Attorney General George Jepsen offered a legal opinion Tuesday that questioned the legality of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s plan to administer municipal aid in the absence of a state budget. But he offered Malloy and the legislature just one alternative — write a new state budget.
2017 State Budget
Posted inMoney, Politics
House to consider overriding Malloy budget veto Tuesday
The House of Representatives will waste little time in deciding whether to allow Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s veto of a Republican-crafted state budget to stand, coming into session Tuesday to decide whether to override his decision.
Posted inEducation, Money
Municipal aid hit will multiply as big grants are cut this week
The toll Connecticut’s budget standoff has taken on cities and towns will nearly quadruple this week as key education and general government grants will be reduced or withheld.
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
Plan to leverage big federal aid for CT hospitals in limbo
The fate of a complex new taxing arrangement that would leverage hundreds of millions of federal dollars for the state and Connecticut hospitals to share hung in legal limbo Thursday.
Posted inMoney
Market analysts: Hartford bankruptcy could have ‘contagion’ effect
As the prospect of a Hartford bankruptcy looms large, an independent bond market analysis firm warned this week that it could have “a contagion” effect, lowering bond ratings and raising borrowing costs for other communities and the state as a whole.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Malloy vetoes budget, seeks ‘honest dialogue’
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy delivered Thursday on his vow to veto the Republican budget unexpectedly passed with a handful of Democratic votes, calling it a gimmick-laden measure that would consign Hartford to bankruptcy, devastate public higher education, invite certain lawsuits from state employees and add to Connecticut’s pension liabilities.
Posted inHealth, Money
Old hospital lawsuit poses new wrinkle in budget talks
The struggle to adopt a new state budget hit another stumbling block Wednesday centered on a hospital industry lawsuit: At issue is a new taxing arrangement that the administration and the Connecticut Hospital Association negotiated that would help both sides by leveraging $365 million in new federal aid for them to share.
Posted inHealth, Money
Malloy: CT has a little extra time to resolve hospital tax plan
While time is dwindling for the state and its hospital industry to strike a deal on a new taxing arrangement that could help solve Connecticut’s budget crisis, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Tuesday the state might be able to stretch Friday’s deadline for about two more weeks.
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
Key budget revenue-raiser faces looming expiration date
Raising taxes on hospitals to leverage more federal dollars, a key component of all plans to solve Connecticut’s budget crisis, could be in jeopardy if legislators don’t reach agreement by week’s end.
Posted inPolitics
Voting with GOP, then explaining it to hometown Democrats
It was strained, awkward and raw. Sen. Paul Doyle, D-Wethersfield, came home to explain his defection to the GOP on a key budget vote as a matter of conscience. A few applauded. Others didn’t buy it, accusing him of unnecessarily prolonging Connecticut’s budget impasse.
Posted inEducation, Money, Politics
Malloy, GOP spar over whether budget’s town aid increase is real
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration charges that the reported bump in municipal aid in the Republican-crafted state budget is fiction — “gimmickry” that understates last year’s local aid to make the new grants look larger. Senate Republican leader Len Fasano insists the aid is real and that the governor should sign the budget, which attracted bipartisan support.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Malloy: My GOP budget criticism is vetting, not kvetching
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy took a softer tack Thursday in his continuing critique of the Republican budget now on its way to his desk, saying he was offering “constructive feedback” and vetting of a plan whose passage late last week caught lawmakers, legislative analysts, the press and public by surprise.
Posted inEducation, Health, Justice, Money, Politics
Labor, urban advocates rally to urge Malloy veto of GOP budget
Labor groups and advocates for Connecticut’s cities rallied Thursday outside the Capitol, urging Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to veto a Republican-crafted budget they argued would hurt workers and students.
Posted inMoney
GOP, Dems both lack solution to CT’s cycle of budget deficits
Neither Republican nor Democratic legislators’ latest budget plans would spare Connecticut from grappling with another massive budget deficit two years from now, according to nonpartisan analysts.
Posted inMoney
Malloy: It’s time for ‘the courage to compromise’ on Connecticut’s budget
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy reaffirmed his opposition to the new state budget Monday and urged all sides to compromise on a new one. The Democratic governor said he probably would have to accept some proposals he opposes — and the Republicans would, too.
