Budget Crisis Hurting State’s Economy, Job Growth

Connecticut’s budget crisis—now in its 100th day—is handcuffing businesses and hurting the state’s economy and job growth.
CBIA today launched a statewide advertising campaign calling for an immediate resolution to the budget deadlock.
The campaign features a 30-second radio spot playing in heavy rotation in all state media markets.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/345500121″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /] CBIA president and CEO Joe Brennan said the campaign’s message centered on one urgent theme, that Connecticut cannot wait any longer to fix its fiscal problems.
“There’s no doubt the budget stalemate is hurting our economy and job growth,” Brennan said.
“Look at the July-August numbers, where we lost 5,000 jobs after a really encouraging start to the year.”

‘Hundreds of Millions Apart’

Connecticut is the only state in the country that hasn’t adopted a budget, with legislative Democrats and Republicans reportedly “hundreds millions of dollars apart” in their negotiations.
Governor Malloy warned last week the stalemate is disrupting discussions with “a number of companies that want to enlarge their footprint or move to our state.”

"We're going to lose thousands of jobs, potentially, because we can't do the hard work that we were elected to do? That makes no sense at all," Malloy told reporters.
Brennan said it's clear that more and more Connecticut businesses are avoiding major investments until they see signs of predictability and stability.

Businesses 'Handcuffed'

"Businesses around the state, small and large, are saying they want a bipartisan budget solution adopted and signed into law," he said.
"They want to grow their businesses, expand their workforce, and take advantage of the opportunities that are out there.
"However, the widespread uncertainty created by the budget crisis has handcuffed them."
Brennan stressed that any budget solution must avoid broad-based tax hikes, particularly given the economic damage caused by the massive increases in 2011 and 2015.
"We can't emphasize enough the urgency that's needed, for state lawmakers to work together and end the uncertainty with a budget that will drive the economic growth Connecticut desperately needs," he said.
"That means delivering a budget that reforms the way government operates, controls state spending, and avoids more damaging tax hikes."