“When we can make a genetic diagnosis, we can understand much better how to take care of the patient,” says Connecticut Children’s Dr. Louisa Kalsner. This episode of the CBIA BizCast is the second of a two-part discussion on a key issue in Connecticut and across the country—whole genome sequencing. In this episode Paul Pescatello, CBIA senior counsel and executive director of the Connecticut Bioscience Growth Council speaks with Dr. Adam Matson and Dr. Louisa Kalsner from Connecticut Children’s.  Matson is a neonatologist and lead researcher for genomic sequencing in the neonatal and pe ..read more

Legislation banning a range of noncompete agreements stalled earlier this month despite gaining approval from the legislature’s Labor and Public Employees Committee. HB 5269, which the Labor Committee approved in March on an 8-4 party line vote, made noncompete and exclusivity agreements unenforceable under certain conditions. However, the bill was referred by the House to the Judiciary Committee, which did not act on it before its deadline for reporting legislation, effectively killing the measure for this year. HB 5269 made noncompete agreements unenforceable unless restricted to one year or ..read more

The state legislature’s Appropriations Committee held its final meeting to act on bills April 4. In an uncharacteristic move, the committee did not act on adjustments to the current two-year budget proposed by Gov. Ned Lamont.  Instead, the committee will allow the current budget to be the baseline for continuing negotiations.   Committee co-chairs Sen. Cathy Osten (D-Baltic) and Rep. Toni Walker (D-New Haven) highlighted the need to continue to focus on higher education, education, and nonprofit funding with the very limited available state dollars left.   Ranking mem ..read more

The legislature’s Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committee wrapped up its committee work this week, advancing 26 bills to the House and Senate ahead of the April 4 reporting deadline. The committee did not produce an adjusted revenue plan for the upcoming fiscal year. The unusual move comes on the heels of an announcement earlier in the week that majority party legislative leaders opted to not make budget adjustments this session. Any adjustments required adopting revised downward projections for revenue and budget cuts to fall within the state’s spending cap to reflect cost overruns and requir ..read more

The legislature’s Judiciary Committee has approved a bill that bans nondisclosure agreements related to workplace discrimination claims. SB 4, a wide-ranging measure that is also designed to protect domestic violence victims and “deter the unsolicited transmission of intimate images,” was approved on a party-line, 24-11 vote. The bill, specifically Section Three, received broad opposition from industry groups during a committee public hearing last month. SB 4 makes it a discriminatory practice if an employer requires or requests a prospective, current or former employee or independent contract ..read more

Life after the Connecticut Transfer Act is going to be great! At least that’s what we’ve been told.   What post-Transfer Act life is going to look like and when it will begin are still a bit of a mystery, however.  That said, certain aspects of the post-Transfer Act world are coming into focus. It’s time for anyone involved in owning, managing, leasing, selling, buying, lending, or investing in real estate in Connecticut to start thinking about how the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s eventual implementation of the Release-Based Cleanup Regulations (which will ..read more

The Connecticut General Assembly confirmed Gov. Ned Lamont’s nomination of Dan O’Keefe to lead the Department of Economic and Community Development March 25. The state House unanimously endorsed O’Keefe’s nomination following an earlier unanimous vote by the legislature’s Executive and Legislative Nominations Committee. O’Keefe, who has 25 years experience in the software, consumer and financial technology investment markets, served as commissioner-designate since he was nominated in November to replace Alexandra Daum. He joined the Lamont administration last July, when he was appointed the st ..read more

“First of all, make your voices heard.”  That was the message from Gov. Ned Lamont to hundreds of business leaders at Connecticut Business Day 2024. The March 25 event at the Bushnell Performing Arts Center provided an important opportunity for business leaders to connect and engage with state lawmakers with less than six weeks left in the 2024 legislative session. “It’s obviously become a critical piece of the session to have the business community come up here and engage with their lawmakers and policymakers about the things that are critical to their businesses, their employees, their ..read more

A critical bill providing small business employees with affordable, high-quality healthcare plans is in doubt after a legislative committee failed to act on any legislation. The Insurance and Real Estate Committee failed to favorably report any legislation raised this session before its March 21 deadline, effectively killing every bill. HB 5247, which has broad bipartisan support, received the most attention during the committee’s public hearing process, with more than 50 small employers and trade associations testifying in support. The bill allowed trade associations and chambers of commerce ..read more

The legislature’s Commerce Committee acted March 21 on legislation focused on spurring economic growth and promoting tourism, bioscience, and manufacturing.   SB 379, which increases the rate of the credit refund value for research and development expenses of biotechnology companies to 100% was referred to the Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committee. CBIA supported this bill, emphasizing how important R&D is to biotech innovation and how effective tax credits are as an economic development tool.  CBIA’s Ashley Zane told committee members the bill aligns Connecticut with neig ..read more