OLR Bill Analysis
AN ACT CONCERNING EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS ADMINISTERED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND THE CONNECTICUT DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
This bill changes the scope, reporting deadline, and distribution requirements for the annual reports the economic and community development commissioner must prepare evaluating how the state's economic development programs performed during the prior fiscal year. Under current law, he must submit separate reports on the Department of Economic and Community Development's (DECD) programs and those of the quasi-public Connecticut Development Authority (CDA) and Connecticut Innovations, Inc. (CII). The commissioner must base these reports on an evaluation plan that he had to develop by July 1, 1995, in consultation with CDA, CII, and the Program Review and Investigations Committee.
The bill requires the commissioner to report only on DECD's programs. But it also expands the report's scope by requiring the commissioner to measure the extent to which DECD's programs benefited the economy and society. The commissioner must include this analysis in the report every other year, beginning January 1, 2004.
The bill changes the annual deadline for submitting the evaluation report from October 1 to January 1, beginning in 2004. It also drops the requirement that DECD submit the report to the 27-member advisory Connecticut Economic Conference Board (CEBC) for review and comments and the corresponding requirement that the board submit its comments to the Commerce, Appropriations, and Finance committees by the January 1 following the October 1 submission. The bill instead requires the commissioner to submit the report directly to those committees.
The bill requires the commissioner to post the report on DECD's web page within 30 days after he submits it to the legislative committees.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2003
ECONOMIC BENEFIT
The bill requires the commissioner to analyze how DECD's programs benefited the economy and include this evaluation in the program report every other year, beginning January 1, 2004. The bill specifies the economic and social criteria he must use to evaluate the programs.
The commissioner must determine the extent to which businesses, towns, and nonprofits receiving over $ 1 million in funding have:
1. increased property values in the towns where they are located,
2. helped to increase the total value of all goods and services made or delivered in the state,
3. increased the extent to which workers are increasing the number of goods they produce per hour,
4. enhanced other economic development projects,
5. directly or indirectly created new jobs, and
6. stopped or decreased job loss.
The commissioner must also determine the extent to which DECD-funded organizations' employees participate in their employers' health plans and whether the organizations DECD funds have improved the quality of life by offering unique economic, social, cultural, or aesthetic values to their host towns and the state. The bill allows the commissioner to analyze the programs' benefits based on any other qualitative criteria DECD uses to provide financial and nonfinancial assistance.
BACKGROUND
CEBC
The CECB helps the legislature and the governor evaluate the state economy's health and future. It has 27 members, including the governor; commissioners from six state agencies; the chairs and ranking members of the Commerce, Finance, Revenue and Bonding, and Education committees; and eight other legislative and executive appointees. The statutes require the board to prepare three annual reports, which evaluate state programs, the state's competitiveness, and the condition of the state's economic clusters.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Commerce Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea |
21 |
Nay |
0 |