

More than a third of respondents offer their employees 56 or more hours of sick time during their first year of employment.
Thirty-one percent of employers offer 80 or more sick hours after two years of service.

More than half (60 percent) of businesses allow workers to carry over or be paid for their unused sick days.
Twenty-nine percent of employers give workers sick leave immediately upon hire.
Fourteen percent offer the benefit within the first 90 days.
More than half (57 percent) offer paid sick leave after 90 days on the job.

Almost all Connecticut employers (97 percent) give the following six days off with pay:

New Year's Day
Memorial Day
Fourth of July
Labor Day
Thanksgiving Day
Christmas Day

More than 70 percent of employers give their employees eight paid holidays off.
More than half of employers (54 percent) give their employees paid holidays off immediately upon hire.

Did You Know Archives

CBIA Events

The Connecticut Economy 2008
Sept. 4, 2008
Rocky Hill Marriott

Fairfield County Economic Outlook
Sept. 9, 2008
University of Connecticut - Stamford Campus
Stamford, Conn.

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Recent News Releases

5/8/08	TROUBLING TRENDS IN LEGISLATIVE SESSION COULD HURT BUSINESSES AND THE STATE'S ECONOMIC VITALITY
5/5/08	CBIA SPECIAL REPORT: ‘MYTH VS. FACTS: JOBS, THE ECONOMY AND DOING BUSINESS IN CONNECTICUT '
5/1/08	STATE EMPLOYEE HEALTH CARE PURCHASING PLAN COULD BE COSTLY FOR CONNECTICUT TAXPAYERS Business community has 10 reasons to oppose the bill

[complete list of past News Releases]

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