Affordability Challenges Frame Business Day Discussions
From healthcare and energy costs to workforce development and labor proposals, Connecticut Business Day 2026 centered on one core theme: what will it take to make the state more affordable—and a better place to live and do business?
“Affordability is not just a buzzword—it is a survival issue,” said Connecticut Association of Chambers of Commerce Executives and Central Connecticut Chambers of Commerce president Katie D’Agostino, opening the March 18 event.
Hundreds of business leaders connected with Gov. Ned Lamont, state officials, and dozens of legislators at the Bushnell in Hartford.
“Today is a powerful reminder of what happens when business speaks with a unified voice,” said D’Agostino.
One of the top issues business leaders and lawmakers stressed throughout the day was the soaring costs of healthcare.
Healthcare Costs
“Healthcare costs are crushing us,” said Gov. Ned Lamont. “They’re crushing each and every one of you and your small business.”
While lawmakers agreed they need to something, they disagreed on the best path forward.
One proposal they are debating this session is Association Health Plans.
The plans allow small businesses to pool together with a chamber or trade association to help lower healthcare costs for their employees.
“I think that would be something that a lot of small business owners would be key to making them much more competitive with these larger organizations, or even government,” said Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding (R-Brookfield).
Connecticut Option
Harding participated in a panel with the General Assembly’s legislative leaders—Senate President Martin Looney (D‑New Haven), House Speaker Matt Ritter (D‑Hartford), and House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora (R‑North Branford)—moderated by Crown Castle’s Meg Glander.
This General Assembly session, lawmakers are also considering a so-called “Connecticut Option.”
Lamont described the plan as a way to use the state’s leverage to steer patients toward places and providers that offer healthcare “with the best value.”
He stressed it isn’t a public option—adding the insurance companies would manage the plan.
Ritter added that the Connecticut Option is still being studied, calling it “a next year thing.”
Public Option
Looney went a step further, advocating for a public option he said would benefit small businesses.
“I’ve always thought that it would be in the interest of small business to have support for a single payer health plan, because then small businesses would not be at a disadvantage to larger businesses in terms of not being able to offer a richer benefit array,” he said.
Candelora countered that the state has underfunded Medicaid, creating what he called an accessibility crisis.
“Rather than double down on more government programs, we’ve got to support the one that we have.”
House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora
“Rather than double down on more government programs, I think we’ve got to just support the one that we have right now,” he said.
“Fully fund those rates at a higher level, which I think would naturally reduce private insurance costs.”
For employers, the cost of healthcare and benefits is only one piece of the affordability equation.
Energy Costs
Energy prices, they said, are increasingly difficult for businesses to absorb.
Candelora noted that his own business’ electric bill went up $75,000 last year.
“I think that there’s an opportunity for us to say we don’t need to keep benefiting off of the pain of inflation,” he said.
“We’re at the end of a long pipeline.”
Gov. Ned Lamont
“Every time these prices go up, does Connecticut need to collect more taxes and benefit from that increase in pricing?”
Lamont said that a big part of high energy costs is Connecticut’s location.
“You know, we’re not Wyoming or Texas, we’re at the end of a long pipeline,” he said. “In fact, the pipelines are constrained.”
Gas Tax Holiday
And to mitigate soaring gas prices caused by the U.S.-Israel war with Iran, state lawmakers are considering Lamont’s proposal for a gas tax holiday to help offset rising prices.
“I think that it would be a way to supplement some of the increases that we’re seeing in gas right now,” Harding said.
“I think it is a viable option.”
“I don’t know that is as targeted to help Connecticut residents.”
House Speaker Matt Ritter
While he said he wouldn’t mind voting for a gas tax holiday, Ritter said he’d prefer something more targeted to help people in Connecticut, particularly middle class families.
He pointed to Lamont’s previous energy rebate proposal.
“If you put a gas tax on the board, yeah, it would pass,” he said. “But I don’t know that is as targeted to help Connecticut residents.”
Workforce Challenges
Beyond rising costs, employers looking to grow in Connecticut find themselves constrained by workforce challenges.
When asked by Hubbard-Hall president and CEO Molly Kellogg why a business should expand in Connecticut rather than another state, Lamont called the quality of Connecticut’s workforce a key advantage.
But he acknowledged other regions are “coming up fast.”
He said the state is working with employers to make sure training programs are in place so companies are able to hire the workers they need.
“It should be a priority of ours to invest in apprentices and trades.”
Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding
Still, Connecticut has nearly 70,000 job openings.
“I continue to hear from employers in those fields how difficult it is to find and retain those employees in those fields,” Harding said.
He pointed to growing momentum surrounding skilled trades, including a bipartisan law that makes it easier for employers in the trades to bring on apprentices.
“It should be a priority of ours to look into and invest in apprentices and trades, because it’s going to be important,” he said.
Training Programs
Looney said lawmakers need to continue to improve workforce development so training programs better match “the actual businesses that are hiring.”
“We have too many training programs that train in a vacuum,” he said. “We need to recommit ourselves to that goal—to have efficient links between the actual employers and those entities that are engaged in workforce training.”
Beyond skills gaps, Ritter pointed out that housing availability and childcare costs are making hiring a significant challenge for businesses.
“If you ask Electric Boat, their biggest problem is finding places for their employees to live by where they would work,” he said.
“The second thing you can look at is childcare affordability.”
Ritter and Looney both highlighted the state’s Child Care Trust Fund as a way to help subsidize childcare for families and get people back to work.
Labor Policies
The discussion on workforce challenges flowed into a conversation about labor policies.
“Halfway through session, we’ve seen a lot of proposed legislation that would put burdensome mandates on our smaller employers, who make up 99% of Connecticut businesses,” CBIA president and CEO Chris DiPentima noted in his remarks.
So far this session, lawmakers have passed new mandates on warehouse businesses and are considering bills that significantly restrict noncompete agreements and provide unemployment benefits for striking workers.
“I wish we would focus more on trying to be a partner with businesses in the state of Connecticut,” Candelora said.
“I wish we would focus more on trying to be a partner with businesses.”
Candelora
Candelora pointed particularly to the striking worker bill—Lamont vetoed similiar legislation in each of the past two years.
“That’s a nightmare—unemployment is not to be used in that way,” he said. “It does change the leverage between striking workers and the employer in negotiations.”
Looney—a prominent advocate for the bill—argued strikes occur only after workers reach an impasse with employers.
“Everyone knows that if you lose benefits in a strike it takes a long time to catch up, even if there’s a favorable resolution after the strike,” he said.
Looney acknowledged the governor’s concerns with the bill and said it would be worthwhile to look at different options adopted by other states.
Civility
As lawmakers talked, their main message to business leaders throughout the event was to stay involved.
“And as we heard the theme throughout the entire morning, it’s very clear, your voice matters,” CBIA vice president of public policy Chris Davis said.
All four legislative leaders and Lamont said the best way for businesses to advocate is to reach out to lawmakers.
“When I have a constituent of mine personally reach out to me on a particular issue, whether it’s business related or anything else, it’s impactful to me,” Harding said.
And while the legislative leaders noted that they don’t agree on every issue, they shared a tone of civility and conversation—with each other and the business community.
“I do think that Connecticut is a good example of where people can actually have conversations with each other,” Ritter said.
“I think that is what people want from their elected officials. You can be proud that there’s 187 people doing their best at least make it work.”
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CBIA IS FIGHTING TO MAKE CONNECTICUT A TOP STATE FOR BUSINESS, JOBS, AND ECONOMIC GROWTH. A BETTER BUSINESS CLIMATE MEANS A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR EVERYONE.