Florida Gov. Rick Scott arrived in Connecticut Thursday for meetings with business owners and corporate leaders in an effort to recruit them to move to the Sunshine State.
He spoke Thursday Night in Hartford and will speak Friday morning in Norwalk.
His appearance comes in the same week that the state purchased radio ads in Connecticut, and fresh off a UConn report that Connecticut's economy has hit a slump.
"We’ve recommended they hit a reset button," said Fred Carstensen, who heads the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis.
Carstensen contends that the state has simply not made consistent decisions to grow the state's GDP and workforce.
When it comes to the new state budget, Carstensen says hospital and business taxes that lawmakers want to pass are counterproductive.
"It looks like the choices that were made, that look good from a bookkeeping point of view, are bad from the point of view of the performance of the state economy," Carstensen said.
Connecticut's business climate has come under national scrutiny over the past month with lawmakers mulling higher taxes for companies, but a recent ranking from CNBC actually gave Connecticut overall higher marks for its business climate.
Overall, Connecticut jumped 13 spots from 2014 to 33rd overall. The state ranks near dead last in categories which have either been major topics during the session or have led to harsh criticism: infrastructure and the cost of doing business.
The governor scored a major victory for his $100-billion 30-year transportation overhaul initiative when lawmakers approved a half percent of the sales tax revenue the state receives will be dedicated to infrastructure spending.
On the issue of the cost of doing business however, business leaders in Connecticut say that needs to change at some point.
"The costs on a job in Connecticut are higher than on jobs in other states but those costs are driven by inefficient spending," said Brian Flaherty, a former lawmaker and current vice president with the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, which boasts 10,000 businesses among its members.
CBIA has been the loudest voice for business tax rollbacks and spending reform.
Flaherty says he doesn't put much stock in the politically motivated by Rick Scott to Connecticut, but he does say that state lawmakers have to get their fiscal house in order which will benefit the business community.
"The legislature needs to anything in its power to keep jobs in Connecticut and the way they’re going to do that is to stop over-steering it in the short term planning that goes into the budgeting. To take a look at restructuring the delivery of state service and to take a look at the way the state spends its money," Flaherty said.
Carstensen with UConn says the state has to figure out a way to make more tax credit deals and incentive package available to even more companies. He says the agreements struck with United Technologies and Jackson Labs are good examples of what the legislature could accomplish to improve relations with private employers who drive the state's economy.
"Other companies have stranded tax credits," Carstensen said. "Why aren’t we saying to them if you’re ready to make a capital investment that will anchor you here in the state. We’ll let you cash those in at 100 percent value."
Lawmakers will meet next week to hammer out the final details of the state budget.