GUEST COLUMN: Leave the DECD Alone

CONTRIBUTEDOver the last few years there’s been a lot of discussion about the poor business environment in Connecticut and whether government can rehabilitate our reputation.

Employers large and small, from every corner of the state, have provided suggestions for moving Connecticut from the cellar of the pro-business” pecking order. Implementing their ideas in pursuit of meaningful and measurable change will require laser focus from legislators on both sides of the aisle, our governor and the state’s top economic officials.

A proposal from the governor, however, spotlights whether the agency tasked with carrying Connecticut’s flag will have the focus equivalent to the mission’s needs.

In brief, the governor would have our red carpet agency, the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development, expend valuable time and effort tackling issues that would be better handled by social services staffers. Click here to read a CTNewsJunkie article about the proposal.

The governor, in his recent budget proposal, put housing-related issues squarely on the plate of our state’s chief economic development agency. Gov. Malloy offered a plan to increase the nearly $60 million DECD budget by $94 million to roughly $154 million.

How significant is the proposed emphasis on housing?

Of that increase, $91 million is tied to housing-related programs that are today handled by three other state agencies: the Department of Social Services, the Office of Policy and Management, and the Department of Children and Families.

Among the social service programs the governor has proposed moving to DECD are: residences for persons with AIDS, emergency shelters for the homeless, tax relief for elderly renters, security deposit guarantee, and transitional living and housing mediation.

Running those housing programs would dilute the potency of our effort to improve our economy at a time when we should do everything we can to restore the more than 100,000 private sector jobs lost over the last three to four years.

How will this type of shift affect DECDs ability to focus on recent breakthroughs, such as the new bipartisan Small Business Express” program — an initiative Connecticut employers view as a small yet positive step toward improvement?

It’s a question that legislators on both sides of the aisle should ask.

The governor’s proposed reorganization not only highlights, but also exacerbates a longstanding problem here: a lack of emphasis on business development and job creation.

In Catherine Smith the governor appears to have a focused, energetic person to spearhead Connecticut’s economic development efforts. But I worry that her enthusiasm could be substantially blunted by his housing-heavy vision.

Let’s move in the opposite direction than what’s outlined in the governor’s proposal. We should narrow the mission of DECD to focus solely on attracting businesses to our state, assisting those already here, and administering programs designed to help them.

Over and over, business owners have said they want government to get out of their way. If he proceeds by heaping bureaucracy upon the agency designed to help them, Gov. Malloy would, essentially, erect another barrier between employers and growth potential. 

The author is the state representative in the 114th district, representing Derby, Orange and Woodbridge.

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