Analysis: Preview of the budget battle ahead Democrats are gearing up for an intra-party squabble about how to close the $3.7 billion two-year budget deficit. This year’s budget battle won’t be Democrats vs. Republicans, but […]
Rep. Joe Aresimowicz
The incoming governor and legislature are already feuding about whether to raid the Rainy Day Fund to balance the books in 2019. Governor-elect Lamont is right about this: the Rainy Day Fund must be saved for the next economic downturn. The fiscal life of the state depends on it.
Connecticut government unions and union-backed organizations immediately signaled they would attempt to unseat the Democratic lawmakers that backed a new budget passed in both the Senate and the House last week.
Noticeably absent from the latest budget by House Democrats are 11 of the 12 reforms Democratic senators requested as a condition of their approval of the union concessions deal passed on July 31st.
In exchange for their votes, the Senators composed a list of 12 cost-saving reforms, which included requiring a vote on every union contract, reforming arbitration laws and ending overtime in pension payment calculations after the expiration of the SEBAC agreement in 2027.
Despite being rejected by the state appropriations committee and denounced by municipal leaders across the state, Gov. Dannel Malloy’s plan to transfer one-third of teacher pension costs onto towns and cities is still being considered during budget negotiations.
However, during a June 22 press conference, House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, and House Majority Leader Matthew Ritter, D-Hartford, floated the idea of raising the state sales tax to 6.99 percent and using the increased funds to help municipalities pay for teacher pensions.
Guy Benson of Fox News and Mary Katherine Ham of CNN joined the Yankee Institute and 100 guests at the Thomas Hooker tasting room in Hartford on Tuesday to discuss their book, End of Discussion, and the state of free speech in America.
Meanwhile, lawmakers considered House Bill 5589, which would force some nonprofit groups to reveal the names of some of their supporters.
A controversial bill that would force nonprofit groups to disclose their donors to the government may come a vote in the House of Representatives as early as Tuesday.
House Bill 5589 is being pushed heavily by House Speaker Joe Arerisimowicz, D-Berlin, who has made the donor disclosure bill a priority this session.
As American politics becomes increasingly divisive and at times violent, two bills threaten to force nonprofits that take issue positions to report the names of their supporters or members to the state government.
House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, an employee of the powerful government union AFSCME, introduced one of the bills. The government administration and elections committee introduced a second proposal.
In the face of mounting deficits after years of unsustainable policy, Democratic Party leaders appear to have made a shift, albeit one that has turned their most ardent supporters into some of their harshest critics.
“Hopefully the governor won’t do any more layoffs,” one member said. “Stop building so much stuff,” he added. “They’re spending money. They’re renovating things. They have to stop spending money that way - foolishly.”
This week the state legislature met to undo some of the damage that they did during the last legislative session.
In the late evening on Tuesday, after several hours of debate, lawmakers approved a deficit mitigation package by votes of 20-15 in the Senate, and 75-65 in the House. A few Democrats joined all Republicans legislators in voting against the bill.
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