Kara Rochelle

Just moments ago, the State Bonding Commission approved my and State Senator Jorge Cabrera's request of $2 million to renovate a 175,000-square-foot building within the Ansonia Brass complex for economic redevelopment. This a great victory for our community that will create jobs and ready the site for developers.

Last week we announced that I and Senator Cabrera bond request made the agenda, and we were happy to see it approved today.

This funding victory comes on the heels of securing $1 million in state funds from the Department of Economic Community Development (DECD) for brownfield cleanup in at the adjacent Farrell/SHW site in Ansonia and the more than $1.2 million the state legislature included in the budget for increased and improved services for the Waterbury Rail Line. Together, these major investments signal a shift by the state to refocus strategic resources on economic redevelopment in the Valley!

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SB 1020, An Act Establishing a Regional Economic Development Pilot Program: This bill develops a program to allow the Department of Economic and Community Development to provide an up to $10 million matching grant to a regional economic development entity - allowing smaller communities to band together to access additional resources and create stronger leverage to create economic development.

HB 6121, An Act Concerning a Workforce Development Pipeline for Persons with Disabilities: Requires the Department of Economic and Community Development to develop a plan to establish a workforce development pipeline for persons with disabilities. Individuals with disabilities face many obstacles in finding gainful employment, one of which is the lack of job opportunities. Businesses, and the economy as a whole, will benefit from persons with disabilities entering the workforce.

Small Business Express Program, As part of the FY 22-23 budget implementer (SB 1202), the legislature passed various changes to DECD’s Small Business Express program (EXP), generally increasing flexibility in the department’s administration of the program and allowing for increased participation by private lenders. Among its changes, the act does the following:

1. Expands the types of assistance that may be provided from the revolving loan fund and eliminates related requirements on the uses, amounts, rates and terms, and prioritization of these loans;
2. Allows the DECD commissioner, in consultation with Connecticut Innovations (CI), to establish a new EXP component;
3. Eliminates the job creation incentive and matching grant components;
4. Removes the requirement that there be no more than two minority business revolving loan funds, instead requiring a minimum of one, and increases the maximum size of loans these funds can provide;
5. Makes changes to the administration and funding allocation of the EXP component operated in collaboration with Connecticut-based banks; and
6. Establishes a goal for the department that by July 1, 2026, EXP (a) will be self-funded and (b) have a default rate of 20% or less for small businesses receiving assistance.

• Creates a one-week sales tax break for restaurants, where the restaurant can keep the additional 1% meals tax.
• Restores the Research and Development tax credit to 70% of liability – reducing taxes for when businesses invest in R&D.
• Reduces taxes on beer by 16.7% in an effort to support the continued growth of Connecticut’s craft brewery industry and the associated jobs it generates.
  • A report released in May, conducted by the National Beer Wholesalers Association and the Beer Institute, found that beer brewed in Connecticut yields $2.9 billion in economic output for the state and supports 17,892 jobs with professions ranging from careers in agriculture, manufacturing, and retail.

HB 6633, An Act Restructuring Unemployment Insurance Benefits and Improving Fund Solvency and HB 5377, An Act Concerning the Removal of Covid-19 Related Layoffs from the Unemployment Compensation Experience Account: These bills ensure that no business will see their Unemployment Insurance tax bills go up because of COVID-related layoffs, and reforms the UI tax system to bring down costs for most businesses.