Despite Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s campaign pledge to convert state government to a more accurate and transparent accounting system, a budget policy bill passed by the House of Representatives Tuesday delays most of the changes–including starting to pay off the $1.5 billion conversion cost–for another two years. The measure, which was approved 91-54 and now heads […]

The state House of Representatives put an end Tuesday afternoon to the running partisan debate over allowing inmates to earn credits for early release, sending a message that would create such a system to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s desk. The Democrat-controlled House voted 90-56, largely along party lines, to approve the measure following more than […]

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy recommended Friday that lawmakers significantly reduce the surplus already built into the next two fiscal years rather than impose deeper cuts in the $40.11 billion biennial budget adopted earlier this month. To close a $300 million in gap in next year’s budget left by the tentative union concession package, Malloy proposed […]

It almost sounds too good to be true: State budget officials, who already saw revenues surge by nearly $400 million over the past month, now say anticipated savings in retired worker health care costs have grown by some $100 million in the same period. And though Comptroller Kevin P. Lembo said his office was somewhat […]

Majority Democratic lawmakers tried unsuccessfully Friday to avert a partisan battle in the Senate over a new policy designed to shrink the prison population by allowing inmates to earn credits for early release. The Senate adopted the policy–included in a budget implementation bill–following a 6½ hour debate during which GOP lawmakers criticized a Democratic amendment […]

With less than two weeks remaining in the 2011 General Assembly session, key lawmakers and officials in Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration are optimistic about the prospects for creating a new quasi-public authority to operate Bradley International and the state’s five smaller airports. A bill pending on the Senate calendar would create a new nine-member Connecticut Airport […]

A second measure designed to streamline state government advanced late Tuesday as the Senate voted to merge several agencies for the disabled and a rehab program for injured workers into a new social services bureau. The legislation also freezes general Medicaid rates for nursing homes and care facilities for the developmentally disabled, suspends cost-of-living adjustments […]

The new state budget adopted earlier this month shifts dramatically away from the recent trend of diverting fuel tax revenue for non-transportation uses. But with a $300 million hole still to be patched in the first year of that new budget–and the potential for much larger gaps if a tentative union concession deal flops–Gov. Dannel […]

The state House of Representatives adopted the first in a series of measures Tuesday designed to implement the new $40.11 billion biennial budget, ordering new policies to drive down prison populations, ordering several agency mergers and passing several costs onto cities and towns. The Democrat-controlled House voted 93-52 to approve the measure following a more […]

As state officials use the waning days of the legislative session to flesh out the new budget, they’ve spent countless hours discussing weighty issues, from agency consolidations to social program standards. And then there are matters like cow chip Bingo. “Even though these may sound comical to some people, they’re in the bill because they are […]

A plan to borrow $956 million to help balance the current state budget–to be paid off largely through a controversial surcharge on electricity bills–no longer is necessary thanks to another surge in forecasted state revenues, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration reported. But it remained unclear Monday afternoon what that would mean for the $1.2 million […]

Though unionized state employees can avoid layoffs for four years by granting the wage concessions sought by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, the administration still has the flexibility to impose layoffs on hundreds, even thousands of new workers who might be hired in the next four years. Three high-ranking administration officials confirmed that option during a […]

Many Connecticut wage earners will notice their paychecks shrinking faster than anticipated starting this August, when the Department of Revenue Services begins implementing the new $875 million state income tax increase. That’s because the tax hike, which adds three new tax rates, reduces a property tax credit and adds an earned income credit for poor […]

State legislators have cooperated with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy for the most part in solving one of the largest budget deficits in Connecticut history. But lawmakers remain wary of giving Malloy the unilateral authority to reduce municipal aid if the state’s finances turn bad. Leaders of the Democrat-controlled legislature said their reluctance isn’t tied to […]