At the Connecticut Business Day event, keynote speaker Gov. M. Jodi Rell and top lawmakers met with business leaders and urged them to keep a tight ship through these economic horse latitudes.
About 300 Connecticut business people participated in the annual event sponsored by the Connecticut Business and Industry Association and the Connecticut Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives.
Executives mingled with the policymakers and urged them above all to “do no harm” to the state”™s business climate.
According to Rell, Connecticut is in better shape than many other states, she felt it was important to remind business executives that now is the time for fiscal caution and conditioning. She referred to new numbers showing that what had been an expected $350 million state budget surplus at the end of the year was shrinking every day.
Rell said her February budget proposal to the Legislature would help the state economy now and poise it for later growth.
“We need to plan for the uptick in the economy, because it will follow,” said Rell.
She recommended measures to reduce costs for businesses and to help ensure a skilled work force.
Channel 30”™s Tom Monahan moderated a board of Senate President Pro Tem Don Williams; House Speaker Jim Amann; Senate Republican Leader John McKinney; and House Republican Leader Larry Cafero.
When asked to name their top business priorities for 2008, all of the leaders named the elimination of the business entity tax.
Another issue that was nearly collectively agreed upon were hopes that the Legislature would stay away from proposals that would hinder Connecticut businesses ability to compete and succeed. Such proposals include a paid sick leave mandate, dramatic increases in workers”™ compensation costs and a bill creating a new workplace harassment category for “bullying.”
According to Williams, Connecticut needs to address the subprime housing crisis that”™s going to make a home in Connecticut soon enough.
“We can”™t turn it all around, but we can do something,” said Williams.
Amann felt the state needs to do a better job of marketing Connecticut as a good location for business by relating the positive news and stories of Connecticut businesses.
McKinney was a proponent for a thorough review of all state regulations in order to see if they are working and the elimination of those that are not.
“Creating jobs is the best fix for the economy,” said Cafero. “Lawmakers should help businesses, especially small businesses, grow. And they should reject legislative proposals that reach into businesses to tell them how operate and manage their workers.”
