In their first official response to Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s budget, Democratic legislators narrowly voted Thursday for increasing spending by $373 million in the fiscal year that starts July 1.<\/p>\n
The budget, approved by a tight vote of 29 to 25 by the appropriations committee, would increase spending over Rell’s proposal by $331 million for human services – the largest single jump in the proposal. The plan would increase spending in the judicial and corrections departments by $3.3 million over Rell’s plan and by $1.6 million to restore six legislative commissions that Rell had sought to eliminate.<\/p>\n
With numerous moderate Democrats voting “no” in an election year, the vote was among the closest in recent years for the committee.<\/p>\n
Overall, the bill would increase annual state spending to $19.28 billion – up by 4 percent over the current fiscal year and pushing the budget above the $19 billion level for the first time in state history. <\/p>\n
In a surprising move, the bill would eliminate 390 positions out of more than 6,000 permanent, full-time positions to save about $17 million in the state prisons, whose unions did not agree to various concessions last year that other state employees did. The move stunned prison administrators, who had not been consulted on the proposed cuts. Lawmakers said the idea would cause the prisons to release non-violent criminals in a major policy shift, but they said much more discussion is needed because those plans have not yet been established.<\/p>\n
Republicans immediately ripped the plan, saying the spending levels are irresponsible at a time when the state is facing projected deficits of more than $350 million in the current fiscal year and an estimated $700 million in the next fiscal year.<\/p>\n
“They actually increase spending. It’s mind-boggling,” said Senate GOP leader John McKinney of Fairfield. “This budget is dead on arrival.”<\/p>\n
McKinney charged that Democratic legislators are “completely tone deaf” to the economic problems facing the state.<\/p>\n
The Democratic plan includes $20 million in new taxes on the insurance industry and a new 5.5 percent tax on hospitals, setting up a system of “winners and losers” among hospitals across the state. <\/p>\n
“One of the biggest losers, in all honesty, is Greenwich Hospital,” said Sen. Toni Harp, a New Haven Democrat, noting that the downstate hospital would lose $3.8 million. “If you look at the biggest winners in this pool … Yale-New Haven Hospital itself and Bridgeport Hospital.”<\/p>\n
Overall, the Yale-New Haven Hospital system, which includes Greenwich Hospital, is a winner, she said. She added that many hospitals, even though they are considered non-profit, usually earn 3 percent to 5 percent more than their expenses.<\/p>\n
But Sen. L. Scott Frantz, a Greenwich Republican, said that some hospitals across the nearby border in New York State – like United Hospital in Port Chester, N.Y. – have closed in recent years, prompting Greenwich Hospital to be overwhelmed “with a lot of cases that do not pay.”<\/p>\n
Another Greenwich Republican, Rep. Fred Camillo, said the hospital suffered a round of layoffs and he knows from personal experience in the emergency room that “there’s a long wait in there.”<\/p>\n
“Greenwich Hospital wasn’t targeted. I think they were a loser under every single formula,” said Rep. Patricia Dillon, a New Haven Democrat who is one of the legislature’s leading authorities on hospital issues. “We’re doing about as well as we can.”<\/p>\n
House Republican leader Larry Cafero of Norwalk said the state’s fiscal problems have been accumulating rapidly as the legislature has decided to borrow money to cover up holes instead of making fundamental spending cuts.<\/p>\n
“We are heading down this road on a train, heading for a brick wall,” Cafero said. “Now, we’re on a suicide mission. … Now, this is dangerous.”<\/p>\n
Closed-door caucuses were being held Thursday morning, and the Democratic leaders of the appropriations committee – Harp and Rep. John Geragosian of New Britain – were not scheduled to speak with reporters until after 4 p.m.<\/p>\n
A group of 15 moderate Democrats, including Sen. Robert Duff of Norwalk, had sent a letter to their leaders – asking for more cuts in spending. But the appropriations budget with increased spending “will underscore they have zero juice,” Cafero said of the moderates.<\/p>\n
As an alternative to the Democratic majority, the Republicans said they favor consolidation of 23 state agencies into six, the sale of state assets, increased privatization, further concessions from the SEBAC unions, an end to the “longevity” bonus payments for state employees with more than 10 years on the job, and an end to public financing of political campaigns.<\/p>\n
The budget discussed Thursday focuses only on the next fiscal year and does not solve the deficit problem of about $350 million for the current fiscal year that ends on June 30.<\/p>\n
McKinney said Democrats had shown “their hypocrisy” in the funding of the judicial branch, which has been locked in a behind-the-scenes clash with the Rell administration over funding that has spilled out into the public. Based on the money that has been allocated, the judicial branch has said it would close six law libraries and three courthouses. None of those has happened yet, and lawmakers say they are hoping to forestall the closures.<\/p>\n
Rell nominated 10 Superior Court judges this week, but some Democrats said they want to block the nominations because the judges are not needed during a fiscal crisis.<\/p>\n
Republicans, though, said the judicial branch has 21 vacancies for judges, based on retirements, and the re-fill rate for the judges would be less than 50 percent.<\/p>\n
In the appropriations budget, $23 million would be shifted into the judicial branch.<\/p>\n
“They shift programs to the judicial branch to protect them from exposure to rescissions” by Rell, McKinney said.<\/p>\n
Cafero charged that Democrats had engaged in a shell-game maneuver by moving school-based health clinics and various programs out of the general fund and shifting the duties to the state’s insurance fund, which he said is essentially a $20 million tax increase because the fund is operated through an assessment on the insurance industry.<\/p>\n
“If that’s a cut, then I’ve got a full head of hair,” said the increasingly balding Cafero.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers debated over the wording on whether it was actually an assessment, a fee, or a tax for Connecticut’s insurance industry, which funds the insurance department and the health care advocate.<\/p>\n
“Aren’t we the insurance capital of the world?” asked Sen. Robert Kane, a Republican.<\/p>\n
“I’m not sure if we’re the insurance capital of the world, but we used to be,” Geragosian responded. “Asking multi-billion-dollar industries to pay some of the bill would be a responsible ask.”<\/p>\n
The committee’s discussion on the overall measure – House bill 5018 – started at about 1:45 p.m. Thursday at the state Capitol complex.<\/p>\n
“This budget … actually shows that common sense has just left the state legislature,” said Sen. Dan Debicella, a Shelton Republican who is running for Congress in the 4th District in lower Fairfield County. “All the talk [of budget cuts] has been empty rhetoric. The budget before us today does not contain substantial cuts. … This budget makes a farce out of the issue we are all facing, which is a massive budget deficit.”<\/p>\n
Debicella decried “the reversal of all the governor’s cuts in the human services area,” adding “at the end of the day, it lacks common sense” in dealing with the state’s problems.<\/p>\n
“This budget doesn’t lack common sense,” Harp responded. “Since we’re not going to be taxing the people of the state, we’ve got to get revenue somewhere. … It is, in fact, common sense. In an era where we don’t want to raise taxes on the average Connecticut citizen,” the budget increases revenue from the federal government in the form of matching grants at the increased, temporary level of 61 percent that will last through the 2011 fiscal year.<\/p>\n
The level will then return to the 50 percent match that the state traditionally receives from the federal government.<\/p>\n
The budget generates $91 million in extra revenue – beyond the level planned by Rell – through increased federal funds. It also does not include any increase in fares for the Metro-North Commuter Railroad, which largely serves Fairfield County.<\/p>\n
“It makes sense. It’s fair. It’s compassionate,” Harp said.<\/p>\n
Like other fiscally conservative Republicans, Frantz said he could not support the budget Thursday.<\/p>\n
“One of the cruelest things we can do for those in desperate need is to ruin our fiscal house,” Frantz said.<\/p>\n
Rep. Craig Miner, the ranking House Republican on the committee, wondered why $570,000 for the Spanish-American Merchants Association – on page 101 of the budget – is being moved out of the general fund and into the state’s banking fund. Harp responded that many of the merchants need funds from the banks.<\/p>\n
“Most people at home would adjust their spending, not a [new] tax or a fee,” Miner said later. “This budget is meaningless. … We should not support this budget because it’s not real. It will never see the light of day. It’s never going to happen. … I’m not going to go along with this sham. These numbers do not add up.”<\/p>\n
Republicans have pushed hard for the consolidation of state agencies, but Cafero said the Democratic budget has “not one consolidation. Zero. None.”<\/p>\n
Sen. John Kissel, an Enfield Republican who represents a district with thousands of prison inmates, said he was surprised by the reduction of 390 positions in the prisons.<\/p>\n
“The Democrats have increased state spending by nearly $350 million, while at the same time cut funding for public safety,” Kissel said. “Even more outrageous is the fact that the appropriations committee proposed dramatic changes to our criminal justice system without talking to anyone in the field. Just today, I spoke with DOC acting commissioner Murphy, Deputy Chief Court Administrator Judge Carroll, OPM criminal justice undersecretary Brian Austin, along with a number of other folks, and this news caught everyone off guard. The appropriations committee can’t just mandate that we release non-violent offenders. There is so much groundwork that would need to be laid first, and no assurance that it would produce the desired results. In fact, releasing prisoners before they’ve served their full sentence and reducing staffing levels endangers the health and safety of all people of Connecticut.”<\/p>\n
Kissel added, “These cuts will threaten the safety of our communities and our hardworking correctional officers. This proposal is not well thought-out, undermines public safety, ignores realities in the field, and is a slap in the face to everyone who works in the criminal justice system.”<\/p>\n
“It’s not like we’re tinkering with the arts budget,” said Rep. Arthur O’Neill, the ranking House Republican on the judiciary committee. “It should have involved the judicial branch, the corrections department, and the judiciary committee.”<\/p>\n
Geragosian responded that there could be a joint hearing with the judiciary and appropriations committees to discuss the issue.<\/p>\n
“We would not do anything that would affect the safety” of the general public, Geragosian said.<\/p>\n
Senate President Pro Tem Donald Williams, who has promised a vote in the coming days on a deficit-mitigation plan for the current fiscal year, said the plans for next year still require more work.<\/p>\n
“The draft plan approved by the appropriations committee marks the beginning of the budget process for the 2011 fiscal year,” he said. “Legislative leaders will examine the draft budget, suggest changes, and work with Gov. Rell to reach a compromise on a balanced budget. In the meantime, Senate Democrats believe it is critical that we close the current year deficit. That’s why the Senate is preparing to vote on a 2010 deficit mitigation plan as early as Friday that includes significant cuts to state spending.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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