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Senator Flexer urges centralized online portal for small‑business resources
Summary
Senator Mae Flexer and other committee members backed a proposal to create a single state website collecting information and links small businesses need, including licenses, tax updates and grant opportunities.
Senator Mae Flexer asked the Commerce Committee to advance legislation creating “a central Internet website for state resources available to small businesses” (Senate Bill 1178). She said the idea grew from conversations with small business owners in northeastern Connecticut who told her navigating multiple agency websites is confusing and time consuming.
“Small businesses are trying to navigate multiple state agencies, multiple websites to know what their requirements are,” Senator Flexer told the committee. She described the bill as a “dashboard” or one‑stop resource where small businesses could find information on taxes, license renewals, minimum‑wage changes and deadlines.
Committee members described an existing one‑stop site maintained by the Department of Economic and Community Development but said it does not compile information from all agencies. Representative Anaskovich and Representative Arasco questioned how the state would get the word out to small businesses and how to ensure regular updates; Senator Flexer and other witnesses proposed a memorable website name and multiagency collaboration. The bill’s backers suggested the portal could build on DECD’s business.ct.gov while aggregating links and documents from the secretary of state, Department of Public Health and other agencies.
Members also discussed grant availability and whether the portal could list both state and federal grant programs and offer how‑to guidance. Representative Meskers said the project is conceptually the right approach but cautioned it may be a “heavy lift” to integrate different agencies and to provide application assistance.
The hearing included testimony from legislators, committee members and municipal representatives who supported the concept. No committee vote was taken; sponsors were asked to follow up with technical details about governance, funding and outreach strategies.
