CBIA Launches Public Awareness Campaign

CBIA launched a two-week television, radio, and print campaign this morning aimed at raising public awareness about the economic and fiscal challenges facing Connecticut.
The campaign, anchored by a television spot airing statewide on broadcast and cable outlets, highlights the business community’s priorities for the 2012 General Assembly, which convenes February 8:

1. Improve Fiscal Policy, Reduce Business Costs: Keep the size and cost of state government within taxpayers’ means by making it more efficient and controlling the growth of spending; leverage state tax policy to help drive our economy.
2. Prepare Our Future Workforce: Provide all young people with the education they need to be productive citizens and contributors to Connecticut’s economic competitiveness.
3. Modernize Infrastructures: Modernize Connecticut’s transportation infrastructures through prioritized investments and improve energy reliability in the state.
4. Cut Red Tape: Reform regulatory policies to create economic growth and enable employers to increase jobs.

CBIA’s Joe Brennan said those priorities recognized both the state’s strengths and its weaknesses. For example, he pointed out that while Connecticut was home to a highly skilled, highly compensated workforce, numerous government mandates make business costs among the highest in the country.
“The special session last fall was a welcome change of course from previous legislative sessions,” he said. “The General Assembly must continue on this course and not take actions that discourage employers from growing and expanding in Connecticut.
“We live in a dynamic, global economy and we have to become more competitive — just as other states are working hard to make their businesses more competitive.
“It’s time to move forward and recognize that strong businesses mean plentiful jobs, a thriving economy, and more opportunities for everyone.”
Take a moment to speak up and let political leaders in Hartford know how you feel about these critical issues.