The leader of Connecticut’s largest business organization has written to Governor Dannel Malloy asking for an emergency summit on the budget.
Joe Brennan of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association says the controversial tax and spending plan has created a crisis in the state, and said the response from the business community has been unprecedented.
"With the impact of some of the large companies reconsidering their ability to stay in Connecticut, based on this budget," Brennan told WNPR, "and the impact that's going to have on hundreds and hundreds of smaller companies, and thousands and thousands of employees from those small companies, I felt we had to do something."
General Electric has said it will consider leaving Connecticut, while Aetna has complained the budget will hike its state tax liabilities by 27 percent. Brennan said he’d like to see substantive changes made to the budget during the upcoming special legislative session.
"I thought to request the governor to pull together a meeting with myself, the legislative leaders and the Governor, just to get ahead of this thing a little bit."
Brennan said the CBIA has been hearing from businesses of all sizes and in all industries, concerned about the impact of the budget on their ability to compete.