(l to r) State Senator Bob Duff, State Senator Len Fasano, State Representative Dave Yaccarino, State Senator Joan Hartley and State Representative Geraldo Reyes Jr.
State Representative Dave Yaccarino (R-North Haven) joined legislative colleagues from the Commerce Committee on Tuesday, March 27 to stress the importance of growing Connecticut’s bioscience sector. Yaccarino voiced his strong support for various bills that were introduced by the legislature’s Commerce Committee.
The legislators highlighted several bills they intend to support, and called for continued cooperation between the University of Connecticut, Yale University, The Jackson Laboratory and other stakeholders.
Rep. Yaccarino gave the following remarks during the press conference held by the Commerce Committee. “These bills aim to harness the great heritage of our state and help us become a leader in a growing industry. This sector is one of Connecticut’s strengths and so we need to expand upon that and grow our economy and jobs,” said Rep. Yaccarino.
Members of the committee stressed the need for cooperative support from government, education and private business in growing Connecticut’s bioscience sector, and have produced bipartisan proposals to coordinate efforts across the state, prepare Connecticut’s workforce and position Connecticut as a national leader in biomedical research.
A 2015 economic competitiveness survey of Connecticut found that the state has great assets and economic drivers in research and development, bioscience and health data. Connecticut has some of the world’s top research universities, producing students eager to bring their cutting-edge ideas to market.
Legislators identified three specific bills they intend to support: all three bills received overwhelming, bipartisan support when they came before the Commerce Committee.
One of those bills was introduced by Yaccarino, House Bill 6746, An Act Concerning A Biotechnology And Bioscience Investment Tax Credit, would help grow the bioscience and biotechnology industry and academic research communities by providing individual investors, corporations, and venture capital firms with tax credits for investments made to qualified biotechnology and bioscience companies within Connecticut.
The bills now await action on the Senate calendar.