The results of the legislative review come from groups and agencies lobbying for causes at statehouses. Chris DiPentima, president and CEO of the Connecticut Chamber of Commerce, shares his thoughts on the wins and losses for the business community.
Mike Heidek: Overflowing budget reserves. Solid bond ratings on Wall Street. Tens of thousands of people are moving to our state. After years of a diametrically opposed reputation, is Connecticut finally becoming a better place to do business? And in a short legislative session, lawmakers are making it easier to do so. Would I have made it more difficult? The boss of the Connecticut Chamber of Commerce is here to monitor the bill. Chris DiPentima, thank you for joining us. Now that we've struck the gavel for this week and the session is over, what do you think about it?
Chris Depentima: Well, all sessions had mixed results. I think we went a little sideways in this session. We haven't had a bill that is as pro-business as it was last year. Mandates were passed that I believe will actually harm the business community. There were some one-time expenditures that may be recurring and will need to be addressed next session when the biennial budget is presented again. However, the environment remains favorable for the business world. There's still dialogue going on on Capitol Hill involving the business community, and there's a good economic tailwind that we need to overcome and move forward with, but we just got sidetracked a little bit this session. .
Mike Heidek: oh yeah. So, as a kind of pushback, the state was talking about creating a fund for striking workers, low-income workers. Some Republicans came forward, including Sen. Harding, and said, “Look, we shouldn't be subsidizing this.'' This should be negotiated between the worker and the union or company workers. ” What do you think about that?
Chris Depentima: Yes, it was a terrible bill. So the unemployment bill for tracking workers was terrible to begin with. Because now we've just shifted the balance of negotiations to something very balanced. That's why we don't see many strikes. We're seeing collective bargaining happening very quickly in favor of workers and in support of employee strikes because we have this safety net. We took away their trust funds, their unemployment trust funds, and we put taxpayer dollars into this bill that was put in at the last minute, with no hearings, no committees. And I know the governor has said he's going to veto it, and we're going to ask him to veto it. That is not the correct use of tax dollars.
Mike Heidek: So, to play devil's advocate, like some health care workers, the SEIU among them said, Some nurses are not paid very well. I need help. Don't you think that's the right thing to do for them?
Chris Dipentima: no. Since organized labor usually pays for the pleasure of workers striking, unions should compensate them when workers strike, and if they do not I hope this doesn't happen again.
Mike Heidek: One of the things that has had bipartisan support and has actually been around for a while is the ability for small businesses to pool the possibility of buying insurance together to reduce costs. Why do you think it stagnated?
Chris Depentima: Honestly, I think politics trumps policy. I think it's a great policy. In red, blue, and purple states, we're seeing small businesses come together to look like one big company and use that to lower health insurance costs. And we need it very much in Connecticut. This week we heard news of yet another insurance company pulling out of small groups…
Mike Heidek: Signa.
Chris Depentima: Cigna, on the right, is a fully insured marketplace for small groups, with only two airlines in the state. And this is probably the bill that would have had the most far-reaching impact of any bill being considered. It probably affected about 750,000 employees in small and medium-sized businesses and significantly contributed to cost savings for companies as well as employees. But politics got over it. Advocates of a public option and government-run health care are, in a sense, Trumpian for this bill to be introduced and voted on.
Mike Heidek: It seems like it's gaining momentum. It will be interesting if it comes out again. Therefore, next year's projected budget surplus of nearly $1 billion came as a shock to many lawmakers. They said, “Whoa, again?” They literally said that in some of our soundbites on TV, and it was interesting. Some say they're saving too much at the expense of mental health programs or higher education, while others don't. Do you want to leave the guardrails in place? Should we adjust in some way? Should we just keep going downhill and just have a $1 billion surplus? What do you think?
Chris Depentima: Yeah, I mean, we didn't go out there and advocate for tax cuts when we could and say, “Give tax cuts to the business community in exchange for getting around the guardrails.” But the business community truly believes that the guardrails are working as they should. Yes, you are saving money. But if you look at that money, it's not sitting in a piggy bank somewhere, it's going to pay off long-term debt that's hanging over our heads for the next 20 or 30 years. That's what I'm doing. Tens of billions of dollars. And that gives the country this fiscal stability and, so to speak, gives businesses the confidence to invest and come here and not have to worry about the deficits and tax increases that we saw from 2008 to 2018. is. So we have to maintain guardrails. You will need to continue observing them to see if they are working properly. Should I make some adjustments? But in theory, it worked this year.
Mike Heidek: So are companies happy with their efforts, which you and I have talked about before, to train people to fill some of these 80,000 to 90,000 jobs? I mean, a lot of them. there is. I've talked about it before. Electric Boat will be advertising during the Super Bowl. So it's not some cheap advertising you can buy. They need people. Has there been any progress?
Chris Depentima: I did that. We are and we did this session. I think we continue to make progress. There are now as many people looking for jobs as there are job openings. And that has only changed in recent months. Over the years, we've had two job openings for every person we're looking for. So we filled that gap. And on the positive side, this Congress passed some really good child care legislation to make child care more accessible, quality, and affordable. To help people return to work, primarily women who bear the brunt of domestic help. Happy Mother's Day to all moms out there and to my mom. And on the education front, we passed great legislation that would allow people who left the private sector to get back into education in a faster way, really solving the educational gap. So I think some great legislation around child care and education continues to help with the workforce development crisis that we're facing.
Mike Heidek: It's going to be interesting to see and I hope more people can get back to work and child care and everything else. Thank you for your time, Chris.