Welcome to the July 3rd issue of the Tuesday Ticket, CRMA’s election e-newsletter. We hope you enjoy it and we welcome your input, idea’s and comments here.
News from the Campaign Trail
We have been tracking the latest from the campaign trail to keep you updated on issues that affect you and your businesses the most. We will continue to focus on the three major topics; fiscal stability and economic growth, the budget and labor and work force development. We will also highlight news on the candidates running for all state legislative and statewide offices. Next week, we will be speaking with candidates from the 9th senatorial district to hear what their vision is for Connecticut. Here is the latest on these topics:
Fiscal Stability and Economic Growth
Last week, the Supreme Court ruled states can now capture sales tax receipts for online and other remote transactions. This ruling allows state and local governments to strengthen their tax enforcement and to put local business on a more level playing field. The latest Supreme Court ruling may encourage some Connecticut lawmakers to make a fairer more balanced state tax policy.
Budget
According to the Office of Fiscal Analysis the next legislative body, will inherit a two-year $4.5 billion budget deficit. The Connecticut tax policy should be the primary driver of Connecticut’s competitiveness and economic growth. In order to move Connecticut in the right direction, there must be a thorough review of the current state tax policy.
Labor & Workforce Development
Many Connecticut employers complain about the lack of qualified employees to sustain or grow their business, especially in manufacturing. The legislature passed a bond package that contains $50 million over 4 years to create training pipelines for manufacturing and other sectors experiencing skill gaps. Connecticut’s inability to attract and retain a quality workforce is a major concern in the business community. It is crucial political candidates study each individual sector in the labor market in order to fully understand the diverse needs in the workforce.
On June 27th, the Supreme Court ruled against public unions collecting fees from nonmembers, meaning government workers who choose not to join unions may not be required to help pay for collective bargaining. The ruling concerns only public-sector unions but as unions make up such a large percentage of the labor pool, the impact of the decision is great and will play a role in this year’s election.
Gubernatorial Election
It appears that the ballots are now set for the August 14th Primary election. As expected, not every candidate was able to secure the requisite number of petitions. Republican gubernatorial candidate and Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti were unable to reach the threshold, and it now appears that Democratic gubernatorial candidate Guy Smith will not qualify.
The State Elections Enforcement Commission voted to investigate whether or not the Republican gubernatorial candidate, Steve Obsitnik has illegally raised campaign contributions. The state has also opened up an investigation into the gubernatorial campaign of, David Stemerman who is accused of using out-of-state petition circulators to get onto the primary ballot.
Other Statewide Office Holders
Monday at the Capitol, U.S. Rep. John Larson, announced his endorsement to state Sen. Paul Doyle for the Connecticut Attorney General alongside Ned Lamont. State Rep. William Tong of Stamford is the Democratic Party’s endorsed candidate.