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September 12, 2024

CBIA think tank releases recommendations to improve state business climate

Contributed
By David Krechevsky

The CBIA Foundation for Economic Growth and Opportunity is promoting what it describes as a “long-term roadmap” to boost the state’s economic competitiveness.

The business think tank, launched by the Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA) last year, released a report called “Opportunity Connecticut” with the recommendations during its annual economic summit, held Sept. 4 at the Hartford Marriott Hotel with more than 400 attendees.

The CBIA Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization, has been working with Economic Leadership LLC, a North Carolina-based consultant, to formulate a strategic economic action plan that also offers recommendations for retaining and attracting investment and talent, fostering innovation and expanding career pathway opportunities.

The resulting 45-page report has recommendations that “provide the structure and goals that Connecticut’s public and private sector can endorse, promote and implement in collaboration,” it states.

CBIA president & CEO Chris DiPentima said during his remarks opening the economic summit that while his organization has been advocating on behalf of its business members for 210 years, the report represents a “missing piece to the advocacy puzzle.”

“Connecticut lacks a long-term economic strategic plan, a cohesive road map that charts a course for sustained economic growth,” he said. “A course that redefines our ability to compete on a regional, national and local level and to create more rewarding, more meaningful opportunities — not just for the business community but for all of Connecticut’s residents.”

The report’s recommendations are divided into three major categories — business climate, workforce and education, and quality of life. There are 16 recommendations offered under business climate, 20 recommendations under workforce and education, and 23 under quality of life.

Under business climate, the recommendation include:

  • Reviewing current state statutes and regulations related to the state’s business climate to identify and eliminate redundancies and out-of-date policies, regulations and procedures.
  • Reducing the complexity of the tax code and the overall tax burden on businesses and residents.
  • Reducing the number of occupations that require licenses and exploring reciprocity for licenses from other states.
  • Implementing more quality options for health insurance coverage at a more affordable cost for small businesses, “especially micro-businesses and their employees.”

That last recommendation refers in part to legislation that failed in this year’s session of the General Assembly. The bill would have allowed trade associations and chambers of commerce to pool their members and offer them self-funded health benefits. 

Under workforce and education, the recommendations include:

  • Reimagining the state’s graduation standards to “promote rigor, relevance, student choice, and alignment with both higher education and workforce requirements.”
  • Expanding tax credits for qualified apprenticeship training programs across targeted industry sectors.
  • Creating more opportunities for disconnected youth, strengthening pathways to sustainable employment.

Under qualify of life, the recommendations were divided into four categories: transportation, energy, housing and childcare. They include:
Transportation:

  • Creating more visibility around the funding and status of current and future transportation projects.
  • Creating a quarterly business community-Department of Transportation (DOT) working group to review and prioritize projects and provide feedback, and to facilitate roundtables with DOT and stakeholders.
  • Exploring the separation of DOT into two entities — one for transportation operations, the other for transportation projects.

Energy:

  • Improving collaboration between regulators, utilities, and the private sector to “address the state’s most pressing challenges related to the resiliency, reliability, and availability of energy.”
  • Convening industry, regulators, and a bipartisan group of policymakers to develop a vision and multi-decade strategy for traditional and emerging energy infrastructure that “supports demand forecasts, comprehensively examines clean energy goals and renewable portfolio standards, reduces ratepayer costs, and provides future predictability and stability.”

Housing:

  • Evaluating existing zoning processes throughout the state and recommending ways to streamline the approval and appeals processes, including incentivizing best-in-state performers.
  • Considering first-time homebuyer incentives to attract and retain people seeking to move or become homeowners in the state.
  • Identifying publicly owned land suitable for workforce housing development projects and work with state and local officials to unlock that land for new development.

Childcare:

  • Supporting the rollout of a statewide, tri-share public-private cost-sharing model, specifically working to engage the private sector.
  • Considering a permanent state-level child tax credit to offset the cost of childcare.
  • Cultivating philanthropic investment in early childhood education, especially for one-time catalytic investments in systems and facilities.

“The recommendations in the strategic pillars outlined in this action plan are designed to boost the state’s competitiveness and its ability to retain and attract business investment and talented people,” the report states.

It adds, “They represent a long-term, strategic approach, focusing on the fundamentals of a successful competitive economy and providing policy continuity across election cycles and different administrations to drive generational change.”

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