Here’s what’s in the Democrats’ budget plan
HARTFORD — The Legislature’s budget-writing committee, led by Democrats, released its vision of state spending for the next two years Tuesday.
Unlike Gov. Ned Lamont’s budget, which tackled both spending and revenue, the thick binder distributed to lawmakers, lobbyists and journalists Tuesday morning contained no tax recommendations. The General Assembly’s Democrats will publish their revenue plan by Thursday.
Here are the highlights of the new state spending proposal:
Education
The committee recommended increasing funding for education grants to towns for public schools by nearly $38 million next fiscal year and $78 million in FY 2021. The governor’s budget did not include these increases, instead opting to keep the grants the same as currently appropriated.
The Democrats decided to side with Lamont on asking municipalities to chip in to pay for teachers’ pensions costs.
The governor’s budget required towns, by fiscal year 2022, to pay a phased-in contribution of at least 25 percent of the normal cost shouldered by the state. Municipalities with teachers’ salaries above the statewide median will be required to pay higher percentages of pension costs, hitting wealthy towns the hardest.
The governor’s office expects this change to bring $23.8 million in revenue to the state in the next fiscal year and $49.2 million in FY 2021.
Lawmakers opted to provide about $9 million more to magnet and charter schools and after school programs than Lamont in FY 2020. They would send nearly $11 million more to those schools and programs the next year.
Both the committee and the governor also plan to cut funding to private schools to pay for health services. This would save the state nearly $3.5 million in each of the next two fiscal years.
Debt and bonding
Large portions of the state budget go toward paying off the state’s debt. The state’s increased creditworthiness has resulted in lower-than-anticipated debt service payments. Thus, the committee eliminated $14.4 million that the governor had put toward debt service in FY 2020 and $64 million in fiscal year 2021.
With these savings, the committee decided to reject the governor’s proposed “debt diet” and keep general obligation bond issuance at current levels. These bonds — the state equivalent of putting spending on a credit card to pay off over time — fund school construction, UConn capital projects and municipal facilities like parks.
As the governor and lawmakers consider tolls as a new source of transportation revenue, both the committee and the governor would cut transportation bonding by $200 million from baseline projections in fiscal year 2021.
Health
Lawmakers also rejected an asset test that Lamont proposed adding to the Medicare Savings Program, which would have reduced the number of people accessing this benefit. The Medicare Savings Program helps seniors pay for health care costs.
By adding an asset test, the governor would have
saved the state $8.7 million in FY 2021, but increased state staff by nine people. The committee chose instead to spend this money so more seniors could access the benefit, and not increase state staffing levels.
The committee also proposed higher savings than the governor’s budget by working with other states to negotiate drug rebate agreement with pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Lawmakers and the governor were aligned on other health spending initiatives, however. Both support employing 19 staff members to audit the state’s Medicaid funding, which the state projects will save them about $11 million over the next two fiscal years. Medicaid provides health insurance coverage for low-income people, pregnant women and people with disabilities.
Both backed spending about $13.5 million on vaccines for children and newborn screening blood tests over the next two fiscal years, while decreasing funding for local and district health departments by 20 percent.
Mental health and substance abuse services
Like the governor, the committee opted to privatize the operations of 10 group homes now run by the state and close residential cottages now occupied by the Southbury Training School students. This would save the state about $10 million in each of the next two years.
However, the committee will not close the Danbury and Torrington local mental health authorities and contract with nonprofits, like Lamont wanted. The governor’s plan would save about
$2.5 million over the next two years, but the committee decided to spend this money to keep the authority state-run instead.
Both the governor and lawmakers want to spend
$500,000 next fiscal year and $250,000 the following year to have consultants to help the state better respond to opioid abuse.
Tourism
The committee decided to open Connecticut’s rest stops in Danbury, Middletown, North Stonington, Southington, Wallingford
and West and East Willington 24 hours a day. Currently the rest stops are only open from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for restroom use; outside those hours the public must use portable toilets.
This change will require the employment of 28 rest stop attendants and increase state spending by about $1.3 million in each of the next two years.
Lawmakers also decided to spend about $1.3 million over the next two fiscal years to staff the state’s seven welcome centers in Danbury, Greenwich, Darien, Westbrook, North Stonington and West and East Ellington.
Law enforcement
Both the governor and the committee want to reduce state police overtime by employing about 100 more troopers. This will save the state $4 million in overtime costs in each of the next two fiscal years, but increase salary spending by $1.2 million next fiscal year.
The executive branch and lawmakers also agree that given the state’s shrinking prison population, they can close two units at Northern
Correctional Institute in Somers, two cottage units at Manson Youth Institute in Cheshire and one building at Bridgeport Correctional Institute. In January 2018, the state also closed Enfield Correctional Institution.
These prison closures will save the state about $4 million in FY 2020 and
2021. Most of the savings will result from prison staff to be redeployed from closing prisons to other facilities, cutting overtime costs. The Department of Corrections has the highest overtime costs of any state agency.
Lawmakers, like the governor, will spend about
$8 million over the next two years so an additional 1,200 inmates can get medicationassisted treatment for opioid addictions while in prison. They also decided to spend a little over
$300,000 in each of the next two years to offer 60-day bus passes and state-issued identification cards to paroled and discharged inmates.
Family leave
Both Lamont and lawmakers appropriated just over $5 million next year to
get a Paid Family and Medical Leave program off the ground. The General Assembly is expected to pass legislation to approve the program, which would give workers up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave, with an additional two weeks for a serious health condition during pregnancy.
The program will be funded by a 0.5 percent payroll tax beginning on or before Oct. 1, 2020. Workers would be able to receive benefits starting in 2022.
The committee also decided to spend about $9 million more on job training and re-entry programs over the next two fiscal years than the governor.
The state will be able to save about $25 million in spending on cash assistance to low-income families because participation in the program has declined dramatically, lawmakers and Lamont agree. In fiscal year 1995, over 60,000 families received Temporary Family Assistance; last fiscal year that number was under 13,000.