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Sponsors
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 Friday
Facts - Archives -
Month
of April 2003
Current
Week
April
25, 2003
Finance and Appropriations committee to vote on tax and spending package next week. Is the governor running again? Legislative reception reminder. Golf classic update. COR program expands into community college.
· As we go to print with this weeks Friday Facts, the legislature's two money committees are expected to unveil their version of the state budget to their respective committees next week.
· The Appropriations Committee will go first on Wednesday when they are expected to vote out of committee on some sort of spending plan for fiscal year 2004 - 2005. The Finance Committee will then vote on Thursday on revenues (tax increases and fees) to match the spending side. Or least that is the plan.
· How they arrive at those numbers is still anybody's guess.
· Late last week, both House and Sen. Democrats, who hold the majority of votes in the legislature, held caucus to go over the state of the state budget.
· In the House, Speaker Lyons described her caucus this way " Today begins the education process about how bad it is". She added, " It's not just a matter of a deficit budget, but how much can you spend".
· Privately, most legislators in leadership positions have told us that rank and file legislators do not understand that because of the spending cap, there will have to be serious spending cuts to go along with tax increases. The complete focus of the House caucus for instance was to hammer home that point.
· On the tax side we are hearing lots of rumors, none that are real good for retailers.
· It appears that a majority of the House Democrats would favor an increase in the sales tax of .5%, along with a progressive increase in the income tax.
· An increase in the sales tax, however, does not appear to be favored by Sen. President Sullivan.
· He stated again last week that he opposes raising the sales tax. He did leave the door open a crack however, by stating that he would consider some increases in certain areas along with an increase in the income tax.
· On the GOP side, their response to all this talk of tax increases was somewhat predicable. Sen. Deluca, the leading Republican in the State Senate, said that he does not favor an increase in any taxes and criticized the Democrats for not focusing more of their attention on spending reductions.
· Bottom line on next week's committee action: it will not be the end game, only the beginning of what may be a long, tense budget game.
Is the Governor Running again?
· Remember after the fall election when Governor Rowland said this four-year term would be his last? Well, hold on a second.
· Earlier this week the Governor announced that he just might seek another term after all.
· That set off a flurry of activity and buzz around political circles at the capitol and beyond. Remember, the Democrat's have not held the Governor's office since the end of the O'Neill administration in 1990. They have been waiting for the end of the Rowland era so that they can have at least a shot of putting one of theirs in the office.
· Most insiders believe that Rowland should have never announced in the first place that he might not run for a fourth term because it instantly made him a lame duck governor.
· The conventional wisdom among insiders is that this announcement is just a ploy on the part of Rowland to remind the Democrats, and even some in his own party, that he still owns the seat of power in state government and just might not give it up without a fight.
· Our guess is that it is a strategic decision on the governor's part, right in time for the budget fight - even if the job pays $150,000 a year with a nice house to live in and a driver. We think he has had enough and is getting ready for a new chapter in his life, he just wants this one to end on his terms
Legislative Reception
· If you have never been to our State Capitol, you should use the occasion of our annual legislative reception to make a visit. It is a beautiful and historic building.
· Our reception is being held at the State Capitol's Old Judiciary Room on Wednesday May 14, 2003. The event will run from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. and is no charge to members.
· Also, we are very happy to report that the International Council of Shopping Centers will once again act as our sponsor for the evening. Thank you to ICSC and especially Mike Goman from Konover for your support again this year.
· If you would like to attend, please RSVP to our office by calling 860 - 527 - 1044 or by emailing us via our website at
www.crmaonline.
Golf Classic update
· With the warmer weather upon us - sort of - a good round of golf can't be far behind. And with the CRMA 2nd annual golf classic it is right around the corner.
· Don't forget to send in your golf registration for this year's event, which promises to be bigger and better than last year's inaugural one.
· The golf classic will be held on June 10th at Blackledge CC in Hebron, CT. If you would like to join us but have lost your registration sheet or need additional information, please call us at 860 - 527 - 1044. You can also register online, by visiting our website,
www.crmaonline.com. In the upper left hand corner you will find all the information you need on the golf tournament - and for your convenience, the ability to register online.
COR Update
· The COR program has expanded into Capital Community College under a new name and agenda, Opportunities in Customer Service and Sales
(OCSS).
· OCSS will run once a week as part of CCC's Customer Service Institute of Connecticut. It is an 18-hour program specifically designed to target customer service, sales and workplace topics. The program will begin on May 9th and will conclude on June 6th.
· OCSS can result in the student earning National Professional Certification in Customer Service awarded by the National Retail Federation Foundation and the Sales & Service Voluntary Partnership.
· Look for updates on OCSS and COR in future Friday Facts' under Workforce Development.
· If you have any questions about OCSS or COR, feel free to contact Michele
Mesek, Workforce Development Director at 860 - 527 - 1044 or via email at
michele@crmaonline.com
April 17, 2003
Judiciary Committee takes action on gift card and identity theft bills. Budget update. Legislative reception at State Capitol set for May 14, 2003. Golf classic update.
· On Wednesday of this week the Judiciary Committee took action on two bills that will impact retailers.
· One bill, which we opposed, was SB 121, "ACC Unclaimed Property". This bill would expand the definition of gift certificate to include gift cards and require that any unused portion of the gift card be returned to the state after 3 years.
· The State Treasure's office is pushing hard for this bill and although it passed out of committee there, it has bi-partisan opposition. The final vote tally was 26-16 in favor of the bill.
· The Judiciary Committee also acted on a bill that we supported HB 688,
"AAC Identity Theft". This bill would strengthen penalties for persons convicted of identify fraud. This bill may still need some work, but we the changes the Judiciary Committee made is a step in the right direction.
· The bill passed with bi-partisan support in the Judiciary Committee
Money Committee extends deadlines.
· In an otherwise quite week under the golden dome, the State Senate passed a resolution on Tuesday that would extend the deadline that both the Appropriations and Finance Committees have to act on bills.
· This extension, which is only one week, sends a message to those of us watching the budget process that members aren't close to a budget deal and that more work needs to be done.
· The Finance Committee members that we have spoken to have indicated to us that the issue of what taxes to raise in order to close the budget gap still remains unresolved. The Sen. President again this week voiced his opposition to any increase in the sales tax.
· If those two committee deadlines pass with no budget being reported out, then Sen. Sullivan's prediction for an October special session to pass a budget could come true.
Legislative Reception
· CRMA's legislative reception will be held once again this year at the State Capitol's Old Judiciary Committee room. The event will take place on Wednesday May 14th from 6:00p.m to 8:00p.m.
· There is no charge to members to attend this event and it is a great way for members to meet their legislators in a causal setting.
· If you are interested in attending, please contact us by calling our office at 860-527-1044 or by email us through our website at
www.crmaonline.com.
CRMA Golf Classic update:
· We are beginning to see some golf registration for our 2nd annual golf classic that is being held on June 10, 2003.
· There is still time for those members who wish to send in registration sheets. Remember corporate funds can be used this year for foursomes, individual golfers or sponsorship.
· The golf committee has tried to keep the cost of the event reasonable so that all size members can participate. The golf tournament is a lot of fun, and the money raised goes to a good cause - CRMA
· Please make every effort to participate this year. Visit us online at www.crmaonline.com for more information. If you have any questions, please feel free to call the office at 860-527-1044 or email me at
tim@crmaonline.com
· We received this message from a member this week and would like to share it with all of you:
· To all of you who consider this week amongst your holiest, we send our best wishes to you and your families and ask that you join us in a prayer for all mankind.
April 11, 2003
Finance Committee holds public hearing on tax increases. Gift certificate and Identity theft issues before the Judiciary Committee. CRMA lobbying results in a number of bad bills being defeated in other committees. Legislative reception set for May 14th at State Capitol. CRMA Golf Classic up-date. COR program update.
· Late last week the Legislature's Finance Revenue and Bonding committee held a public hearing on a number of bills that would effect the retail industry.
· Most notably are the bills that would eliminate the sales tax holiday and one that would increase the sales tax .5% point.
· CRMA testified in favor of keeping the sales tax free week and opposed to any increase in the sales tax.
· With respect to the sales tax holiday, we informed the committee that the sales tax free week is now an important part of a retailer's ability to stay competitive while giving customers great savings. In addition, with the recent action of the legislature to lower the clothing exemption allowance from $75 to $50, the sales tax free week is even more important to retailers and customers.
· In our opposition to the increase in sales tax, we informed the committee that it is simply the wrong time to increase that particular tax. The sales tax is a regressive tax that would hurt our customer base as well as put members further behind retailers in the neighboring states of New York and Massachusetts.
· The committee also heard public input on a bill that CRMA strongly supports, HB 6669, forces vendors doing business with the state to start collecting sales tax on all of their customers in CT.
· Currently, if a vendor doing business with the state as a remote seller of computers, for instance, they do not have to charge sales tax on any customers within CT. We think this is wrong and if HB 6669 is passed, it will in one small way, level the playing field for all retailers doing business in CT.
Sullivan says budget may not get passed until next fall.
· After a week of strong rumors about the state of the budget, Sen. President Kevin Sullivan came Friday and all but announced that no budget deal would be reached until some time this fall, well after the regular session adjourns June 4th.
· Sullivan's announcement, which comes as no real surprise given the nature of the problem and the bad blood that still exists over the last budget that was adopted, does sort of throw a wrench into things.
· For instance, what if the legislature does not take action on a budget until after Labor Day and the fiscal year ends June 30th. How does the state pay its bills? What does it mean for the budget committees like Finance and Appropriations? Do they still vote out a budget?
· To find out these answers we, will have to keep monitoring what's happening at the capitol and we will keep sending you updates via the Friday Facts.
· We would, however, strongly advise all members not to wait for the legislature to act on these budget bills until after they effect us. We need to let legislators know today that any increase in the sales tax or the elimination of the sales tax holiday will have negative effect on the retail industry and our customers.
· We urge you to call your legislator today, if you don't know whom it is, call or email us at 860-527-1044 or
tim@crmaonline.com and we will help you.
· Also, look for a special notice next week about how to write or call your state legislator. We are developing a number of tools that members can use when contacting their legislator and hope to have that out within the next week.
Other news and notes from the capitol
· In other capitol news, the issue of gift certificates and gift cards has emerged in the Judiciary Committee, in the form of SB 121.
· This bill, which will be held for a public hearing on Monday, would extend gift cards into the definition of abandoned property. We will strongly oppose this or any other measure that seeks to include gift cards as abandoned property.
· The Planning and Development Committee killed a bill (SB 393) that would have imposed a gross receipt tax on all retailers. We want to thank Sen. Fonfara and others on the P&D committee for killing this bill.
· The judiciary committee is also considering action on bill that we generally support HB 6645 that would increase the penalty for people convicted of identity theft.
· To those members of the legislative committee, please note that your recent tracking sheet has been significantly reduced due to the success we have had in killing bills.
· All the bills listed on the tracking sheet are those that are still alive.
· Reminder that our next legislative committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday April 17th at 9:00 am.
· If any members would like to join our legislative committees please feel free to call or email us at 806-527-1044 or
tim@crmaonline.com and we will add you to the list.
· Legislative Reception set for May 14 at State Capitol.
· Invitations to for our annual legislative reception will go out to members this week.
· Once again, the reception will be held in the State Capitol's Old Judiciary Room.
· The date for the event is the evening of May 14th from 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. The legislative reception is a great way for members to interact in a causal setting with legislators to talk about issues effecting the retail industry.
CRMA Golf Classic Reminder:
· Don't forget to return your Golf registration sheet for this year's CRMA Golf Classic!
· The golf outing will be held on June 10th at Blackledge CC in Hebron CT. For more information visit us online at www.crmaonline.com and double click on events.
· If you have any questions about the golf event please email us at
tim@crmaonline.com or call us at 860-527-1044
COR Update
· National Professional Certification in Customer Service is here!
· Some CRMA referrals may have obtained National Professional Certification in Customer Service. Please grant these applicants special priority when filling positions in your store.
· CRMA's has developed new 18-hour training program in sales and customer service. Attendees of this program will be Nationally Certified Professionals in Customer Service. The first run of this program will be in Hartford at Capital Community College and will conclude in June.
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