Connecticut State Legislative Agenda

2007 State Legislative Agenda

In this Section

As Adopted on January 18th, 2007, by the Government Relations & Public Policy committee of the

Insurance and Financial Services – Working with the IFS Cluster, we advocate for the following public policy solutions:

Interstate Compact: Currently, life insurance plans, annuities, disability income insurance, and long-term care insurance must be approved by each state. The compact would provide a single point of filing, promoting greater efficiencies in design and delivery of products by following existing uniform national standards and free up resources at the Department.
Business Services: Encourage the Legislature to consider phasing-out the sales and use tax on business analysis and management services.
Reduce the Premium Tax: Support a decrease in the premium tax from 1.75% to 1% to encourage the promotion of a better business climate overall. This would level the playing field with competitor states, such as Iowa and New Hampshire.
Speed to Market: Make efforts to help companies get products to the marketplace faster by reducing delays in the approvals process at the Department of Insurance.

Healthcare –The state’s inadequate reimbursement of hospitals through the Medicaid program as well as cuts to SAGA are both contributing factors behind the rising cost of healthcare. As a result, businesses pay higher health insurance rates because hospitals must seek greater reimbursement from private consumers. It is imperative that the state work to reduce the costs of doing business in Connecticut, particularly the rising cost of healthcare.

○    Universal Health Care/Individual Mandates – Legislation was proposed in each of the past few sessions proposing a new tax on employers, requiring them to offer healthcare coverage comparable to the state employee health plan or face a fee based on the cost of the state plan plus administrative costs. Connecticut employers are already leaders in providing competitive healthcare benefits, despite rising costs. Implementing additional taxes on business is the opposite policy that the state should be endorsing. Instead, the legislature should explore new methods of containing the rising cost of healthcare overall in order to promote job creation in businesses of all sizes throughout the region.
○    Cost Containment: Address health care costs through adoption of comprehensive health care cost containment package, including a reduction in the number of mandates and plan design flexibility.
○    Reprioritize state healthcare spending: Saint Francis, Hartford Hospital are directly impacted by multi-million dollar cuts in the state’s Uncompensated Care Pool, as well as the inadequate Medicaid reimbursements from the state. Due to inadequate Medicaid dollars, it is difficult for our hospitals, including John Dempsey Hospital at the UConn Health Center to remain competitive in terms of salary and benefits packages for doctors and nurses, in spite of dramatic shortages. We support legislative action to address concerns with the reimbursement formula and rates.
○    Medical Malpractice Reform: To contribute to our goal of retaining talented doctors in our region as well as attracting graduates from other states, we support reform to help keep healthcare costs down and make our state more competitive to medical professionals.

Transportation – The comprehensive statewide strategy developed by the Transportation Strategy Board (the TSB) and passed by the legislature provides the framework for solving our transportation crisis. In 2006, the Legislature and the Governor committed to implementing the TSB’s strategy over the next decade. We support funding the balance of the projects outlined in the TSB’s action plan.
Energy – In conjunction with the active implementation of the Energy Independence Act, we support each of the four initiatives listed below to help address Connecticut’s energy needs:

○    Alternative Fuels: Enhance Connecticut’s growing fuel cell industry while investigating the economic advantages of expanding our natural gas infrastructure and exploring other initiatives which may offer opportunities to combat New England’s high cost of fuel.
○    Plant Upgrades: Connecticut currently lacks enough “supply” to enable competition among generators. We ought to begin by enhancing “incubator applications” of fuel cell and other emerging “micro” power generation technologies.
○    Conservation: Encourage business community participation in cost-saving conservation and load management programs and services available to Connecticut companies. Protect the integrity of the Connecticut Energy Efficiency Fund to support energy efficient upgrades of all levels statewide.
○ Transmission Improvements: We support transmission upgrades and efforts to further develop Connecticut’s electric generation capacity to reduce costs.

Workers’ Compensation – The legislature reformed our workers’ compensation system in the early 1990s to bring costs in line with other states and combat job loss. Still, Connecticut’s costs are among the highest nationwide. We oppose attempts to repeal these reforms and further increase costs.

Campaign Finance Reform – We support efforts to amend the section of the law that infringes on the privacy rights of state contractors, their principal executives and their families, who are required to disclose the identities of spouses and children for public posting on the SEEC web site to comply with the new legislation.

Regionalism/Economic Development Districts– The state must begin to capitalize on our strength as a region. We encourage the state to recognize Designated Economic Development Districts as outlined by the federal government, which would grant access to federal economic development funds that are not currently available. It is the logical next step toward regional coordination on housing, transportation and development policies to expand our economic development potential.

Property Tax Reform – While the current property tax system has been universally recognized as regressive for both homeowners and businesses, a consensus has yet to be reached on how to remedy the situation. The Alliance is ready to participate in any serious debate or consideration of fair and balanced proposals for property tax reform, recognizing the potential impact on all owners of property.

Higher Education – Recent cuts to low-income student aid programs only make it more affordable for students to leave the state to attend college. Meanwhile, CT is losing a higher percentage of 20-34 year-olds than any other state. Now is the time to grow the workforce, encouraging students of all income levels to attend college and pursue employment opportunities in state.

Telecommunications - Encourage competition among providers and new investment in our state's high technology infrastructure by enacting rules which foster new broadband networks and the spread of new Internet related services over those networks. Ensure that our state's tax policies subject competing providers of similar services to the same taxes.

Affordable Worker Housing – With continued home price appreciation, we have observed alarming rates of outmigration, particularly by 25-34 year olds, the very resource we need to grow our workforce. We support HOMEConnecticut’s efforts to combat this trend and identify solutions to the state’s housing needs, particularly with regard to young professionals.

Culture, Arts and Tourism – As the region continues its renaissance, it is critical to continue to promote our assets and attractions aggressively, including our rich cultural diversity and history. In order to sustain this energy and momentum, it is imperative to adequately fund culture, arts and tourism in the region. As we approach a new budget cycle, now is the time to reevaluate these priority areas.

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