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January 31, 2003

General Assembly cancels session to deal with budget due to questionable revenue estimates. Current UConn poll shows some surprising numbers. CRMA opposes privacy bill as an unnecessary infringement on small retailers. Washington update. Retail news and notes. COR update.

· In last weeks Friday Facts we told you that it was our understanding that the General Assembly's Democratic majorities in the House and Senate were planning on holding a session this week to reject Governor Rowland's deficit reduction plan.

· We also told you that word had leaked out about the Democrats plans for their own deficit reduction plan.

· Well, we were almost right.

· It seems that the General Assembly was on schedule to go into session and even had worked out most of the details of their own plan when a slight problem emerge - the number they were given by their own budget office didn't add up.

· Oops-. The Office of Fiscal Analysis, OFA, informed the Democratic leaders that the revenue numbers they gave the legislature for income tax increases were off, and not by a little bit.

· It seems that OFA overestimated by about $270 million the amount that would be generated under one proposal for an across the board increase in the state income tax.

· This sent leaders back to the drawing board and has further delayed any vote on any plan to close the state budget gap.

· So, now we are back to a wait and see on the budget. We will continue to keep a close on eye on it and will report if anything new develops.

UCONN Poll favors income tax increase over sales tax

· According to the latest UCONN Poll, which was released Thursday, a majority of Connecticut residents support increases in the state income tax as a means of balancing the budget deficit. They also reject the idea of increasing the state sales tax.

· According to the UConn Poll 79% of CT residents support a 4.5% to 5.75% rate hike on income over $2millioin. 78% support a 4.5% to 5.5% increases for income over $1 million; 76% favor a 4.5% to 5.25% rate hike for income over $500,000; and 75% support a 4.5% to 5.0% increase for income over $250,000.

· The UConn Poll also finds a "sizeable public support" for income tax rate increased of one-quarter point for incomes over $100,000. 74% of CT. residents polled support a 4.5 % to 4.75% hike for income over $100,000

· The UConn poll also found that only 44% of state residents support increasing the state sales tax from 6% to 6.5% as a way to balance the budget.

· According to Dr. Ken Dautrich director of the UConn Poll, "People are also advising that income tax increases are strongly preferred over sales tax hikes"

Speaker and Senate President oppose sales tax increase

· While some members of their caucus my support an increase in the sales tax, both Speaker of the house Lyons and Senate President Sullivan came out publicly this week opposing any sales tax hike.

· "I would do the across the board income tax just because the sales tax is fairly regressive" Lyons said on Wednesday of this week

· Sullivan was even stronger in his opposition saying any increase in the sales tax would be "the single most unwise move you can make in terms of destabilizing an unstable economy." "To me", Sullivan added, "it makes absolutely no sense at all". We agree.

Other legislative news

· Here are some other quick hits from the Capitol, where the long session in beginning to get rolling with thousands of bills being introduced and committees scheduling public hearings on these bills.

· On Wednesday of this week, we testified against HB 5812, AAC Consumer Financial Privacy that was before the General Law Committee.

· This bill would put a great strain on small retailers, requiring them to sent notices to customers informing them that retailers may share information with a third party.

· On the surface this bill may sound good, but the information that small retailers use to build customer databases to compete with large multi location retailers is not "sensitive finance information".

· Rather this information is critical for small retailers to maintain good customer relations. If you would like more information about this bill, please feel free to contact us via email at www.crmaonline.com or by calling our office at 860.527.1044.

· The General Law Committee also met this week and raised a number of bills for drafting, including more dealing with the issue of gift cards/gift certificates.

· We hear that the Committee will draft one big gift card/gift certificate bill and hold a public hearing on that before deciding what to do on the issue.

· Reminder to those members that are on the Legislative Committee, our next bi weekly conference call is scheduled for Thursday, Feb 6, 2003 at 9:00 a. m. est. 

Washington update:

· Our friends from the Nation Retail Federation inform us that the Federal Trade Commission is establishing new rules with regard to the "Do Not Call " Telemarketing Sales Rule.

· The new requirements are being phased in over three periods. The first phase establishes new general guidelines for handling telemarketing calls and will take effect March 31, 2003. 

· The second and more dramatic phase requires retailers to screen virtually all telemarketing calls against a new national " do not call" database and is expected to take effect approximately six months later.

· The final phase will significantly change many companies' use of predictive dialing equipment and will take effect at the end of January 2004.

· If you would like more information on this issue you can contact the NRF at www.nrf.com or 202-783-7971. 

Retail news:

· There was interesting news in the world of retail this week that we want to share with members.

· The new CEO of J.Crew was in the news this week. A number of profiles and articles appeared including some we have identified that you may want to check out for yourself.

· Newsday.com - J. Crew Names Former Gap CEO As Its Boss
J. Crew Names Former Gap CEO As Its Boss ... 
http://www.newsday.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-j.-crew-drexler0127jan27.story

ICSC SCT Newswire
Drexler joins J. Crew as chairman and CEO. Millard S. Drexler, architect
of the huge expansion strategy that put Gap into nearly ... 
www.icsc.org/srch/front/200301271204.htm 

IHT: Former chief executive of Gap to lead clothing retailer J. ... 
... J. Crew, with estimated sales of $750 million, operates more than 150 stores,
the J.Crew catalog business, www.jcrew.com and more than 40 outlet stores. ... 
www.iht.com/articles/84800.htm 

J.Crew Hopes Ex-Chief of Gap Can Bring Success
www.nytimes.com (Free online registration required)

· Women's Wear Daily (www.wwd.com) featured in its news and notes section Kmart's new offer to shoppers with a $150 coupon saving book that will be offered at all of its customer service desks and in 5 million newspapers inserts.

· According to WWD, starting around March 10, shoppers at stores staying open (6 in CT) can enter a drawing to win one of 20 Kmart cash cards worth $500. And between Sunday and March 10, customers at stores slated to be closed (6 in CT) will receive Register Rewards Receipts with purchases of $10 or more. Good luck to Kmart, a valued member of CRMA

· Do you have any retail news? Is your company expanding, did you receive some notice or rewards? If you have some news please email us at www.crmaonline.com. We would be happy to include you in our Friday Facts.

COR update:

· Community College partnership is underway! Reviews of the program by college staff to determine how COR will fit into the system will begin soon.

· COR is actively finding more partners to serve your hiring needs. High schools have been targeted in several towns this week, Bridgeport, Berlin, Deep River, East Hartford, Hartford, Milford, Newington, Old Saybrook, Ridgefield, Shelton, Stratford, Trumbull, West Hartford, Waterbury and Wolcott.

· Don't forget about Job Shadowing opportunities for high school students. Most high schools coordinate these events year round. Contact our Workforce Development Director, Michele Mesek, at 860-527-1044 or email michele@crmaonline.com, if you are interested in hosting a student for a day or just a few hours.

January 24, 2002

Budget talks heats up. Sales tax increases front and center. Hundred of bills introduced that impact retailers. COR update. 

· As we go to print with this week's edition of the Friday Facts, budget negotiations between the Governor's office and legislative leaders are heating up.

· On Thursday evening, House Speaker Lyons called for a caucus of her members to discuss various options to close the budget deficit. 

· In what some of our sources are telling us was a rather rowdy caucus, members went back and forth between spending cuts and tax increase. Most House Democrats feel that they have cut the budget to the "bone" and are focusing their attention on what taxes to raise.

· To that end, there was no real consensus coming out of the caucus as to what taxes will be raised. However, it is pretty clear that the income tax and corporate tax will be front and center.

· In fact, Friday's edition of the Hartford Courant (www.ctnow.com) reported that House Democrats are considering increasing the income tax on incomes over $100,000 as well as setting a 5.75 percent top rate for millionaires.

· Democrats are also reportedly considering raising the cigarette tax by .40 cents per pack and eliminating the property tax credit for couples earning more that $190,000. 

· Our sources tell us that although there is ongoing negotiation on the budget it does not appear as if there will be any increases in the sales tax offered by the Democrats.

· But, we have to keep in mind that the budget crisis is an ever changing dynamic, and what is agreed upon today could be undone tomorrow. So although it may appear as if the sales tax is out of the woods at this moment, we can never be sure. 

· One final note on the budget, the House had talked about voting on the Governor's budget reduction plan some time last week. They are now talking about Monday or Tuesday of next week to reject the governor's plan and possibly take up one of their own

Attention Cigar retailers:

· If you are retailer that sells cigars, it appears as if your product is not in the current mix of tax increases that have been mentioned for increases. But like anything else in this crazy budget time, it's not over until it's over.

Hundred of Bills introduced last week with more to follow.

· The current budget problems have not stopped legislators from introducing bills. Last Thursday alone, some 500 bills were referred to committees.

· It is very early in the process, so many of the bills will never see the light of day, but a good number of them will be raised for public hearings and comments. 

· Here are some of the early ones that we have identified and will track throughout the session:

· There are at least two bills dealing with the sale of music to minors, SB 161 and SB 334. SB 161 would prohibit the sale of labeled music to minors while SB 334 would establish a legislative committee to study the issue.

· Two bills have been introduced and sent to the General Law committee concerning gift cards and gift certificates. HB 5328 and 5330

· HB 5153 AA Requiring Stacked Retail Goods to be secured has also been sent to the General Law Committee. That is a bill we will keep a very close eye on.

· General Law will also consider HB 5812 AAC Consumer Financial Information. This is the same so-called privacy bill that was introduced and defeated last session.

· This is just a small sampling of bills that the General Law Committee will consider. They are scheduled to meet on Thursday to review these and other bills for further consideration.

Other committee news:

· We know that the Planning and Development Committee will consider a number of so-called sprawl or smart growth bills. Sen. Handley (D - Glastonbury) has already introduced three bills on this subject, SB 539, 541 and 542.

· Also, Sen. Genuario (R - Norwalk) has introduced his gross receipts on sales tax bill again. SB 393 was sent to P&D committee last week.

· HB 5036, AAC Increasing the Minimum Wage was introduced and sent to the Labor committee last week. Rep. O'Brien (D - New Britain) introduced that bill.

· The Banks Committee will consider a number of credit related bills this session. Already 5 bills have been introduced and sent to the committee. They are SB 130, HB 5004, HB 5005, HB 5079 and HB 5274

· The Public Health Committee will consider SB 578, AAC Local Regulation of Smoking in Public Buildings. One of the sponsors of this bill is Sen. Murphy, (D - Southington), co-chair of the Public Health Committee.

· The Public Safety Committee has two bills that deal with sparklers before there committee. SB 257 and SB 590.

· Finally, the Finance Committee has before them SB 328, AAC a Simplified Sales and Use Tax Collection System. This is a very important bill that we will track closely.

· If you would like to view these bills and any others simply go to our website, www.crmaonline.com. Double click on resources, then double click on Connecticut General Assembly.

· Also, please note that there are some bills that we did not include in this brief summary but that we are also watching closely. Remember that all members are welcome to join our legislative committee to review the impact of these bills in more detail.

COR Update:

· RHAM High School in Hebron just completed COR training and students are ready to secure jobs. 66 applications will be sent to stores in Manchester and Willimantic this week! 

· Fitch HS in Groton is COR's first high school partner in the southeast portion of the state. 

· Fitch HS students will be able to work in Groton and Waterford. COR training will be conducted in February.

January 17, 2003

Democrats planning to vote on budget next week. Increase in taxes likely to be part of the plan. Gift certificates and privacy on General Law committee agenda. CRMA legislative breakfast meeting with Enfield area legislators set for the Thursday. COR update. 

· Democratic leaders have all but determined that they will be in session sometime next week to vote on Governor Rowland's original deficit reduction plan. They will also quickly reject it and vote on there own plan.

· House Speaker Moria Lyons (D - Lyons) announced on Thursday that her caucus would vote on the Rowland plan sometime this week. The House leader feels the Rowland plan "…should get a vote, whether it can pass or it can't"

· More importantly, Lyons said after the Rowland plan is voted down, "You can take it off the table". And then vote on their own plan that is heavy on tax increases and light on spending cuts.

· Democrats in the house feel that Rowland has extend an olive branch to them by endorsing tax increases. 

· Rowland told the Democrats that he may not veto a plan if they can come up with $200 million in spending cuts, even if it means more tax increases.

Income tax and cigarette tax certain, what else?

· Most insiders agreed that the taxes Democrats a most likely to raise are income tax and cigarette tax.

· What other taxes is the real issue because the details of the Democrat's plan are unclear as we go to print.

· We know that there is general consensus in the Democrat caucus that an increase in the income tax is going to happen, the issue there is what income level will be hit.

· In addition, we are certain the D's will take the Governors proposal to increase the cigarette tax, but there is a possibility that they may extend that to cigars as well.

· It is also possible that general business taxes will be included in the Democrats plan.

· We expect that the Democrats will hold a session sometime next week to vote the Governors budget plan down, from there we are not sure what will take place.

General Law Committee update:
· Earlier this week the General Law Committee held their first meeting of the year. In addition to setting a schedule for the year, they raised some "concepts that will be turned into bill very soon, bills including a so-called privacy bill.

· The concept, which has yet to get a bill number, was introduced by the committee on behalf on the Attorney General, would restrict all retailers ability to communicate with customers without first getting approval.

· We defeated this bill last year (SB 186) and will oppose it again this year.

· We also expect that the General Law committee will raise the issue of gift certificates. 

· We have heard that a number of legislators have questions about the how gift certificates work and we expect that a number of bills will be raised on the issue before the committee process is completed.

· Also, in the coming weeks more bills will be introduced and more committees will begin raising bills for public hearings. If you have any questions about potential legislation or would like more information about bills, please feel free to contact us at www.crmonline.com or 860-527-1044.

Legislative committee conference call reminder:

· Reminder to members of the legislative committee, our bi weekly call is scheduled for Thursday Jan 23 at 9:00 am EST. The number to call into is 800-989-2842. The seven digit access code is 5271044

· All members are welcome to join us

Legislative Breakfast Meeting

· Also on Thursday Jan 23rd, we will be holding our first legislative breakfast meeting of the year.

· The event will be co hosted by the Westfield Shoppingtown Enfield. The breakfast will be held at the old Candle Man space near Sears at 9:00 a.m. and will end not later than 10:00 a.m. There is no charge to member to attend and we encourage all members to stop by. These breakfast meetings are a great way to develop a working relationship with your local legislator.

COR update:

· Remember to complete and return the information page that was recently sent to you regarding job shadow opportunities and college student opportunities.

· COR will be visiting RAM High School in Hebron this week. Students seeking employment will most likely look in the Manchester area.

January 10, 2003


Legislature begins formal session with budget problems still looming. Legislative breakfast meeting set for January 23rd in Enfield. Member services update. COR program off and running in 2003.


Happy New Year and welcome to our first edition of the Friday Facts for 2003!

Legislature begins formal session on January 8

· The Connecticut general assembly formally opened its regular session for the 2003 - 2005 legislative term on Wednesday January 8th.

· The opening day of the long session, is traditionally a day that new members get sworn in along with returning incumbents with lots of family and friends on hand.

· This year was no different, yet it seemed to lack the same level of excitement that normally accompanies the start of the session.

· It could be that members are staring at one of the worst budget problems that the state has ever seen.

· Depending on whose numbers you trust, the state's budget deficit ranges from $600 million for the current fiscal year to close to $2 billion dollars for the yet to be adopted 2004 - 2005 fiscal years.

· So, given those numbers, it is not surprising that there were not a whole lot of happy faces around the Capitol on Wednesday.

Get ready for taxes, taxes and more taxes

· The first week or two of a normal regular session is devoted to committees getting organized and prepared and for the session. This year, the first two weeks may be devoted entirely to finding ways to close the budget gap.

· Last week we met with incoming Sen. Majority Leader Martin Looney (D - New Haven), about the budget. Looney told us that it is his intention, and we can only assume that the majority of the Sen. Democrats agrees with him, that the legislature takes only one vote to close both deficits. 

· How they will close the deficit is the central issue. If Looney is any guide it will be primarily through tax increases. In fact, we think that the Democrats who control the General Assembly have pretty much made up there minds that this budget problem is not a spending issue but is a revenue issue and the only way to solve the problem is to increase taxes.

· Of course the Republican minority holds a different view from the democrats and in some key instances from their own Governor. The GOP minority argues strongly that Connecticut's budget problem needs to be solved primarily through spending cuts and have told the Democrats and the governor that they will not join in any efforts to close the gap that include tax increases.

· That position is at odds with their Republican Governor, who is arguing that a combination of labor concessions, further spending cuts and increases in taxes, specifically the millionaire's tax is the responsible way out of this mess. 

· In fact, our sense is that the governor would like the Legislature to just do something to close this gap. He argues it [the deficit] grows worse by the day and the failure of the legislature to act on the budget forces him to consider more layoffs of state employees.

· Our sense is that in the end the legislature will strongly support an across the board increase in the personal income tax as well as small increase in the sales tax to close the budget gap. The governor will be forced to go along with this leaving the House and Senate Republicans voting against it. How long it takes to get there is anybody's guess, but we will keep you up to date on the progress of this issue, which will dominate the early happenings of the regular session.

Legislative Breakfast meeting set for January 23, 2003 at the Enfield Mall.

· We will be holding our first legislative breakfast of the year in the old Candle Man space near Sears in the Westfield Shoppingtown Enfield beginning at 9:00 am on January 23, 2003.

· The event will be co hosted by the Westfield Shoppingtown Enfield and is of no cost to members. We encourage any retailer who is interested in attending to call us or visit our website, www.crmaonline.com for more information

Member Services update:

· A quick note on member services programs for members. 

· Just before the start of the holiday season we sent a workers compensation survey to members in attempt to gather information to put together a discounted group program.

· Now that the holiday is over, we ask that member please take a few minutes and complete the survey. You can complete the survey online by visiting our website www.crmaonline.com. If you need more information on the survey please feel free to contact us at 860-527-1044.

COR update

· COR is expanding its horizons for 2003. We are hopeful of a successful Community College partnership throughout CT to provide you with the perfect match for your job openings.

· A letter will be sent to you regarding your opinion and participation on this matter. Please complete the short information page and return it to CRMA at your earliest convenience.

· Included in the letter will be a participation request for Job Shadow Day, complete and return this page if you are interested in hosting a young adult for a day or just a few hours.

· Any retailers who have hired COR applicants for the holiday season can call the names of the students in to Michele Mesek at 860-527-1044 x11. It is important that COR has this information. Your cooperation on this matter is appreciated.