Connecticut Spending Cap Commission

This time of year, children are told that Santa Claus is making a list and checking it twice to find out who has been naughty or nice. However, Santa isn’t the only one who makes a list every year. Leading experts and organizations across the country also rank states by their public policy. In this ongoing series, we will see which “naughty” lists Connecticut landed on and make small suggestions to help the state be a little “nicer.” Check back every day from now until Christmas for a new entry!

The Connecticut Spending Cap Commission concluded its last meeting on Monday unable to reach agreement on a definition of “general budget expenditures,” which would be subject to Connecticut’s constitutional spending cap. The commission voted 11-12 against a proposal by William Cibes, which recommended gradually phasing in increases to the cost of the unfunded liabilities the following year. The year long delay would continue until 2022, at which point all the unfunded liabilities would be subject to the cap.

As Connecticut’s Spending Cap Commission closes in on it’s December 1st deadline to deliver recommendations to the state legislature, committee co-chair, William Cibes, asked that the term “death-spiral” cease to be used when discussing the state’s fiscal health. Cibes also said that he no longer wanted to hear that state spending was out of control.