Governor Dannel Malloy has unveiled the agenda for next week's special legislative session on jobs. And as WNPR's Jeff Cohen reports, he says the plan has bipartisan support.
Malloy called for the session over the summer, in part because he wanted the state to present a unified front on economic development. Now, he and legislative leaders are proposing a plan that has several facets -- from streamlining the state's regulatory process to supporting the growth of small businesses with $180 million in loans, grants, and tax credits.
"There's a dozen things in here that are helpful to small businesses and we have specifically targeted small businesses to be eligible to receive tens upon tens of millions of dollars."
Since he first floated the idea for a special session on jobs, Malloy put a special priority on making sure that any plan brought before the entire legislature had support from both Democrats and Republicans. This plan does.
"I think it says that we understand that the failure to address job growth, job retention on a bipartisan basis has hurt the State of Connecticut and that we're changing direction."
Malloy also spoke about his proposal to use nearly $300 million in state money to bring about the development of a new, $1.1 billion bioscience lab at the UConn Health Center -- the Jackson Laboratory project. The idea has met with some Republican resistance.
The governor says he'll address any concerns brought to his attention, but that the lab project is already paying off.
"I will also tell you that since the Jackson Labs potential deal was announced, we have had expressions of interest from other medical research folks about coming to Connecticut."
The legislature's jobs session is scheduled for next Wednesday.
For WNPR, I'm Jeff Cohen.