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n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m J a n u a r y / F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 9 | n e w h a v e n B I Z 7 It used to be another state that was called 'Taxachusetts.' And it's not [taxes] on just busi- nesses; it's also individuals. A lot of people focus on tax policy, but to me it's more about affordability overall. Connecticut is an expen- sive place to live, so anything we do that makes it less affordable [poses] a challenge to keep people here that you want to employ in your workforce. On the business side, it's predictability, it's affordability and having that talent pipeline that's so critical. e biggest single differ- entiator companies have with their competitors or states have with other states is talent. How effective are you are developing, attracting and retaining good talent? at's what's going to make your com- pany successful, and that's what's going to make your state successful. One reason Massachusetts is doing well economically… ...is that they have a Republican governor. [Laughs]...is that they've been able to leverage greater Boston as a magnet for capital and talent. I went to law school in Boston four decades ago, and at that point there were more people leaving Boston than coming. I go to Boston now and I hardly recognize it for all the growth. But we have no major cities. Well, we can't turn any Con- necticut city into Boston or New York, but we can do a lot more with them. New Haven has shown a lot of progress attracting more tech companies. ey've got their fiscal challenges and other challenges. But there's a buzz there that wasn't there ten years ago. We ought instead to use our prox- imity to Boston and New York as a competitive advantage. What would it mean to New Haven if we had high- speed rail — 60 minutes to midtown Manhattan? at would be huge. Boston is already experiencing issues related to growth — transportation gridlock, cost of housing. Con- necticut, though it's a high-cost state, can be a lower-cost location for companies than Boston, New York and elsewhere. Providence, for instance, wants to be known as 'Boston South' and capture some of the development spilling out of Boston and have it come to Rhode Island. Connecticut can do the same. If we can draw some of that [corporate] investment that doesn't have the resources to be in downtown Boston, Connecticut is a good alternative to that. How is CBIA itself doing as a 'business'? e economy in Connecticut, adjusted for inflation, has not grown in ten years. e national economy, especially in recent times, has grown at a much great rate. Now we're starting to see some better [state] numbers over recent quarters, but we're still lagging the rest of the nation. So that makes it difficult, when you have mergers and acquisitions and companies relocating out of Connecticut, [for CBIA] to grow membership. Chambers of commerce and others have been struggling with this over the last ten years or so. We're starting to see more growth now because of tax reform and regulatory reform at the national level, and as the national economy is improving we're starting to see some signs of growth largely driven by manufac- turing. If you had told me 20 years ago that in 2018 the biggest driver of the Connecticut economy would be manufacturing, I would have said you were crazy. But because of these contracts — mostly on the defense side but also on the commercial side -- in aircra and shipbuilding, we're seeing a lot of growth in that area — not just for those large companies, but for the hundreds of companies in their supply chains. So we're hopeful we'll see more growth in Connecti- cut — and that will help organiza- tions like ours and others. Why don't more state lawmakers un- derstand that if unskilled labor were worth $15 an hour, companies would already be paying that? A lot of it's just ideology. Some- one said to me once at the Capitol, 'We used to elect public servants; now we elect advocates.' If [elected lawmakers] put ideology ahead of what's good for the state as a whole, Continued on page 41 'If [elected officials] put an ideology ahead of what's good for the state as a whole, that's the real challenge that we face.' John F. Brennan President, CBIA

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