[This story has been updated from a previous version]
Gov. Dannel Malloy plans to pursue legislation authorizing additional spending to help Connecticut companies create new jobs and help unemployed residents find work, he said in his State of the State address Thursday afternoon.
Malloy wants an initial $25 million for a new $125 million fund meant to help manufacturers buy equipment, train workers and develop new technology.
He also wants to extend the Department of Economic and Community Development’s Small Business Express program, which supplies financing to certain small businesses that are creating new jobs. The program has now helped nearly 1,000 businesses, Malloy said.
Malloy also wants to increase the minimum wage to $10.10 by 2017. The state’s minimum wage increased to $9 on Jan. 1.
The legislation will likely face pushback from the business lobby, which argues that it will result in fewer jobs. Some booing could be heard after Malloy discussed the wage hike today.
“If you don’t agree you should ask yourself would you work for $10.10 for a 40-hour week?” he responded. “This is good public policy, it is good economic policy and it is the right thing to do.”
Malloy also wants to issue approximately $155 million in additional tax refunds from the pool of sales and gas taxes the state has collected. Under the proposal, single filers would receive $55 while couples would receive $110.
“It is my belief that it should be a down payment on larger tax cuts as the economy improves and continues to improve in the years ahead,” Malloy said.
He noted that the lion’s share of the state’s estimated $500 million surplus will be used to replenish the state’s Rainy Day fund with $270 million, and that he intends to save, not spend, any additional surplus realized this fiscal year.
Malloy also wants legislative approval for an additional $10 million for the state’s Step Up program, which helps the unemployed access training to get new jobs. The program has worked with 578 businesses, which hired more than 2,000 people, according to the governor.
And he wants to boost universal pre-Kindergarten enrollment by 4,000 students over the next four years and spend $134.5 million on technology and other capital projects at the 17 colleges and universities in the state system.
