Spending Cap Commission to Hold Public Hearing

The Spending Cap Commission will hold a public hearing April 18 to talk about Connecticut’s constitutional spending cap. The General Assembly created the 24-member bipartisan commission back in December through a special legislative session held to tackle a current-fiscal-year budget deficit.

After implementation of the state income tax, an overwhelming percentage of voters in 1992 approved a Constitutional Spending Cap to keep budget growth in line with increases in inflation and personal income. Yet, frustrated taxpayers over the years have watched the state’s budget mushroom to a once unimaginable amount.

The state’s attorney general has reported the spending cap is unenforceable because the legislature failed to define its parameters. In December, I called for action to eliminate cap wiggle room.

Hearing information:

Monday, April 18

1:30 p.m. in Room 1E, Legislative Office Building

How to testify:

The public is cordially invited to share thoughts and recommendations with the bi-partisan Commission, which will make recommendations to the Legislature defining the following terms to implement the Constitutional Spending Cap: (a) “increase in personal income”, (b) “increase in inflation”, and “general budget expenditures”. Sign-up will begin at 11:00 A.M. in Room 2700 of the LOB.  Speaker order will be determined by a lottery system.  Lottery numbers will be drawn from 11:00 A.M. until 12:00 P.M. in Room 2700 of the LOB.  Speakers arriving after the completion of the lottery will have their names placed at the end of the speaker list.  The Commission requests that testimony be limited to matters related to the charge of the Commission.  Speakers should bring 30 copies of testimony to Room 2700 by 12:00 P.M. and should submit testimony electronically, in Word or PDF format, to AppTestimony@cga.ct.gov.  Speaker testimony will be limited to three minutes.  The Commission encourages witnesses to submit a written statement and to condense oral testimony to a summary of that statement. Unofficial sign-up sheets have no standing with the Commission. All public hearing testimony, written and spoken, is public information. As such, it will be made available on the CGA website and indexed by internet search engines.