Posted on April 25, 2024
(HARTFORD) — Today, I joined my House Republican colleagues in releasing our State Budget Adjustments for Fiscal Year 2025. After Democrats on the Appropriations Committee and Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committee failed to propose adjustments, my colleagues and I stepped up to keep our promise of maintaining fiscal guardrails and making Connecticut more affordable.
Why it matters: if we fail to adjust the budget as a legislature, not only will it go out of balance on July 1st, but it would grant the governor the authority to make spending decisions to reflect his special interests, without any balance or input from the General Assembly or voters, like you.
In our proposal, we are directing $236 million for local education funding and another $79 million to help relieve special education costs. Additionally, we have allotted $12 million to increase reimbursement rates to Birth-to-Three child service providers, demanded federal funding for staffing shortage support, and still matched the governor’s proposed $12 million increase to the Care4Kids program.
It’s important to note that even with increased spending to education, our budget still rests at $43 million under the spending cap while keeping remaining American Rescue Plan Relief (ARPA) funding untouched for other acute spending needs. These include support for our nonprofits and social services, Connecticut’s unemployment compensation fund, or childcare costs.
Other significant aspects of our plan include maintaining the $42 million deposit to the Teachers’ Retirement Fund, investing in youth mental health resources, eliminating the truck tax to lower retail and grocery prices, and providing municipalities with the money they need to efficiently implement early voting this fall.
For additional questions about our proposal, please visit the link HERE.