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The Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA) on Thursday released its 2024 legislative policy agenda, which mainly focuses on government modernization, competitiveness, and of course, workforce development, according to the organization’s CEO Chris DiPentima.
CBIA released its 12-point package of recommendations ahead of the start of Connecticut’s 2024 General Assembly session, which convenes Feb. 7. The top priority this year is protecting the state’s fiscal guardrails that were implemented through 2017’s bipartisan budget reforms.
“We've got to keep those fiscal guardrails in place,” DiPentima said. “Those have given us the budget surpluses to be able to make any investments that we have. The way to free up more money to invest in Connecticut — whether that's more money for our nonprofits, more money for child care, more money for social services, more money for education — is not to play around with the fiscal guardrails. It’s about making government more modern and efficient, lowering overtime costs that frees up money to be spent, looking at tax credits that aren’t working and repurpose that money somewhere where that money would be more effective.”
The CBIA also wants to see legislators work to improve access to affordable, high-quality health insurance for small business employees. There have been efforts in the past to allow small businesses with few employees to group together with others as part of an organization or chamber to access insurance options and flexibility typically offered to larger employers.
Efforts to allow so-called association health plans in Connecticut failed last year.
“It’s about really expanding the ability for those small employers to bundle together under an association and look like a big employer to be able to leverage those purchasing powers, to be able to spread the risk across a bigger pool, and the results have been minimal, if any increases over multiple years,” DiPentima said referring to the success of similar legislation in other states. “That's the stability that our small businesses want to see — they're really struggling with those costs increases right now.”
Many of CBIA’s other policy recommendations focus on expanding career pathway opportunities, and making Connecticut a more affordable place to live and work. Government modernization is also a focus, DiPentima said, because streamlining and upgrading parts of government operations can help the state save money.
Other policy objectives include:
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The Hartford Business Journal 2025 Charity Event Guide is the annual resource publication highlighting the top charity events in 2025.
Hartford Business Journal provides the top coverage of news, trends, data, politics and personalities of the area’s business community. Get the news and information you need from the award-winning writers at HBJ. Don’t miss out - subscribe today.
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