The Connecticut Business & Industry Association is the voice of business in Connecticut, with thousands of member companies championing change at the State Capitol, shaping debate about economic competitiveness, and fighting for a better future for all.
Connecticut employers support safe work environments. Lawmakers must ensure any changes to current law do not bring severe and costly consequences for businesses.
Establishes a new costly, unsustainable paid FMLA mandate that will apply to businesses with two or more employees. The benefit itself is funded by employee wage deductions, but businesses will be required to continue to provide nonwage benefits, and taxpayers will be responsible for the 120-plus new state employees needed to run the program. Further, it extends the right to use paid FMLA to care for extended family members including siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, and "anyone close to you that is related by blood, or any whose close association with the employee is equivalent to that of a family member."
Requires internet service providers to register and pay fees to the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority and for the authority to apply net neutrality principles to internet service providers, enforcing those standards with civil penalties.
Implements the governor's budget recommendations for general government including imposition of a new tax on employers to be used to pay wages and benefits for employees of the Connecticut Department of Labor. Also allows the Connecticut Retirement Security Board borrow up to $1 million from the general fund to develop a retirement plan to compete with the private sector.
Implements recommendations from the Governor's Council on Climate Change, including further incorporating climate change concerns into local regional and state planning documents. It also establishes a new mandate for a 45% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and changes the current requirement for a Comprehensive Energy Strategy every three years to a Comprehensive Climate and Energy Strategy every four years.
Implements the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection's revised Comprehensive Energy Strategy; creates new, aggressive annually increasing Renewable Portfolio Standard requirements; reduces penalties for non-compliance with RPS standards; calls for additional charges on ratepayers to fund clean energy and energy efficiency programs. The bill also seeks to reduce the burden of shared solar programs on ratepayers and also to stabilize funding for clean energy and energy efficiency programs.