Democrats hailed the $43.4 billion budget as a historic plan that averts a big deficit without raising income tax rates. Republicans called it irresponsible.
Keith M. Phaneuf
Keith has spent most of his four decades as a reporter specializing in state government finances, analyzing such topics as income tax equity, waste in government and the complex funding systems behind Connecticut’s transportation and social services networks. He has been the state finances reporter at CT Mirror since it launched in 2010. Prior to joining CT Mirror Keith was State Capitol bureau chief for The Journal Inquirer of Manchester, a reporter for the Day of New London, and a former contributing writer to The New York Times. Keith is a graduate of and a former journalism instructor at the University of Connecticut.
Posted inEducation
Speaker defends exemption for panel overseeing Dalio investment in schools
Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz on Tuesday defended controversial legislative provisions that exempt from open records laws a board charged with overseeing a $100 million contribution to Connecticut’s public schools.
Posted inMoney
House adopts $43B budget, Senate approval expected Tuesday
The House of Representatives approved a new state budget late Monday that averts a major projected deficit without increasing income tax rates, but does shift billions of dollars in pension debt onto the next generation of taxpayers.
Posted inEducation
Panel overseeing Dalio’s investment in CT schools would be exempt from ethics, disclosure laws
The panel overseeing $300 million in private and public funding would be exempt from ethics and disclosure rules.
Posted inEducation, Money
Cost-free college is in the budget, but is it in the cards?
A plan to help thousands of first-time students – regardless of income – attend college cost-free is in the proposed state budget, but its success depends on a complex funding scheme involving the legalization of online lottery games.
Posted inMoney
In a $43B budget, there’s always room for pork
Supporters call the designation of $9.4 million for small projects a way of meeting local needs. Critics call it “pork-barrel” spending.
Posted inMoney
Lawmakers hope to adopt budget Monday that avoids another income tax hike
Legislators will open the session’s final week expected to pass a new state budget that keeps income tax rates flat and expands the sales tax.
Posted inHealth
Pharmaceutical distributors push back at possible state opioid tax
Pharma pushed back hard Saturday at a possible opioid tax in the budget up for a vote Monday.
Posted inMoney
Business groups hope to sink tax hike on pass-through entities
Business coalitions are scrambling to sink a last-minute, state income tax hike on the owners of small and mid-sized businesses, arguing it would weaken job growth and erode public trust.
Posted inMoney
Budget deal struck, doesn’t contain tax hike on wealthy
Gov. Ned Lamont and Democratic legislative leaders agree to $43 billion budget that does not contain the income tax hike on the wealthy sought by progressives in the General Assembly.
Posted inHealth
Senate revives, then adopts deal on PTSD benefits for first responders
A day after one bipartisan deal to expand post traumatic stress disorder benefits to first responders bogged down, Democratic and Republican senators approved a revised bill.
Posted inHealth
Solid compromise on PTSD benefits dissolves in Senate
A plan to expand workers’ comp benefits for police and firefighters with PTSD broke down when the GOP offered a last-minute amendment to include all emergency medical personnel.
Posted inHealth
After years of lean budgets, nonprofits want $100 M from surplus
The CT Community Nonprofit Alliance recently wrote to Gov. Ned Lamont, asking that he and legislators set aside $100 million to assist agencies.
Posted inHealth
Lamont, hospitals on brink of resolving seven-year feud
Gov. Lamont and the Connecticut Hospital Association announced the settlement of a four-year-old industry lawsuit contesting a provider tax that has extracted billions of dollars since 2011.
Posted inPolitics
On budget, Dems say GOP prefers heckling to haggling
For only the second time in a decade, minority Republicans in the legislature have failed to propose a new state budget. But that doesn’t mean they’ve stayed silent about Democratic plans.