Economic Development and Job Growth

2010 Legislation

During the 2010 legislative session, CEO worked hard on a bill to create green jobs (H.B. 5465). This bill would have implemented the recommendations of the Speaker of the House of Representative's Green Jobs Working Group which included establishing a Green Jobs Advisory Board. The Board would have provided guidance on establishing and creating the demand for green jobs. The bill passed the Joint Committee on Energy and Technology, the Committee on Higher Education and Employment Advancement and the Committee on Labor and Public Employees.

This bill was never acted on by the House or the Senate which is unfortunate because green jobs are extremely important for the economy and the environment of Connecticut. Connecticut has already received funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to support training in new green building codes, solar energy technologies, weatherization etc. Connecticut created approximately 165,000 green jobs in 2009 which represents 9% of total Connecticut jobs and 1.3% of total U.S. green jobs. This is a great starting point that we must continue to build on.

Standards for Economic Development

Founded in 1995 to challenge the business friendly and worker un-friendly practices of large corporate mega mergers, CEO and its members also established themselves early on as the group willing to uncover the costs to the state's taxpayers of economic development subsidies being handed out like candy to some of Connecticut's largest employers without a job creation standard in sight.

Economic Development Agencies in Connecticut

There are currently three state agencies that provide economic development subsidies in the form of loans, grants and tax and other credits to private businesses. They are The Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD), The The CT Development Authority (CDA), and CT Innovations, Inc. (CII).

CII is charged with "growing Connecticut's entrepreneurial, technology economy by making venture and other investments." DECD's mission is to "develop and implement strategies to attract and retain businesses and jobs, revitalize neighborhoods and communities, ensure quality housing and foster appropriate development in Connecticut's towns and cities". And CDA "offers business assistance including direct & guaranteed loans that enable and encourage companies to expand and succeed."

Legislative Accomplishments

In 2002, CEO and its members passed P.A. 02-86 - An Act Concerning Terms and Conditions of State Economic Development Assistance. This bill establishes a procedure to ensure that for-profit businesses receiving state subsidies in excess of $1 million comply with terms and conditions of their assistance agreements. It enhances compliance capability by DECD, CDA and CII, allows for goal setting by companies around job creation and retention and puts in place a procedure for penalizing those companies that do not comply with the assistance agreement. Considering the lack of standards up to this point, this legislation is very important because it requires the economic development agencies to create goals and objectives for the projects they fund which presumably are measurable and can be used to enhance the accountability of subsidized corporations.

Economic Development Subsidies in Connecticut - 2004

2004 CEO Research Findings

Best Practices for Standards and Disclosure

What should be included in public policies created to establish standards for economic development subsidies.