Update on the State’s Budget Status
House Republicans presented their most recent iteration of a biennium budget proposal to their caucus in a public forum on Tuesday. The Speaker of the House and House Minority Leader both held press conferences following the forum. The House Democrats, according to the Speaker, still plan to come in for Special Session next Tuesday, July 18. House Minority Leader Klarides is still demanding that a Republican budget be called for a vote whenever Session is held.
Media coverage last week suggested that the Democrats are still short of the votes necessary to pass a budget and speculated that they would bring their members in for caucus on Tuesday but would not hold a vote.
The most recent House Democrat budget proposal was unveiled on June 29th after the House did not hold a vote on a “mini-budget” that the Governor and Senate Leaders were pushing to control state spending while the legislature negotiated a full biennium budget.
Without a budget in place, the Governor has been running the State’s spending through executive order for the last two weeks. It has already begun to effect non-profits and it continues to concern municipalities like Hartford - which is currently on the brink of bankruptcy.
State Employee Unions continue to vote on wage and benefit concessions that both the Governor’s and Democratic budget proposals rely on. The agreement is deemed ratified if unions representing at least two-thirds of the roughly 42,000-member unionized state workforce approve them. The Speaker said in his press conference this week that he still intends to allow the legislature to vote to accept the agreement after the unions vote. Unions have discussed tentative plans to release all voting results on July 17.
The Governor’s budget proposal was found to be $121 million out of balance due to an OFA analysis that noted his cost-saving measures — which largely involve reducing staff and closing and consolidating facilities — would require layoffs that would be prohibited for four years under the concessions deal pending before state employee unions.
