House votes for final approval of tribes’ casino in East Windsor

The Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribal nations crossed the finish line Wednesday on the last day of the General Assembly’s annual session, victors in a two-year struggle for authorization to jointly develop a casino to compete with an MGM Resorts International casino under construction in Springfield. The House vote of 103 to 46 was surprisingly […]

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Construction Adds 11,000 Jobs in May

The construction industry added 11,000 jobs during May and its unemployment rate improved from April’s level but it was slightly worse than the year-earlier figure, the Labor Dept. has reported. The latest monthly employment report, which the department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics released on June 2, showed that construction’s jobless rate fell to 5.3% in […]

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VA Aims to Unsnarl $1.4B in Delayed Projects

The Dept. of Veterans Affairs is seeking congressional approval for a plan to get moving on $1.4 billion in major construction projects that have been stalled because of differences in funding projects at VA and at the Army Corps of Engineers—which is handling design and construction for VA at those delayed projects. http://www.enr.com/articles/42108-va-aims-to-unsnarl-14b-in-delayed-projects

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Malloy Campaigns For XL Center Renovations

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy used a visit Thursday to the city’s XL Center to campaign for an aggressive, $250 million makeover, as a key legislative committee has whittled away at his initial requests to get to project moving. Malloy is seeking $50 million in 2018 and $75 million in 2019, one half of the renovations, […]

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Trump’s 2018 budget offers more details on HUD cuts

One area where housing is concerned is the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which would see its funding contract by $6.2 billion, or 13.2%, as compared to 2017. The cuts focus on big-ticket community development grant programs that the administration has identified as too broad as well as rental assistance reform, according to The […]

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Chao Fills in Some Details of Trump Infrastructure Plan

Speaking at a May 15 Infrastructure Week kickoff event at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., Chao also confirmed earlier administration comments that the package will propose $200 billion in direct federal funding, which it hopes will trigger another $800 billion in private financing. She also said officials “in coming weeks”  will unveil […]

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UConn Seeks Proposals For New Hotel On Storrs Campus

The University of Connecticut is resurrecting a plan for a hotel on its Storrs campus — this time on land just south of the Storrs Center development. This project would not require local zoning approvals because it would be located on state property http://www.courant.com/business/hc-uconn-hotel-storrs-campus-20170516-story.html

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$19.8M approved to remake Hartford building trio

Three proposed Hartford commercial-renovation projects — two of them downtown — received state Bond Commission approval Friday for $19.8 million in state loan assistance. The Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) requested the funding on behalf of the developers for a pair of derelict office buildings at 101-111 Pearl St., at the corner of Trumbull Street, […]

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Upgrading central CT rail could boost freight capacity

Connecticut has the ability to double its freight service capacity in central Connecticut if millions of dollars are spent repairing the system, but upgrading to passenger service is cost-prohibitive, a new study has concluded. Total costs for upgrades range from $140 million for Class 2 rail, with speeds of up to 25 mph, and $170 […]

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Connecticut House speaker: 3rd casino likely decided in budget talks

House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz says the decision about whether Connecticut should have a third casino will likely be decided during state budget negotiations. It’s unclear what that means for the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes, who want legislation allowing them to build a jointly owned casino in East Windsor to compete with the MGM Resorts […]

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CT tax revenue in free fall, adding $1.1B in red ink for next 2 years

Plummeting state income tax collections are experiencing their worst decline since the last recession, falling $450 million below anticipated levels for April — one-and-a-half times the free fall projected just one day ago. That adds $1.1 billion to an already daunting $3.6 billion deficit forecast, all but shattering hopes of avoiding tax increases or big […]

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Mohegans obtain financing for $80M convention center

The Mohegan tribe has secured $80 million in financing to proceed with plans for an expanded convention center, the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority said this week. The MTGA, which owns and operates the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, first announced the proposed expo adjacent to the casino in March and says it will open by the […]

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Malloy won’t run for re-election

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy will not seek re-election to a third four-year term. In an afternoon announcement in the Capitol more than six years after taking office, Malloy, 61, is expected to say that freedom from politics will allow him to steer the General Assembly through its budget crisis. With low popularity ratings, a $1.7-billion […]

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Trump’s promised announcement on labor law unnerves unions

President Donald Trump shocked organized labor by saying he would soon have an announcement on a law that guarantees wage levels for workers on most federally funded construction projects. The White House has since declined to reveal his position publicly. But privately, Trump administration officials appear in recent days appears to be trying to calm […]

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Why Trump’s $1 trillion infrastructure plan could wind up in a ditch

Trump’s plan, expected to be released as early as May, has already faced months of skepticism from some conservative deficit hawks — even though it’s likely to call for far less direct federal spending than its eye-popping price tag implies. Meanwhile, Democrats are crying foul at suggestions that the blueprint will include hefty tax breaks […]

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Trump wants billionaire developers to lead infrastructure plans

President Trump wants a couple of his fellow New York billionaire real estate developers to oversee his plans to spend $1 trillion to improve infrastructure. The plan to spend $1 trillion repairing highways, bridges, roads, airports, dams and other infrastructure, a centerpiece of Trump’s plan to boost hiring and the economy, still needs approval by […]

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Prevailing Wage and Military Veterans in Connecticut

The Midwest Economic Policy Institute published a report entitled, “Prevailing Wage and Military Veterans in Connecticut”. CT’s Construction Industry employs thousands of our returning veterans. Prevailing Wage protections are vital to the financial independence of our blue-collar veteran families. https://midwestepi.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/policy-brief-prevailing-wage-military-veterans-in-connecticut.pdf

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Lembo Says State Will End Year With A $44.6M Deficit

State Comptroller Kevin Lembo said slow income tax withholding has forced him to predict the state will end the year with a $44.6 million budget deficit. He agreed with the nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis that revenues would fall about $60 million short of projections. Lembo pointed out that Connecticut’s overall budget performance is ultimately […]

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State’s Sub Suppliers Preparing For Construction Boom

Electric Boat, the Groton-based subsidiary of General Dynamics Corp., is ramping up to build two subs a year, with the start of design of the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine. More than 5,000 firms in the U.S., including nearly 450 in Connecticut, supply parts. In Connecticut, where the number of low-paid jobs are increasing faster than […]

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CREC Cancels $108M Construction Project, Decides To Consolidate Two Magnet Schools

A plan to build a new $108 million school in Bloomfield for Two Rivers Magnet High School has been scrapped amid budget concerns, the Capitol Region Education Council said Friday. The 408-student, environmental-themed Two Rivers High in Hartford will also cease to exist next school year and students will instead be shuttled to New Britain […]

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Prevailing wage protects the construction industry and Connecticut’s economy

Those that have proposed an increase to the prevailing wage thresholds have indicated that their proposals will alleviate budgetary constraints on our municipalities. I do not believe that is the case. Further weakening of our state’s prevailing wage law will do just the opposite, and will further eliminate the kind of fair-paying, middle-class jobs that […]

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Battles Over Labor’s Wages Heats Up At Capitol

“We understand that raising thresholds are not good for workers,” said David Roche, president of the building trades council. Some prominent Democrats in state and federal office also spoke out against raising the prevailing wage thresholds. While they did not identify the Democratic governor by name, they did say anyone supporting such a measure would […]

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Prevailing wage: myth vs. reality

Governor Malloy has made a recommendation to raise the threshold as to when our state’s prevailing wage law is triggered on public works construction projects. Connecticut currently has the second highest thresholds in the country, and the highest in New England. The truth is this proposal won’t in any way alter our state’s budgetary woes. In […]

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Malloy Pitches Plan To Give Municipalities Relief, Blasts Hedge Fund Tax Proposal From Dems

Unions have fought for years against any changes in the prevailing wage, and Democrats in the House and Senate have backed the unions. This year, the atmosphere has changed because the Senate is currently tied at 17 to 17 with two open seats awaiting special elections. “In states around us, the thresholds are zero,” Pelletier […]

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Union Leaders Meet With Trump, Construction on Their Minds

At a meeting with the leaders of several construction and building trade unions, President Trump reiterated on Monday his interest in directing hundreds of billions of dollars to infrastructure investments, some of it from the federal government, union officials said. At the meeting, Mr. McGarvey raised one point of possible discord between the labor leaders […]

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Rail overhaul plan is both a winner and a loser in CT

The most favored is the NEC proposal to upgrade the rail line that runs through the center of the state, from New Haven to Hartford and then Springfield, Mass. Demographers project that between 2010 and 2040, the population in the Northeast Corridor will grow to 64 million, an increase of roughly 23 percent. Six of […]

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Still No Deal On Sharing Power In Senate

Senate President Martin Looney, D-New Haven, will undergo kidney transplant surgery today before being able to reach an agreement with Senate Republicans over how the now evenly divided upper chamber is organized. The Senate, which had been held by a 21-15 Democratic majority, will be split 18-18 between the parties when the 2017 session opens. […]

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CT adds jobs, sees jobless rate dip in Nov.

Connecticut added 2,100 jobs in November, and its unemployment rate declined to 4.7 percent, state regulators reported Thursday. The unemployment rate in October was 5.1 percent. November’s declining 4.7 percent jobless rate is now seven-tenths of a point lower than it was a year ago. The construction and mining supersector dropped off sharply, with a […]

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Fasano taps Yelmini to help with GOP labor agenda

The Senate Republican leadership has hired Linda Yelmini of Windsor, chief labor relations official for five administrations until her awkward departure from government under Gov. Dannel P. Malloy late in 2014, as a part-time consultant and legislative researcher. Yelmini’s hiring foreshadows an anticipated push by Senate Republican Leader Len Fasano of North Haven to intensify efforts […]

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CT senators blast Trump’s infrastructure plan, but hope for compromise

Wilbur Ross, a billionaire investor expected to be nominated as the next secretary of the Commerce Department, says the United States could spur $1 trillion in infrastructure spending by giving out about $137 billion in tax credits to private investors. “According to a report from the Congressional Budget Office, in the last 25 years, there […]

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CT Water to spend $55M on system upgrades

Connecticut Water Service Inc. says it will spend more than $55 million in the coming year on upgrades to its water systems at home and in Maine. Eric W. Thornburg, the Clinton-based water utility’s CEO, said Friday its board of directors approved a $55.4 million capital-spending plan for 2017. Of that sum, $46.7 million is […]

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3 crucial questions about Trump’s $1T infrastructure proposal

Shortly before the presidential election, then-candidate Donald Trump’s team of advisors released a 10-year, $1 trillion infrastructure plan that envisions the private sector pumping billions of dollars of equity into much-needed, user- or fee-based projects like toll roads, utilities or airports in exchange for being able to collect the revenue long-term, all with an 82% […]

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CCM: CT’s unfunded mandates penalize taxpayers, municipalities

Each mandate that is unfunded, or only partially funded, adds to the already overburdened property tax, and reduces local discretionary authority, said Ron Thomas, deputy director of CCM. Connecticut has had nearly 60 new mandates over the last two years, he added. Some key proposals from the CCM report on unfunded state mandates in Connecticut […]

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