Rep. Devlin Introduces New Bill to Aid CT Small Businesses

From Connecticut General Assembly: To make Connecticut more business friendly particularly when it comes to providing opportunities for its own local small businesses to grow, State Rep. Laura Devlin (Fairfield & Trumbull) has introduced a bill this legislative session which wouldlower an existing barrier for small and minority-owned businesses and help them compete.

“This is a pro-small business and pro-jobs proposal. Let’s do everything we can to help these small businesses succeed. This expansion of the definition would help minority, women, and veteran-owned businesses and permit them to qualify as "small businesses" so they can be awarded certain contracts by the State of Connecticut,” said Rep. Laura Devlin.

The legislation, HB 6416, An Act Redefining "Small Contractor" for Purposes of the Set-Aside Program, would redefine "small contractor" under state law for purposes of the set-aside program to reference the federal standards adopted pursuant to the federal Small Business Act.

For the purposes of the state’s set aside program, current state law defines ‘small contractor’ as a Connecticut company that did not exceed more than $15 million in gross state revenues in the previous fiscal year. Programs using this narrow definition exclude small businesses that make a large number of sales, for example, but have a very narrow profit margin.

According to public hearing testimony, materials-intensive businesses, like a lumberyard or cement company that purchase heavy materials on behalf of its customers and then uses them in manufacturing or providing a service may generate a small profit margin or posting substantially gross revenues due to the pass-through to customers of the materials cost.

Photo Courtesy of Connecticut General Assembly