Legislators, Business Owners Clash on State Government Initiatives

Southington’s legislators are not on the same page when it comes to addressing job creation, daycare unionization and insurance regulations designed to help rebuild the state’s economy – and neither are local business owners.

The annual legislative breakfast at the Manor Inn Thursday gave State Sen. Joseph Markley and state representatives Rob Sampson, Bruce “Zeke” Zalaski and Joseph Aresimowicz an opportunity to hear from residents and share what is going on at the capital. The conversation became tense at times as issues surrounding the economic climate took center stage.

“The budget has been a quiet issue this year, primarily because this is a mid-term budget,” said Aresimowicz, a Democrat and Deputy Speaker of the House. “When it comes to that, we are all on the same page with a goal of no new taxes and no new fees.”

When it comes to other issues affecting businesses, however, legislators and business owners were not in agreement.

The heated discussion developed after Angelina SantaMaria, who works in health care, provided a show of support for the unionization of daycare workers. Gov. Dannel Malloy ordered the unionization of daycare providers in 2011 with the signing of .

SantaMaria said while the focus is on unionization, she believes that many have lost sight of the true intention of the bill, which was to make health care more readily available to those working in the field. She also supported an effort currently underway that would allow everyone to join the same health care plan offered to state employees.

“Working within the health care field, I can say that 90 percent of those who come in don’t have adequate health care,” she said. “We are losing site of what these bills are intending to do, which is to provide health insurance for all involved.”

Aresimowicz and Zalaski have supported efforts to improve health care, but Markley and Sampson, both Republicans, expressed concerns over what that and the unionization could mean for the state.

Both Markley and Sampson were recently involved in bringing forth a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the unionization in particular and said that continued government mandates are handcuffing businesses and harming potential economic recovery.

“These efforts; these initiatives have little to do with health care and a lot to do with the freedoms businesses should have,” Sampson said. “When it comes to the daycare mandates, if they wanted to collectively be in a union, that’s something they can establish on their own.”

Sampson added that when it comes to the effort to create a collective pool for insurance, he also believes that the efforts would only lead to high costs for everyone and said it is preventing businesses from coming to Connecticut. He also challenged mandates in place, which limit health care and insurance options available to employers.

Local resident Charlie Cocuzza, a member of the chamber’s board of directors and owner of Omega Communications in Southington, supported the Republican viewpoints.

“The insurance regulations simply put the fees on the businesses and their employees,” Cocuzza said. “As a business owner, we can’t spend what we don’t have and in recent years, it seems the state is just going to tax us for the money they don’t have. I agree with Markley and Sampson that our legislators should be leaving us to do what we do.”

Cocuzza said none of his employees make minimum wage and are all given benefits, but increasing fees are making it difficult to consider any new hires and stifling job growth.

Other business owners chimed in, adding that as fees have increased, the larger businesses largely responsible for the creation of such regulations have left the state, putting more of the burden on Connecticut’s small businesses.

Zalaski and Aresimowicz said the intent of these efforts, particularly from an insurance standpoint, are to help reduce the costs and sustain reduced costs over an extended period of time.

Zalaski, who works at Associated Springs in Bristol, said the company used pooling to help reduce costs in the past and it’s an option the state must look at.

“Pooling is, simply put, one good answer to the cost problems related to health insurance,” Zalaski said. “When you get a bigger group of people together in one pool, it reduces the overall cost and that’s what we are trying to achieve here.”

The , which would provide a $0.50 increase in July 2012 and a second in July 2013, also came up briefly, with business owners showing mixed support.