The fate of a proposed 50-cent increase in Connecticut’s minimum wage still hung in political limbo Friday, even though the legislature’s budget-writing panel added its endorsement to the idea. While the Democratic-controlled Appropriations Committee approved the wage hike bill by a vote of 29-20, largely along party lines, lawmakers from both sides of the political […]

On an 86-62 vote, the House of Representatives gave final legislative approval Wednesday night to a bill repealing the death penalty for future crimes, leaving Connecticut one step away from becoming the 17th state to abolish capital punishment. The bill, which Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has pledged to sign, advanced after a 9 1/2-hour debate […]

Storrs — With Monday’s U.S. Senate debate free of verbal fireworks, the five Democrats seeking the nomination who gathered at the University of Connecticut again struggled to draw distinctions between their very similar stands on education, health care and economic development. And while Greenwich Democrat Lee Whitnum joined her fellow candidates in signing a “civility […]

The legislature’s budget-writing panel sent a subtle protest to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration over what some argue is inadequate funding for conservation programs: If those programs remain a target for spending cuts in the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, perhaps they would be safer in another agency? That was the message behind the […]

West Hartford — A U.S. Senate race that has followed a fairly consistent script to date took a sharp twist Thursday as the first live, televised debate among the five Democratic candidates closed with a bizarre flurry of name-calling, including a label of “whore” aimed at 5th District Rep. Christopher Murphy. Frustrated over what she […]

Connecticut’s truckers and other consumers of diesel fuel won’t benefit from the new circuit-breaker on gasoline taxes, even though rising prices likely will push the diesel levy upward starting this summer. Leaders of the legislature’s Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee confirmed last week they received a request from the state’s largest trucking association to adopt […]

Minority Republicans couldn’t prevent the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives from advancing a proposal making it far easier to dramatically revise longstanding state voting rules. But the GOP, which voted overwhelmingly against the proposed amendment to the state Constitution, ensured Wednesday that the earliest it could take effect would be the 2016 election season. That’s because […]

One year after legislators and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy imposed $1.6 billion in new state and municipal taxes, the General Assembly’s Finance panel held the line Tuesday, wrapping up its work for the session without adopting any tax changes. But while the Senate chairwoman of the Democratic-controlled panel hailed the inaction as a promise honored, […]

The game of ever-shifting state budget forecasts took another new twist Monday as Comptroller Kevin P. Lembo announced a worsening deficit that largely matches the shortfall reported by nonpartisan legislative analysts. Both offices now say Gov. Dannel P. Malloy — who continues to project a small surplus — will need to find roughly $115 million […]

Minority Republican legislators insisted Thursday they can shave more than $340 million off Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget plan for next year, add more than 160 new state troopers and still provide modest income and sales tax breaks next fiscal year. But later Thursday, the Appropriations Committee, in a 30-15 party-line vote, rejected the plan. […]

Despite fiscal constraints, the Appropriations Committee restored funding Thursday for health care for the poor and the University of Connecticut Health Center, canceled a second wave of transit fare hikes and rejected several agency mergers sought by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration. The plan the Democratic-controlled committee adopted in a 34-15 vote along party lines […]

The House and Senate voted unanimously Wednesday afternoon to adopt a circuit-breaker measure that would freeze state fuel taxes for the next 15 months, giving some protection to consumers who pay the nation’s highest gasoline taxes and some election-year cover to state legislators. But majority Democrats in both chambers also rejected Republican amendments to cancel […]

The legislature’s budget-writing committee is expected to make few major changes Thursday as it reports out Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s $20.7 billion proposal for the fiscal year that starts July 1, finding itself largely constrained by the constitutional spending cap and a projected deficit 15 months away. “We’ve tried to fix any of the holes […]