Rep. Carney Disappointed in Senate Democrats for Not Overriding Malloy Vetoes
State Representative Devin Carney (R-23) joined members of the General Assembly’s House and Senate chambers on Monday, June 25th for a veto session to overturn Governor Malloy’s veto of seven bills. In order to override a governor’s veto, two-thirds of the members present must vote to do so. Since five of the seven bills were Senate bills and the Senate failed to override any of those five, not all had the opportunity to reach the House chamber.
Governor Malloy vetoed several important pieces of legislation which would have benefitted taxpayers, local education, and manufacturing jobs,” Rep. Carney said. “All of these bills passed with strong support from legislators on both sides of the aisle, so it boggles the mind as to why the Democrats in the State Senate refused to override some of the governor’s more outrageous vetoes. With their lack of courage, it is clear that many of these senators care more about being in the governor’s favor than supporting hardworking taxpayers and small businesses in the State of Connecticut.”
Following the passage of the compromise budget in October, Governor Malloy used an executive order to cut funding mid-year to several towns across the state. P.A. 18-35, had the veto been overridden, would have prohibited future governors from making rescissions to a school board’s education cost sharing grant during the fiscal year. Towns have asked for more predictability and sustainability from the legislature, which resulted in this bill.
Despite the bill’s unanimous passage in the Senate on May 9th and overwhelming support in the House, 117-32, the governor vetoed P.A. 18-35 earlier this month. While every Republican in the House and Senate voted in favor of the override, ten Senate Democrats changed their position during the veto session, effectively killing the bill. Those senators voting against the override included Eastern Connecticut State Senator Cathy Osten, who actually co-sponsored the legislation. Manchester State Senator Steve Cassano, who also co-sponsored the bill, decided to skip that particular vote despite being present for all other votes that day; no reason was given.
Another bill vetoed by the governor was S.B. 528, An Act Concerning State Contract Assistance Provided To Certain Municipalities, which corrected the improper financial bailout of Hartford. This legislation aimed to limit the bailout and reduce the backroom deal Governor Malloy signed with Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin. S.B. 528 originally passed the House 105-45 and Senate 28-6, enough votes to easily override any veto if legislators voted the same during the veto session. Unfortunately, only one of the Senate Democrats voted to override the veto, despite every one of them supporting the bill initially. In this past fiscal year, Hartford was given $420,446,241 in taxpayer money, not including the monies given to non-profits in Hartford.
S.B. 261, An Act Extending the Manufacturing Apprenticeship Tax Credit to Pass-Through Entities, would allow pass-through companies – those set up as S corporations or limited liability companies (LLCs) that pass business profits to the owner and are taxed at his or her individual rate – to utilize the apprenticeship tax credit when filing personal income taxes. The manufacturing apprenticeship credit is equivalent to the lesser of $6 per hour, $7,500, or 50 percent of the actual apprenticeship wages for each apprentice employed by a given company, and expires on a schedule determined by the length of the apprenticeship. The tax credit is currently available to C Corporations. This legislation passed the Senate unanimously, but 13 Senate Democrats changed their mind and refused to override the governor’s veto.
A recent survey of 48 local businesses on behalf of the Connecticut Association of Smaller Manufacturers (CASM) showed that 85 percent of Connecticut’s small manufacturing businesses are organized as S-corporations or LLCs. Further, 65 percent of respondents said the tax credit would allow them to hire between 1-3 new employees, and 15 percent said they could hire more than 4 new employees. This failure to override means approximately 121 new jobs will not be created.