Republican legislators sent their first state budget proposal to the governor’s desk in decades early Saturday morning, capping a strange day that didn’t move Connecticut any closer to a new fiscal plan, but raised new questions about the balance of power at the Capitol.
2017 State Budget
Posted inMoney, Politics
Trio of senators defect, vote with GOP to block Dems’ budget
Connecticut’s state budget crisis grew exponentially more complicated Friday as three moderate Senate Democrats bolted their caucus and teamed with 18 Republicans to pass a GOP budget plan that Gov. Dannel P. Malloy vowed to veto as unbalanced and gimmick-ridden.
Posted inEconomic Development, Education, Health, Money, Politics
Last night, the budget politics — today, the details
Legislators arrived at the State Capitol on Friday with the opportunity for the first time to see the details of a $41.4 billion, two-year budget proposal that the administration of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Democratic legislative leaders hoped would end Connecticut’s summer-long budget impasse.
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Fate of budget uncertain as Senate agrees to attempt passage
On the second try to pass a compromise budget, the House Democratic leadership was counting Friday on the evenly divided Senate, where three conservative Democrats have been in open revolt, to pass the bill first and increase pressure on recalcitrant House members to fall in line. But the trio remained uncommitted to the budget at 1 p.m., and the House lacked a firm majority.
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Budget to be balanced by broad package of fees, taxes
The proposed solution to the Connecticut budget impasse would break new ground, raising revenue with taxes and fees on seasonal homes, cell phones and fantasy sports gambling as part of a broad package of increases expected to raise $1.53 billion across this fiscal year and next combined. The package was endorsed Thursday by a key committee, a prelude to action by the full General Assembly.
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Democrats get creative in setting up budget choices
As Democratic legislative leaders scrambled Thursday morning to get a new state budget ready for a vote later in the day, they readied an unusual procedural maneuver to underline the stark choice of passing a compromise spending plan or ceding authority to the governor. The GOP called the move “absurd.”
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Push for new CT budget deal going down to the wire
Democratic legislative leaders insisted late Wednesday afternoon — one day before legislators hope to vote on a new state budget — that they remained close to a deal with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy but continued to struggle over key policy questions.
Posted inEducation, Money
New CT budget could shift teacher pension costs onto future taxpayers
If legislators vote on a new state budget Thursday, it may include a complex proposal from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to restructure skyrocketing contributions to the teachers’ pension program — potentially inflating and then shifting billions of dollars in expenses onto a future generation.
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Malloy, Democrats close on budget deal
Democratic legislative leaders and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy stood on the cusp of a deal Wednesday morning to end Connecticut’s 10-week budget impasse and avert huge cuts in municipal aid three weeks from now, sources said. But a few key issues remain unresolved. The House speaker’s optimism was evident in a Facebook post: A picture of white smoke swirling from a chimney that others called premature.
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CT budget clock winding down with no deal yet
As Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and his fellow Democrats in the legislature struggled Tuesday to reach agreement on a new two-year state budget, Republican lawmakers offered one more plan they hope might entice some disgruntled Democrats.
Posted inHealth, Money
CT’s hospitals see huge risk in Malloy’s fix for budget impasse
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s bid to end the state’s budget impasse hinges on convincing legislators to raise taxes on hospitals one more time — and trust supplemental payments to the industry won’t be cut afterward. Hospitals don’t like the gamble.
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Bipartisan CT budget talks run out of steam again
Sputtering bipartisan state budget talks, which hadn’t produced any unified plan over the past four months, appeared Monday to have broken down for good — around the same issues that have plagued them in recent years.
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Dems shy from sales tax increase in effort to end budget impasse
Democratic legislative leaders and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy made progress over the weekend toward a new plan to end the state budget standoff by week’s end — one that would abandon efforts to raise the primary sales tax rate of 6.35 percent.
Posted inCities & Towns, Education, Money, Politics
Students urge compromise on CT budget
As state government’s ongoing budget standoff prepared to enter a crucial week, 200 students and teachers from a regional high school in Burlington protested Sunday in front of the Capitol.
Posted inHealth, Money, Politics
Malloy would accept sales, hospital tax hikes to restore town aid
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy proposed a major increase in state taxes on hospitals to leverage federal dollars, along with a modest sales tax hike, in a compromise intended to end a budget impasse that’s in its third month and has left Connecticut as one of the last two states without a budget.