Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1537782
14 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JULY 28, 2025 State Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katie Dykes launched an effort to streamline the agency's permitting processes, with the goal of improving its transparency, efficiency and predictability by the end of 2026. HBJ Photo | Steve Laschever Trimming Back CT attempts to buckle down on overregulation with environmental permitting reform; some argue more is needed not just in Connecticut, but across the country. Consumer advocate Ralph Nader's crusade for stronger consumer protections in the 1960s and 1970s led to a wave of landmark regu- lations, including in Connecticut, where the 91-year-old lawyer and political activist resides. But the robust regulatory envi- ronment that enhanced consumer protections also contributed, in the eyes of critics, to an overabun- dance of red tape that some view as burdensome for businesses and the economy. The regulatory environment covers everything from labor and health insurance mandates to the lawsuit/ liability climate, industry oversight, permitting and overall bureaucracy. Now, many business leaders and some state officials — including Democrats — believe the pendulum has swung too far in favor of government regulations, and they are seeking to undo some of the bureaucratic constraints. "I think there was a period of time where we promulgated a lot of regulations in order to protect the environment, protect health, protect lots of different things," said Christo- pher Davis, vice president of public policy at the Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA). "I By Andrew Larson alarson@hartfordbusiness.com U npredictable, inconsistent and unfriendly are some of the more benign words that business leaders and credit rating agencies have used to describe Connecticut's Byzantine regulatory approach. Connecticut consistently ranks poorly in national business climate studies when it comes to the cost of doing business and the complexity of its regulations. In recent years, investment bank UBS and Regulatory Research Associates, a unit of Standard & Poor's, have placed Connecticut into their bottom-tier utilities regulatory environment rankings. Connecticut's Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) is facing fierce criticism from utility companies Eversource Energy and Avangrid Inc. for recent decisions that have roiled investors and crip- pled the utilities' ability to recover capital expenses. In June, Moody's Ratings down- graded the credit ratings of Ever- source subsidiary Connecticut Light and Power Co., calling Connecticut "the least credit supportive utility regulatory environment in the U.S." Meantime, CNBC's 2025 "Ameri- ca's Top States for Business" index recently ranked Connecticut 28th overall, an improvement from No. 32 in 2024. However, the state ranked worse — No. 32 — in the business-friendliness category. According to a 2021 report by George Mason University's Mercatus Center, greater regulatory burdens are correlated with regres- sive effects: increased poverty rates, higher levels of income inequality, reduced entrepreneurship and increased consumer prices. The report cites research that found, between 1997 and 2015, the effective federal regulatory burden in Connecticut increased by 56%, contributing to a 14% rise in the state's poverty rate. Also, between 1999 and 2015, industry-level federal regulatory restrictions increased by an average of 3.78%, according to the study. Based on that average, Connecticut lost about 110 small firms and 1,541 jobs annually as a result of regulatory hurdles, the researchers found. Cumbersome regulations have been accumulating for decades, SERIES | CT'S ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS