With more than 300 companies having qualified for Connecticut”™s Small Business Express program, the state is close to finalizing an expansion of the program to include those with 100 workers, twice as many as currently allowed.
Included in Gov. Dannel P. Malloy”™s jobs bill last fall, the Small Business Express program promises loans or grants for companies that agree to add jobs, with the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) striving to meet a 30-day window for approving aid.
The Connecticut General Assembly is scheduled to adjourn its two-year session May 9, the first for Malloy. In completing last year”™s session on time along with a special session sandwiched into last fall, Connecticut has enacted an array of new taxes, as well as varying incentives for companies that create jobs, while also mandating companies with at least 50 employees to pay them when out sick.
Malloy had made education the focus of this year”™s session, with Hartford observers skeptical that meaningful reform would emerge from a charged political process.
According to new estimates confirmed by state Comptroller Kevin Lembo, meanwhile, Connecticut has shaved $11.2 billion from its future unfunded liabilities for retiree costs.
Connecticut”™s projected unfunded actuarial accrued liability is now $20 billion, down from $31.2 billion as of last June, due in part to state unions agreeing last year to cuts in benefits after Malloy threatened thousands of job cuts, as well as a restructuring of a prescription drug program for seniors.
In late April, the Connecticut House of Representatives voted in favor of expanding the Small Business Express incentive loan to companies with 50 to 100 workers, with the program limited in the past year to those with fewer than 50 employees.
The bill makes several other changes to the initial Small Business Express program, allowing repayment periods to be doubled to 10 years, increasing maximum loan amounts to $500,000 and allowing businesses outside Connecticut to qualify for the funding if they commit to meeting employment requirements inside the state.
In the first few months of the program, more than 325 companies applied for loans or grants employing a total of 1,000 people, according to Catherine Smith, DECD commissioner, who provided lawmakers an update early in this year”™s legislative session. Smith said the state had denied just five applications at that point in time. Malloy”™s office said there are 30 recipients to date.
“We”™ve actually seen quite a pick-up in the amount of business that we”™ve seen that comes from over the border from one state or another,” said Catherine Smith, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, testifying in support of the bill earlier this year. “We don”™t want to be restricted, if you will, to Connecticut, since there does seems to be interest from companies outside the state.”
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