HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Democratic legislative leaders and Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy reached a tentative eleventh-hour budget deal late Tuesday to cover a projected $960 million deficit in the new fiscal year and potentially help address future projected deficits.
“Our goal has been to do things differently this year, to ensure that, just like the households we represent, we do not spend money that we don’t have,” said Devon Puglia, the governor’s spokesman.
The lawmakers said they plan to hold a vote on Wednesday, the final day of the legislative session. The deal follows weeks of disagreement and discord between Malloy and his fellow party members over how to address the red ink.
“It was a very stringent and painful process because it does contain a large number of cuts,” said Senate President Martin Looney, D-New Haven.
While no document was provided to reporters, House Speaker Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, said the more than $19 billion plan makes $830 million in spending cuts and does not include any taxes or fee increases. He said it also protects funding for hospitals, municipalities and local schools.
Malloy and the Democrats had been about $191 million apart. Sharkey said they bridged that gap by making line-by-line cuts to “do the least amount of damage and protect programs we care about.”
The General Assembly is scheduled to adjourn its regular session at midnight, providing the minority Republicans with an opportunity to potentially derail the budget bill by running out the clock with an extended debate on the bill. While the Democratic leaders said they plan to ask their GOP colleagues to allow a vote on the bill, it’s unclear what will happen.
Republican legislative leaders, who offered their own budget and have been in talks with Malloy, were shut out of these recent talks by the legislative Democrats. Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, who appeared annoyed by the entire process, said he wasn’t sure what the Republicans planned to do on Wednesday. He said he hadn’t seen the proposal yet.
“For them to say that they’re going to run a budget tomorrow, they’re the majority, they can do what they want,” Fasano. “But do you really think that’s fair to Connecticut residents that they’re going to take out a budget at two o’clock tomorrow afternoon and throw it on a table and say, ’3.5 million people, state of Connecticut, here’s our budget, you don’t get to see it and we’re going to run it?’”
Besides the budget bill, the Democrats said they also hope to take up bonding and budget-related bills that spell out details of the package on Wednesday. Fasano questioned whether there will be enough time to get the work done. If the budget is not passed by midnight Wednesday, lawmakers will have to return to the state Capitol for a special legislative session.
Meanwhile, Malloy’s administration announced another round of state employee layoffs on Tuesday. A total of 650 executive branch employees have received pink slips as part of an effort to address the deficit problem.
The state’s judicial branch has issued 126 layoffs.
Chief Court Administrator Patrick L. Carroll III sent a letter to Malloy and legislative leaders on Monday, warning that “no fewer than an additional 600 layoffs will be required” if Malloy’s latest proposed budget fix becomes law. He said “every function which we perform” will be compromised. It’s unclear whether the Democrats’ new plan will force that many job cuts.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.