Now that the primaries are over and races (mostly) finalized, it’s time to find out where candidates for the General Assembly stand on the issues that are critical to Connecticut’s future. Exactly how do they propose to create jobs? What would they do to grow the state’s economy? Are they willing to make government more accountable?

CBIA has asked all House and Senate candidates to let voters know where they stand on a series of issues that are critical to the future of our state.  Not all candidates have yet responded to our exclusive candidate survey, and results are still coming in, but many of the candidates’ answers to our questions are eye-openers.

It’s so important for voters this year to dig deep to find out who is best suited to helping Connecticut rebound and recover from a tough economy. To see if your candidates have responded, here is our current list. To learn more about your candidates, use the Meet the Candidates search on our Election Central Website. And most important, if a candidate or candidates in your area have yet to respond to our survey, call or e-mail and ask them to respond today.

Recent actions by the Connecticut General Assembly to rescue the public financing of political campaigns shows that lawmakers can act fairly quickly when a shared cause, and their own interests, are at the center of the debate. Because so many candidates for the legislature are relying on public financing for their campaigns (rather than having to raise significant sums themselves), they considered it of paramount importance to keep the public program intact, despite several judicial setbacks.

A federal appeals court struck down certain parts of Connecticut campaign finance law, including a component that awarded additional public funds if a candidate’s opponent opted out of the system and spent large sums on his or her campaign. The legislature passed a bill, later vetoed by Gov. Rell, to increase the grants given to gubernatorial candidates. Democrats in the House and Senate, with one exception, voted to override the Governor’s veto. All Republicans opposed the override.

There are, however, more pressing issues facing the citizens of the state of Connecticut than campaign dollars. One issue is the enormous budget deficit that the legislature will have to confront after this November’s election. Projections continue to show state-budget shortfalls of nearly $4 billion in each of the next two fiscal years. Connecticut also has amassed an unimaginable $60 billion in unfunded liabilities for state employee health and retirement benefits, and other costs.

These numbers are not only alarming financially; they are chilling to economic growth and job creation. Employers, investors and entrepreneurs are wary of investing in a state that continues to borrow rather than deal with the messy work of controlling spending and balancing a budget. The threat of significantly higher taxes to close the budget gap and pay off our borrowing debts makes any reasonable rate of return on investments problematic.

This fall, when candidates for governor and for the legislature talk about the need to create jobs in Connecticut (and it’s a familiar campaign theme) ask them how they would close the budget deficit without driving investment and jobs out of the state. Some may let their guard down and say what they actually believe–perhaps, for example, that Connecticut has a revenue problem and that we have to raise taxes on those two old reliable tax targets, the wealthy and large corporations. If so, voters should challenge the candidates to explain how additional tax increases would encourage people to invest and create jobs here.

Also ask candidates if they would support proposals to make Connecticut’s government smaller and more affordable while actually improving services. It can be done, despite what some may say. A Connecticut think tank, the Regional Institute for the 21st Century, has been studying ways state government can save significant dollars and improve the quality of services offered by the state.

All voters in Connecticut should get candidates to pledge that they will make the tough decisions needed to get our state back on track. This election is too important, and we can’t waste the opportunity to change direction.

For more information on the issues and candidates, go to CBIA’s Election Central at cbia.com.

Once again Connecticut’s application for the U.S. Department of Education’s Race To The Top Grant has been denied. Nineteen states have been named as finalists, but our state isn’t one of them. There was hope that the education reform bill passed by the legislature earlier this year would boost the state’s chances, but that didn’t happen.

Our Inside the Capitol blog will move from its normal location on our home page to accommodate our new Election Central portal that will be going live shortly. It can be your one-stop for information on the August 10 primary and for the November 2 general election. Inside the Capitol will be found in the right hand column of our home page.

While the details are going to be sorted out by attorneys and others for days, we do know that two major decisions from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued today will turn financing of political campaigns in Connecticut upside down. The cases challenged several aspects of Connecticut’s campaign finance laws. One case rules that the ban on lobbyist contributions is unconstitutional (state contractors cannot make contributions but can solicit contributions for candidates), and the second throws out trigger provisions that allow candidates using public financing to access additional funds based on expenditure levels of their opponents.

We’ll post more information on these decisions as we wade through the rulings from the Court.

Several important primary elections for both Republicans and Democrats will be held on August 10. The web site of the Secretary of State has information for those who need to register or who need to vote by absentee ballot. We’ll have more details on the primaries as the date approaches.

In may be no surprise given Connecticut’s generous pension benefits for state retirees and our penchant for underfunding the pension system, but it is still sobering news to read that our pension fund may be insolvent by 2019. A new study by Northwestern University includes Connecticut as one of seven states whose pension funds will go broke over the next decade if changes aren’t made. Only Indiana is projected to run dry before Connecticut.

Here’s moreon the issue from the CT Mirror’s Keith Phaneuf.

If your facility has underground storage tanks (USTs), you should be aware that the CT Dept. Of Environmental Protection, has just released proposed changes to the state UST regulations and is holding a public hearing on July 28 beginning at 10 a.m. at their Hartford office building.

CBIA, through its Environmental Policies Council (EPC), will be reviewing the proposed changes and preparing comments for the public hearing. To learn more about the proposed changes, visit the EPC’s Underground Storage Tank website or contact Eric Brown at 860-244-1926.

Trying to wrap up their 2010 business in one day, both the House of Representatives and the state Senate are meeting this afternoon in two separate sessions. Both are meeting in a veto session to override several of the bills vetoed by Gov. Rell earlier this year. They are also meeting in a special session to take up a bill containing several items, including a one-year extension to a portion of the real estate conveyance tax.

Neither of the two bills that CBIA urged the Governor to veto, the energy bill and the new tax on TARP bonuses, were overridden by the General Assembly

CNNMoney.com published an excellent article this week that takes a critical look at the Massachusetts health care reform law and postulates what the impact of the new federal reform law may be on employers and employees. The piece avoids political comments but rather focuses on the real world impact, or potential impact, of the Massachusetts and federal laws. It is worth reading.