Scheduling bill referred to Appropriations Committee
Big day on Monday for state budget talks
Other news and notes from the State Capitol
News and notes from around the state
CRN Golf Outing ready for golfers
- One of the priority bills that CRN is working on defeating is HB 6859 AAC Predictable Scheduling. We have a number of issues with the bill, which in our view, places tremendous burdens on retailers in how they develop work schedules for employees.
- In our opinion, the bill is a solution in search of a problem – as we tell lawmakers, the challenge in retail today is NOT scheduling issues but rather finding workers.
- The bill has a fiscal impact on the state, as the Department of Labor testified against the bill because they say they don’t have enough staff to enforce the bill should it become law.
- That is why House leadership referred the bill to the Appropriations committee for them to consider.
- We have been working hard to inform members of the Committee of our opposition to the bill.
- The Committee is scheduled to meet on Monday to take action on all the bills that were referred to the committee – over 90 in total – including HB 6859.
- We will keep you posted on what the Committee does.
Monday a big day for state budget talks
- As we reported in last week’s FF, the expected continued conversation around adoption of a new two-year state budget is continuing.
- A lot of where those discussions go will be determined in large part by the consensus revenue estimates that are expected to be released on Monday of next week.
- Speaker Ritter sounded very optimistic that those revenue estimates will be robust and may allow for more tax breaks for CT residents. He noted that he expects that sales tax revenue will be leading the way for increased revenues and therefore any additional revenue should go back to those folks.
- We expect that the House Republicans will offer their own 2-year budget proposal, which according to Speaker Ritter is welcomed and he thinks will make it easier for a bi-partisan budget deal to be made before adjournment date of June 7th.
- We will have more information on the budget discussion in next week’s FF.
Other news and notes from the State Capitol
- We will be keeping a very close eye on the Appropriation committee early next week, but the Finance Committee will also be meeting to take up bills referred to them. One bill we are watching that was sent to Finance was HB 6664 AAC Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging.
- We expect that this bill will be reported out of the Committee, but a number of changes are expected to be made in the bill before any final action is taken.
- The House and Senate are both expected to be in formal session next week on Wednesday and Thursday.
- You can view Speaker Ritter’s pre-session press conference yesterday where he took questions from the media on serval topics, including the state budget.
- It was Husky Day yesterday at the State Capitol and the UConn men’s NCAA championship team and their coaching staff made the rounds. They visited the Governor, then the House and the Senate.
- You can go here to read more about the visit including Coach Hurley throwing a little shade to the State Senate.
- After recent administration statements painted what some have described as an overly rosy image of funding for town aid and higher education, there are calls for the Governor to have a reality check. CT Mirror’s Keith Phaneuf reports on the numbers and the concerns here.
- Though Connecticut lawmakers plan to pass an early voting policy in the next several weeks, that action will not leave enough time to implement additional voting days ahead of this year’s election, Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas said this week. CTNewsJunkie has the news here.
- Local leaders from across Connecticut are teaming up to publicly apply pressure to Gov. Lamont and the General Assembly to accelerate funding to the state’s public education system. CT Mirror reports on their effort here.
- The legislature is considering a 25% business tax credit for child care costs; it would apply to subsidies, on-site services and donations to nonprofit child care providers. CT Mirror has details of the proposal here.
- Attorney General William Tong is warning of gift card scams targeting seniors. WTNH News 8 has the details here.
- State leaders are continuing to put more state Department of Motor Vehicle options online to alleviate long in-person lines at DMV offices. WFSB has the details here.
News and notes from around the State
- Connecticut’s highway system was recently ranked fifth in the United States in terms of its cost-effectiveness and condition, rising 26 spots from last year’s rankings, according to the 27th Annual Highway Report released by the Reason Foundation. Hartford Business Journal has the data here.
- Hartford-based Trinity College will become the first college or university in the state to offer a master’s degree in urban planning when the graduate program debuts this fall. The details are reported by Hartford Business Journal here.
- The Office of Health Strategy held a public hearing this week on Yale New Haven Health’s application to acquire Waterbury, Manchester Memorial and Rockville General hospitals. Highlights are reported by CT Mirror here.
- Stew Leonard, founder of grocery chain bearing his name, died this week at the age of 93. Fairfield County Business Journal reports on his passing here.
CRN Golf Outing
- The 2023 CRN Golf Outing will take place on Tuesday, June 27, with registration and a deluxe full breakfast beginning at 8:30 a.m.
- We hope you will join your fellow retailers and friends at this fun and important event. The money raised goes directly to our bottom line and helps keep CRN the strongest voice for Retailers in Connecticut.
- Sponsorships are still available to support the event, being held at Wampanoag CC in West Hartford.
- Registration is now open. For your convenience, payment is accepted via PayPal or credit card this year. Details, along with a letter of invitation and an all-new brochure, are at https://ctretailnetwork.com/golf-outing/