Hartford Business Journal

10 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JANUARY 26, 2026 ON THE RECORD | Q& A down a portion of the public benefits charge, with estimated per-customer savings of $5 to $10 per month. DiPentima said that was an encouraging start. "It was good to see a bipartisan working group compromise on that, quite honestly," he said, adding that the collaboration needs to continue. DiPentima said he wants legislators to eliminate the 6.5% sales-and-use tax on energy bills for nonmanufacturing industrial and commercial customers — the only entities that still pay it — which he said would bring Connecticut in line with neighboring states. "It's not a huge number, but … if you're a small or large business, that would have an immediate impact," he said. Lamont sat down with Hartford Business Journal in his Capitol office to discuss a range of issues. Below are additional excerpts from the inter- view. Answers were edited for length and clarity. Q. What are your impressions of the state economy? A. I think we're in a pretty good place. I think our economic growth the last year or so has been way above average. (Connecticut's GDP grew 4.6% in the second quarter of 2025 vs. the U.S.' 3.8% growth.) Our unemployment rate (4%) is below the national average. So those are two pluses. Our (two-year, $55.8 billion) state budget is still in the black, not by a lot, but we're still in the black, which is better than most other states. I think that our anchor tenants are pretty strong, starting with advanced manufacturing, especially in the defense sector, and I think we can count on that for a while. I think life sciences is booming in the Greater New Haven area. … I think construction is going to stay strong for a while. That's roads, bridges, rail, even housing. Q. What are your other main priorities this session? A. I care very much about an honestly balanced budget and to make sure we don't play any games there. I think we're still in pretty good shape. I want to make sure we honor our commitment to the early childhood endowment. We got some pretty strong capital gains, so I think we'll be in a good position to be able to do that. Q. What should businesses expect from the upcoming session? A. Do I see any big tax-related changes regarding business? I don't think so. The (federal) Big Beautiful Bill has got some advantages in terms of big job training and scholarship forgive- ness grants, which leverages what we're doing already. Q. Are you happy with the incentives Connecticut has for business development? A. I thought we over-relied on incen- tives 10 years ago. It almost became a bidding war between us and New York in how much we'd pay. But we do have a formula. If you add this number of jobs, we'll give you this much money (through the state's JobsCT tax rebate program). I think timing is really important. We're speeding up the incentive approval process, rather than adding on a lot of new incentives. Q. Beyond the budget, what are your longer-term priorities? A. I think you're going to see the state transformed in terms of housing, mainly in our 25 largest cities, and transportation. So an old state that hadn't had a lot of capital investment, it's going to have a lot over the next five years. In the next 10 years, I don't think you'll recognize the state. … If I can speed up transportation, speed up rail, I think that will be enormous, not to mention make it safer. But more to the point, even bigger than that, we have the wind at our backs on housing. People want to be here. Great demand is driving up the cost of housing. We need more supply, for not just affordable and supportive housing, but workforce housing and young people. Gov. Ned Lamont delivers his budget address at the state Capitol during the 2025 legislative session. Photo | Shahrzad Rasekh/CT Mirror Legislative Agenda Continued from page 9

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