Latest news with #CBIA
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
State leaders talk legislation, tariffs and more with Connecticut business owners
HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — Tuesday was the day the business community brings its concerns to legislators in Hartford. The Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA) hosted Connecticut Business Day 2025 at Hartford's Bushnell Theater. Business owners and business groups spoke about their agenda for this budget season. Advocates push for increased support at Women-Owned Business Day at State Capitol 'Trying to look at every piece of legislation and asking these legislators, 'Does it make Connecticut more affordable? Does it make it easier for businesses to create more jobs? To grow here in the state, and be able to have a stronger economy?'' CBIA Vice President of Public Policy Chris Davis said. Carmen Romeo runs Fascia's Chocolates in Waterbury. He would like the state's help in providing employee health care. 'There's 36 other states that allow associations, groups of companies, to get together through a chamber and allow small companies to band together and offer health care to their employees,' Romeo said. There is also a push among businesses that Connecticut schools teach students the skills they need to enter the workforce. Tariffs may have pushed up inflation a bit in April, government report to show 'With 82,000 job openings here in Connecticut, it's important for those policymakers to hear directly from the job creators about the programs that they need, the industries that need that additional help,' Davis said. While this event is mostly about talking to state officials, there is a topic on many business owners' minds that comes down from the federal government: international tariffs. 'We haven't heard a whole lot about it,' Katie D'Agostino, the president & CEO of the Central Connecticut Chambers of Commerce, said of her members. 'Really trepidation in the beginning, and now just trying to figure it out.' For Romeo, who imports the cocoa beans, it is a big deal. Those beans already cost four times what they did three years ago. That is a big obstacle to success. 'We're going to hit another one and that is tariff related,' Romeo said. 'The price of cocoa beans has skyrocketed over the last couple of years. That's just our little industry.' But the tariffs could hit just about everybody, which is why business leaders want state policies that help them as much as possible. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Business Journals
09-05-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
Faster connections: PG&E upgrades new-business process in South Bay and Central Coast
Our goal at PG&E is to help California continue to lead the way in economic growth, while maintaining a safe, reliable and clean energy system. These ambitions are on full display in and around Silicon Valley, where we're at the forefront of efforts to meet surging data center demand and shape the net-zero world of the future. To serve these regional aspirations, we've made huge progress in a key part of our business. Working collaboratively for two years with the California Building Industry Association (CBIA), our service planning and design team is connecting more new customers than ever to our electric grid. We set a goal in 2024 to connect 9,000 new-business customers throughout our service area. We delivered way beyond that: We completed a company-record 13,640 new-business connections last year. That means thousands of new homes, new and expanded businesses and clean energy projects across our service area. In PG&E's South Bay and Central Coast Region, we completed more than 3,400 new-business connections in 2024, including: 2,438 residential projects 406 commercial projects 273 electric vehicle charging points In San Jose, PG&E completed 25% more new-business jobs in 2024 than in 2023. We're on pace to improve connections even more in 2025. In the South Bay and Central Coast alone, new-business connections were up 15.4% year over year in the first quarter. Examples of projects we've energized in our region in the last 18 months include the Rivian Service and Demo Center on North King Road in San Jose; CityLine, a mixed-use development that is helping revive downtown Sunnyvale with new homes and stores; and a Sunnyvale accessory dwelling unit that models a new way to develop ADUs. We're thrilled to have helped bring these and other projects to life for our 1.16 million electric customers in the South Bay and Central Coast. We're also excited about how improved new-business connections will help us continue to meet San Jose's economic ambitions in 2025 and beyond. expand Data centers and a net-zero community In recent months, we've launched two major initiatives to serve Silicon Valley. Our cluster study shows how we plan to serve 5.5 gigawatts of new data center energy demand over the next decade. That demand will include 740 megawatts in and around Silicon Valley. Our second major initiative is our work on a net-zero community. The San Jose community will pair three data centers with up to 4,000 homes to help create a sustainable downtown. A district energy system will use excess heat from the data centers to heat and cool surrounding buildings. This initiative represents a bold, new approach to energy, housing and economic transformation. As a key infrastructure partner for California, PG&E is proud to play a pivotal role in this effort — integrating advances in data centers and AI with district energy to build more resilient, low-carbon communities. A fast and efficient new-business connections process will be key to serving these and other new customers. That's why we've spent more than two years talking to customers and industry groups to better understand the needs of our new-business customers. The feedback we've received is transforming our new-business processes. Our partnership with the CBIA is one great example. We signed a memorandum of understanding with the CBIA in July 2023 to improve how we work with builders and developers. In monthly meetings with CBIA members, we talk about how we're doing — and how we can keep improving. With the CBIA's help, we've set up systems to schedule construction work faster; escalate issues on complicated projects; and allow interim power connections where there are long lead times for new service. We also launched a New Business Program Management Office to focus full-time on improving our processes. Those efforts have paid off for our customers: The six-month design backlog of early 2023 fell to less than a month by the end of 2024. Improvements to the application process cut the number of required documents by more than half. We're also listening to developers in Silicon Valley. Our Developer Roundtables provided real estate leaders insight into how PG&E is improving our processes and meeting demand for energy. Our new Power Hour series, in collaboration with the San Jose Chamber of Commerce, aims to address key issues shaping the future of San Jose. We will continue to work with lawmakers, regulators and other stakeholders to ensure we have the funding and accountability to connect more new customers. We're especially excited about opportunities to connect new customers in the South Bay and Central Coast to help the region sustain its vibrant growth trajectory. We look forward to working hand in hand with you as we strive to meet the economic and climate goals of California and its residents.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Testimony to regulate AI use in workplace heard at state capitol
HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — Lawmakers on the legislature's Labor Committee heard testimony on a bill to regulate the use of artificial intelligence in the workplace. The bill would put protections around the use of A.I. tools to monitor and evaluate workers, including mandatory disclosures and third-party reviews. Lamont approves $3 million in funding for nonprofits 'The main thing is transparency – that people are aware of when artificial intelligence is being used,' State Sen. Julie Kushner, the Democratic co-chair of the Labor Committee, said. The bill is also strongly backed by labor unions, with the head of the state's AFL-CIO warning against 'dyspotic' applications of unchecked artificial intelligence in the workplace. 'Imagine your boss looking over your shoulder every single day, not blinking once, and being able to correct you every time you do something that they believe is wrong,' Hawthorne said. 'That is something that we should be aware of if it's implemented.' But Republicans and the state's largest business advocacy organization are cautioning against overregulating an emerging industry – one that the Democratic governor has been keen to promote. The Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA) zeroed on the provision of the bill that requires third-party reviews for some A.I. applications. 'This could cost tens of thousands of dollars potentially when we're talking about small businesses that would really struggle,' Paul Amarone, CBIA's advocacy and outreach manager, said. State Sen. Rob Sampson, the ranking Republican on the Labor Committee, echoed concerns that the bill over regulates an emerging industry, calling the bill 'overkill.' 'We've got regulation after regulation sending a big neon sign to employers in the state to turn around and leave,' Sampson said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
