Many business leaders and some state officials — including Democrats — believe an overabundance of government regulations have hampered economic growth in Connecticut and across the country.
The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection is among the agencies trying to fix that – by streamlining its permitting processes.
Connecticut consistently ranks poorly in national business climate studies when it comes to the cost of doing business and the complexity of its regulations.
Connecticut’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority is facing fierce criticism from utility companies Eversource Energy and Avangrid Inc. for recent decisions that have roiled investors and crippled the utilities’ ability to recover capital expenses.
Meantime, CNBC’s 2025 “America’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.
