The gulf between Gov. M. Jodi Rell and fellow Republicans in the legislature tore open this afternoon as House and Senate GOP leaders accused the lame duck governor of abandoning any effort to alleviate the multi-billion-dollar deficit she is on pace to hand off to her successor next year. Rell’s office declined any immediate comment, but […]

Republican legislators’ hopes for a pre-campaign season debate on the mammoth-sized deficit facing state government in 14 months were dashed this weekend, prompting GOP leaders to accuse Gov. M. Jodi Rell of ducking the problem. And while majority Democrats in the General Assembly dismissed the minority’s objections as mere posturing, the Republican governor took a […]

The chances of survival for a controversial bill to force collection of sales taxes on Internet transactions have become very slim as the regular legislative session nears its May 5 deadline, key lawmakers said Thursday. The problem, according to leaders of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee, is that many legislators fear businesses could be […]

State revenues were projected to increase without the help of a tax hike for the first time in 2 ½ years in a new report released late Thursday by Executive and Legislative branch analysts. But don’t break out the champagne just yet. The nearly $406 million in annual extra revenues Connecticut can expect by 2011-12 […]

In a rare move of bipartisan frugality, the state Senate unanimously adopted a bill this afternoon that cancels $422 million in planned borrowing to keep state government’s credit card under its statutory limit. The measure, which now heads to the House of Representatives, cancels dozens of community and regional projects in legislators’ home districts and […]

The Senate voted unanimously Friday to tighten the limit on state government’s credit card as lawmakers adopted a bill to cancel or reduce planned borrowing for dozens of community and regional projects in their home districts. The measure, which now heads to the House of Representatives, also reduces bond authorizations for tourism programs, open space preservation […]

Gov. M. Jodi Rell asked state legislators Wednesday to put nearly $1 billion in operating costs on the state’s credit card for the second year in a row as part of a complex scheme to avoid securitizing future revenues. The proposal, which is actually centered on tearing a new $1 billion hole in the current budget […]

State employee unions have rejected Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s call to offer the second worker retirement incentive program in two years, according to a statement released late Wednesday night by the administration. But the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition responded that it didn’t reject anything. Rather, it said, it insisted that Rell assess how a […]

One day after the legislature’s Black and Puerto Rican Caucus threatened to hold up her nominees for judgeships because of a lack of minority candidates, Gov. M. Jodi Rell came up with a compromise to get her choices approved by the Judiciary Committee. Three weeks after Rell threatened to veto a proposal by Democrats to […]

Just two weeks after raiding the next state budget to balance the current one, Gov. M. Jodi Rell unveiled a plan this afternoon to do the reverse – and thereby replace $1.3 billion in planned securitization with nearly $1 billion in more traditional borrowing. The odd back-and-forth maneuver still would place new burdens on residents […]

State employee unions have rejected Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s call to offer the second worker retirement incentive program in two years, according to a written statement released late tonight by the administration. But the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition responded that it didn’t reject anything, but rather insisted that Rell first assess how a second […]

Connecticut’s hopes of getting a balanced state budget for the next fiscal year may have been dealt a fatal blow by new warnings that nearly $366 million in proposed-but-not-approved federal aid is in jeopardy. Top legislative leaders from both parties conceded Monday any failure to receive the anticipated, expanded federal stimulus aid for health care […]

Forget next year’s $726 million budget shortfall, and the billions in deficits projected for the years ahead. Right now, for this brief moment, the current state budget may actually be in the black. Neglected in all the deficit angst, that short-term fiscal good news came in a report from the Office of Policy and Management, […]

A key piece of Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s plan to close the deficit in next year’s budget hinges on a legal question with a murky answer: Can the state offer its employees retirement incentives without their unions’ approval? Rell’s budget office says yes. The unions say no, and add that they have “deep concerns” about […]

After months on the campaign trail,the Democrats and Republicans hoping to be the next governor already have worked out their answers to toughest questions, particularly those about state government’s fiscal woes. But with the nominating conventions just four weeks away, the 11 candidates who attended Tuesday’s forums at the University of Connecticut Law School in Hartford […]