$360M spending bill passes state House
A $360 million spending package passed both chambers of Connecticut’s legislature Tuesday — but not without a sharp political fight hinging on the definition of the word “budget.”
The bill, negotiated by top Democrats in the House and Senate, along with Gov. Ned Lamont, allocates large sums of federal money to higher education, nonprofits, municipalities and more. The proposal now heads to Lamont, who is expected to sign it into law.
Headlining the package is $160 million for higher education, distributed evenly between the University of Connecticut and the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system, which administrators say will mitigate the need for program cuts and tuition hikes.
Additionally, the bill includes $50 million for nonprofit service providers and tens of millions in municipal aid, as well as funding for additional priorities such as early childhood education, kid’s mental health, homelessness, Planned Parenthood and Shore Line East rail service.
The bill no longer features a controversial provision that would have extended state health insurance to volunteer employees of certain quasipublic agencies, which faced sharp pushback from Republicans and some Democrats when the package was first unveiled Tuesday.
Though not technically an adjustment to the state budget, Republicans say the spending package effectively functions as one. In addition to allocating unspent funds from the federal American Rescue Plan Act, it redirects previously committed state money and generates new revenues through increased car registration fees, among
other measures.
Democrats opted not to reopen the budget they passed last year on a bipartisan basis, relying instead on remaining ARPA money to fill holes.
On Tuesday, House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, slammed Democrats for using one-time funds for recurring costs and for doing so outside the formal budget process. “This is a budget for expediency and for politics. It is not a budget that has sound fiscal decision-making to sustain Connecticut in the long run,” Candelora said. “To me, I think the governor has thrown the white flag and is allowing the Democrats to run amok.”
In a long-shot bid to stop the bill, Candelora and Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield, have written to Attorney General William Tong, requesting he weigh in on whether the spending package “constitutes a budget adjustment under our constitution and statutes.”
While Republicans have often looked to Lamont, a fiscally moderate Democrat, to constrain his party’s spending proposals, the governor has indicated support for the current proposal.
“The governor appreciates the legislature for their hard work to build on the progress we made last year by passing
a strong bipartisan budget that makes key investments in social services, higher education, childcare, housing, and transportation,” Lamont spokesperson Julia Bergman said in a statement Monday.
Asked about gripes from Candelora and other Republicans, Speaker of the House Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, effectively dared Republicans to vote against it — which would mean voting against higher ed, municipal aid, nonprofits, reproductive rights and other popular programs. “You can stand up there and say we should have reopened the budget,” Ritter said. “But you will be asked in the election season why you voted against all the things I just mentioned.”
Ultimately, the spending bill earned some Republican support but not much. After a four-hour House debate in which Republicans objected to both the content of the bill and the process that produced it, only five voted for it, along with all Democrats, leading to its passage by a 10348 margin. The Senate then debated the measure for about three and a half hours before passing 26-10, with two Republicans joining every Democrat. Connecticut’s legislative session will end Thursday at 12:01 a.m., leaving lawmakers one more day to pass some of the dozens of bills awaiting their approval.