default

Legislative Agenda

Our 2008 Legislative and Regional Agenda represents our organization’s priorities in matters of public policy and economic development. The agenda is the work of numerous volunteers on our Public Policy and Economic Development Committees; our Health Care Council as well as the Chamber’s staff and our lobbyist, Armando Paolino, Halloran & Sage Government Affairs, LLC. We have collaborated with City of Waterbury Mayor Michael Jarjura and his staff; the Smaller Manufacturers Association, the Connecticut Hospital Association; and others. It is our hope that our elected representatives in both Hartford and Washington, D.C. will embrace them as they shape the public policy of our state and nation. This legislative and regional agenda contains many ideas and initiatives that we believe will improve the greater Waterbury region’s economic opportunities. This agenda recognizes the needs not only of the region’s businesses, but its residents. We firmly believe that a superior quality of life results from sound public policy. Our priorities center around our major business sectors: manufacturing, health services and retail as well as our major infrastructure needs.

The 2008 regular session of the Connecticut General Assembly came to a close at midnight on Wednesday May 7^th. The session began with much optimism surrounding tax rebates and enhanced spending as the state in January was enjoying a projected $250- $275 million dollar surplus. By mid-April the State began to realize that these projections were not reality and by the end of April the State found itself facing a projected deficit of nearly $80 million. The drastic change in forecast caused major issues in the final weeks of the session and brought the debates to a deadlock within the Capitol as leadership and the Governor reached an agreement to not modify the budget document for the 2^nd year of the bi-annual budget and live within the numbers that were adopted in 2007.

This budget decision was heavily influenced by the economy and slowing tax revenues and predictions of a “recession”. As a result many proposals including some advocated by the Waterbury Regional Chamber were not taken up for final action. Without a budget document, new funding proposals could not be acted on. Notably the Republicans in the House and Senate parted ways with Governor Rell and the Democrats and advocated a budget with no tax increases and no deficit.

Throughout the session the Chamber worked very hard at the Capitol to make sure your business was not harmed by new bills being passed. Most bills that come up during the session we oppose as they will raise taxes, increase energy costs, increase healthcare and worker’s compensation-which ultimately will make it impossible to do business in Connecticut. There are bills however that are strongly supported by your Chamber such as the Brownfield initiative and a well-drafted “Money Follows the Person” bill. Here are a few examples of the bills that we worked on this session.

Chamber supported. The Chamber has supported and has been the driving force behind efforts to streamline state Brownfields remediation programs and advocated for funding them at appropriate levels. The public policy committee acknowledges that this continued effort to improve Brownfields would not be possible without the steadfast support of commerce committee co-chairman, Representative Jeff Berger of Waterbury.

This new law achieves bringing together open space and other preservation efforts with Brownfields legislation under “The Face of Connecticut” legislation. This year’s legislation creates separate grant and loan programs targeted to nonprofit community economic development and economic development corporations.

The bill creates a grant program exclusively for municipalities, local and regional economic development authorities, and qualified nonprofit community and economic development corporations. The bill expands the range of activities that qualify projects for grants including foreclosure and investigation of Brownfields. Grants can be made for up to $4 million dollars.

This new law allows applicants to redevelop properties for a wide range of eligible uses. Those uses are manufacturing, retail, residential, municipal, educational, parks, community centers, and a mix of these.

This law expands the ability of a municipality to enter and investigate without liability any contaminated or potentially contaminated property or assess its environmental status.

Additionally $2.25 million in funding for the Brownfields pilot program was approved on the Bond Commission. The Waterbury Development Corporation filed a letter of interest for this program.

This legislation adds to the tool box of all municipalities, especially Waterbury to begin to clean Brownfields and put them back to work bringing economic development, jobs and property tax revenues to the towns and cities.

Chamber Supported. This bill increases, from 700 to 5000, the number of individuals who can be served under the state's plan for participating in the federal Money Follows the Person (MFP) Demonstration program. MFP is a five-year program that permits states to move individuals out of nursing homes or other institutional settings and into less-restrictive, community-based settings. This new law requires the Department of Social Services (DSS) commissioner to submit an application to the federal government for the demonstration. The application was filed as the legislative session drew to a close.

The bill also requires the DSS commissioner to develop a plan to establish a similar home and community-based services (HCBS) project for adults who may not meet the MFP institutionalization requirement. Principally those who may not meet the requirement of at least a six-month stay in a nursing home. This provision in the bill is commonly referred to as MFP2. This project would afford a broad array of services to Alzheimer and dementia patients in their home or community.

Finally, the bill establishes a separate, non-lapsing General Fund account to hold the enhanced federal matching funds the state receives for MFP. It specifies the uses of funds in the account and requires a report on expenditures from it. This legislation will allow for family members to care for loved ones at home and save on the overall cost of care.

Chamber Opposed
The purpose of this bill was to prohibit the storage or disposal of toxic waste at a site abutting residential property. This legislation had some unanswered questions which could have been a major setback to the work that the Brownfield Task force has done thus far. One major question that was not answered was what defines "Toxic Waste” The concern was that “toxic waste” could be defined as anything from house-hold cleaners to paint to lead, zinc or any other metals found in the ground

Chamber Opposed. A proposal was advanced by the finance committee at its reporting deadline that would have imposed the state 6% sales tax on all deliveries. This provision would have added an additional 6% to the cost of all goods delivered to any business, individual or municipality in the state of Connecticut. It was dead on arrival as many legislators including the President Pro Temp Don Williams and Speaker James Amann swiftly expressed opposition.

Chamber Opposed
This proposed legislation would have handcuffed a business when it comes to creating time off policies that best fit the company. This mandate is a one-size-fits-all frame of mind that makes Connecticut less attractive for future business. The flexibility to determine which time off policies work best for the company will be taken away by requiring all employers of 25 or more employees to provide a minimum amount of paid sick leave each year, regardless of their existing paid time off benefit structure, workforce demands or type of industry. This bill was killed on the 11^th hour of the session and we are confident that it will be back on the docket next year for another try. We will continue to work hard at protecting your business from this bill.

Chamber Opposed
This bill, if passed, would have allowed injured workers to receive benefits for scars occurring on the body, regardless of their impact on the person’s ability to earn a living. The proposal would have expanded workers’ compensation benefits beyond fiscally responsible levels and caused employers’ labor costs to significantly increase. The Office of Fiscal Analysis estimated that by 2010 Connecticut would go from 21 claims (2007) to 200 claims with a price tag of one million dollars out of the employer’s pocket.

ADDITIONAL BENEFITS FOR WAGE LOSS UNDER WORKERS' COMPENSATION

Chamber Opposed
This Legislation would have increased discretionary benefits for injured workers up to the maximum allowable amount for any reason and regardless of the extent of injury. The Office of Fiscal Analysis estimates that this measure would cost the state between $1.3 and $4.3 million beginning in Year 2010 and astonishingly will cost the private sector an estimated $527 million in the first year alone.

This act would have allowed the local governments in 18 “targeted investment communities” (TIC's) to exempt the first $100,000 in assessed value from most residential properties in computing the local property tax. Waterbury is labeled as a Targeted Investment Communities.

This proposal would shift millions of dollars in taxes onto commercial and industrial taxpayers. The resulting increase in the mill rate would undoubtedly affect manufacturers that still make up an important part of Waterbury. This legislation would have been very harmful to not only our City but the entire state because once these 18 towns obtain the exemption every other town will make a push to receive this benefit.