January 26, 2011

REP. PISCOPO & REP. MINER APPLAUD COMMON SENSE BUDGET REFORMS

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HARTFORD- With the specter of close to a $7 billion deficit over the next two years, State Rep. John Piscopo (R-76) and State Rep. Craig Miner (R-66) along with House and Senate Republican leadership have proposed a common sense package of budget recommendations to balance the state budget.

Continuing the mantra of its common sense commitment which is based on five core principles:
• Spend No More Than You Make
• Borrow Only What You Can Afford To Pay Back
• If It’s Not Broken, Don’t Fix It, But If It’s Not Working, Get Rid Of It
• The More Government Tries To Do, The Less It Does Well
• We Should Have All The Government We Need, But Only The Government We Need

“It is my hope these proposals are looked at seriously when crafting a state budget. Significant reforms in the way we run state government are needed if we are to provide the same level of assistance to those who rely on government for essential services,” said Rep. Piscopo.

Some of the Republican budget recommendations are:

• Implement the Constitutional Spending Cap.
• Increase health care co-pays for legislators and legislative staff, currently $5 and $10.
• Reduce Salaries of legislators by 10% for 2 years.
• Reform state employee pensions and healthcare plans
• Reduce the number of managers in state government.
• Require a vote by each chamber on all collective bargaining agreements
• Limit bonding to keep debt service below 10% of annual budget.
• Establish criteria to borrow only for specific purposes including school construction, transportation, economic development, and public safety.
• Eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in state government and improve the processing of whistleblower complaints by transferring current staff located in the Attorney General office into a Division of State Accountability and Investigations within the office of the Auditors of Public Accounts.
• Implement Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
• Require state-funded programs to sunset after two years, unless a review shows that they have met their stated purpose.
• Close Riverview Hospital and relocate patients to private facilities.
• Consolidate all permanent commissions into a single commission with one executive director.
• Consolidate the state’s 43 agencies into 11;
• Create a quasi-public port authority to operate Bradley and Brainard Airports and state-owned and operated ferry services.

• Reduce duplicative administrative staff at Connecticut State University and Connecticut Community Colleges Systems in order to achieve efficiencies and cost savings.
• Reduce legislator franking costs/privileges through enhanced use of e-mail to communicate with constituents.
• Require a centralized, uniform electronic process for recording and transmitting state employee time records throughout state agencies.

“Just as every family in Connecticut has determined what their spending priorities are so must state government. Also, moving forward using GAAP budget standards which are a common set of accounting principles, standards and procedures widely used will help Connecticut identify its true financial position,” added Rep. Miner.