Posted on March 25, 2021

HARTFORD – House Republicans today proposed limitations on the governor’s authority to wield executive powers to run the state during the pandemic, including requiring votes in the legislature to extend emergency powers and a thorough review of all current executive orders as they apply to the COVID-19 crisis.

A year after the state was essentially shut down because of the virus that has produced more than 300,000 positive cases, Democrats are still content to leave the management of Connecticut’s…

Posted on September 3, 2020

HARTOFRD – House Republicans, at a Capitol press conference today, challenged Gov. Lamont’s authority to singlehandedly determine how Connecticut emerges from the pandemic, saying a legislative committee should vote on his efforts to extend his sweeping executive orders beyond their Sept. 9 expiration date.

Republicans said the state Constitutional safeguards that guarantee separate but equal branches of government are at stake. The orders would affect virtually all aspects of public life. Republicans…

Posted on January 8, 2019

Posted on June 14, 2018

HARTFORD – House Republican Leader Themis Klarides today called upon Democrats to join in efforts to block Gov. Malloy’s scheduled cut of $2 million from senior meals programs when the legislature convenes in a veto session June 25.

Malloy wants to cut the money to help balance the state budget.

“Of all the places the Governor could have chosen to make these cuts he picked out a vital program that feeds the elderly and needy. There are other items he could have selected that make more sense and would…

Posted on May 30, 2018

HARTFORD – In the wake of more auditors’ reports detailing state agency abuse, wasteful spending and hiring as well conflicts in questionable payments to vendors, House Republicans today called upon committees overseeing the departments to conduct hearings toward resolving the ongoing controversies.

“The sheer magnitude of government mismanagement and questionable spending and hiring practices within state government has been repeatedly highlighted by the auditors in their oversight reports,’’ House…

Posted on May 2, 2018

Focus on Stabilization of Connecticut’s Future

HARTFORD – Today Republican lawmakers released their second complete balanced budget proposal this year to stabilize the state budget in fiscal year 2019 and beyond.

The revised Republican proposal takes into consideration the revised projected deficit, the impact of a delay in federal hospital reimbursements which will boost revenue in fiscal year 2019 by over $400 million, and the need to restore the Medicare Savings Program in full. This revised plan…

Posted on April 20, 2018

RESTORES FUNDING FOR CORE SERVICES, PROVIDES STABILITY AND PREDICTABILITY

HARTFORD – Republican lawmakers today announced that the Appropriations Committee will hold a vote on a state budget proposal offered by Republican legislators.

The Republican proposal fully balances the fiscal year 2019 budget and eliminates the projected $321.5 million deficit. It includes policies to address the state’s long term unfunded liabilities and put the state on a path toward stability and predictability. Instead of spending one-time revenue or relying on massive tax increases, it upholds the principles of the volatility cap agreed to in the bipartisan budget to stop the practice of relying on unpredictable revenue and making promises the state cannot afford. It fully funds the Special Transportation Fund, restores funding for the Medicare Savings Program, and eliminates many of the governor’s proposals to increase taxes and drastically reduce education funding and municipal aid.

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Posted on April 20, 2018

1) Annualize Some Gubernatorial Holdbacks. Holdbacks imposed on sensitive issues were not annualized.

2) Across the Board Reductions of 5 – 7 % to Specified Accounts. Cuts were withheld from most vital or vulnerable services.

3) Make Managerial and Overtime Reductions Mandatory. These savings were included in the bipartisan budget. However, Governor Malloy refused to implement these savings. This plan would make the agreed to reductions mandatory.

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Posted on April 20, 2018

Medicare Savings Program

• Under current law, if nothing is done to change MSP beginning July 1, 2018 then 59,960 people will lose MSP coverage and 31,613 will see a reduced benefit.
• This plan proposes to change income limits for eligibility to restore coverage for 158,099 people. This will cost the state $73.2 million over the existing budget for FY 2019.

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Posted on April 20, 2018

• Some items in the enacted budget we recognize cannot be achieved at this point. Therefore, we have to first reflect what cannot be achieved in the enacted budget to better estimate what revenue we are actually working with. We propose the following:

• • Eliminate the $17.8 million carry forward from FY 2018 into FY 2019 (which must be used in FY 18 deficit mitigation).
  • The following were compromise proposals included in the bipartisan budget that the governor is counting on for funding. However OPM has never identified these fee increases or expenditures. Therefore, we are choosing not to implement these policies which OPM has failed to define.
    • Eliminate the requirement to increase tax expenditures by $10 million.
    • Eliminate $20 million in fee increases.

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