With a pledge of $340 million, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy wants to extend the life of Connecticut”™s Economic and Manufacturing Assistance Act, in hopes it will give new life to the state”™s aging precision manufacturing sector.
Presented as just one component of a broad-reaching jobs bill, Malloy”™s plan to recapitalize the state”™s Manufacturing Assistance Act (MAA) funding will cost the most, relying on borrowing. The bill comes even as he and other federal and state officials renew efforts to promote Connecticut”™s formidable, but venerable, manufacturing sector.
In addition to recapitalizing MAA, Malloy also plans to offer manufacturing reinvestment accounts, which would allow companies to set aside money on a tax-free basis for future purchases of equipment or property, akin to individual retirement accounts authorized by the Internal Revenue Service.
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal are pushing a similar bill at the federal level. That bill is designed to benefit community banks as well, which would be the only authorized institutions to offer such accounts ”“ under the Connecticut bill, the money would be deposited with the state government.
For his part, U.S. Rep. James Himes spent part of September visiting area manufacturers, including Lex Products Corp. and OEM Controls Inc., both based in Shelton.
“These small manufacturers are beginning to in-source jobs to ensure quality control and take advantage of the skilled, educated workforce available right here in southwest Connecticut,” Himes stated in a blog entry following the visit to OEM Controls. “I heard from both employers and employees that the U.S. government needs to continue to provide assistance in the form of free- trade legislation, tax credits and federally funded training and assistance programs that will allow small manufacturers to continue growing, creating jobs locally and competing globally.”
For Malloy, the buck does not stop with the federal government ”“ his own tour this summer and fall took him to Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Ridgefield, Hologic in Danbury, Curtis Packaging in Newtown and Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. and Bridgeport Fittings in Stratford.
“Our small businesses feel a little bit left out right now and have had a very big struggle in the last couple of years,” said Catherine Smith, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, addressing legislators in October. “A number of them are looking for help ”¦ to put that next person to work. That might be buying a new piece of equipment; it might be helping them grow into a new space.”
MAA addresses both needs for manufacturers and other companies. Malloy”™s bill also will spend $50 million on expanding a manufacturing training program at Enfield”™s Asnuntuck Community College to three other community colleges and three vocational schools.
And a new “Step Up” program, modeled on a program running in Mississippi, would subsidize on the job training for employers for up to six months ”“ a tryout period in essence, according to Catherine Smith, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, who testified on Malloy”™s bill in October before a committee of the Connecticut General Assembly.
Earlier in October, Connecticut became one of seven states selected for a National Governors Association policy “academy” on advance manufacturing, along with New York and Massachusetts.
“We also want to ”¦ take a look at where we”™re spending our training dollars today to see whether there”™s ways we can redeploy those dollars into the most appropriate opportunities for making sure we”™re filling the gaps that we currently have, in manufacturing in particular,” Smith said. “We”™ve been told there are anywhere from 500 to 1,000 open positions in ”¦ aerospace manufacturing or other types. We need to make sure we are getting people to those jobs.”
