Connecticut lawmakers ‘close to a deal' on two-year state budget, Speaker Matt Ritter says

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3 days ago

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — With the clock racing toward the end of the state legislative session on June 4, the Democratic Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives said leaders are 'substantially close to a deal' on the next two-year state budget.
'Hopefully, we'll have a handshake agreement tomorrow,' State Rep. Matt Ritter, the House speaker, said late Wednesday evening.
Lamont, State Democrats battling over length of budget
The announcement that leaders are nearing a final deal on the budget comes after months of back-and-forth over how much to increase state spending. Legislative Democrats, led by Ritter and State Senate President Martin Looney, have consistently called for larger increases than those proposed by Gov. Ned Lamont in his budget proposal, which was rolled out in February.
Budget talks between the Democratic legislative leaders and the governor's administration grew in intensity in recent weeks, with a particularly notable exchange unfolding in public throughout the day on Wednesday.
On Wednesday morning, Ritter publicly suggested that the state should adopt a one-year budget rather than the traditional two-year spending plan. It's a maneuver that is without precedent in the recent history of the state legislature but one that Ritter said could help the state address a series of overlapping funding conundrums it faces right now.
The next state budget, Ritter said, will require leaders to delicately thread a needle between several competing interests. Lawmakers must contend with the state's system of legal spending controls, including a cap on the overall size of the budget, while also trying to respond to the requests of local school districts, nonprofit service organizations, healthcare providers, childcare advocates and higher education institutions — all of whom have been clamoring for more state funding. Complicating matters is the potential for funding cuts from the federal government.
A good way to thread the needle between all those factors, Ritter suggested Wednesday morning, is a one-year budget.
Several hours after Ritter made his comments on the wisdom of a one-year budget, Lamont summoned reporters to his office to respond.
'I just think we should sit down and try it again rather than run out and say, 'I give up and let's do a one-year budget,'' Lamont said. 'That just breaks every commitment we've made to the taxpayers of the state over the last 40, 45 years.'
Lamont's apprehension toward the idea of abandoning its decades-old practice of budgeting on two-year cycles was shared by leading Republicans in the legislature.
'I think this is fiscal irresponsibility,' State Sen. Steve Harding, the leader of the State Senate's 11-member Republican caucus, said. 'It's political posturing and frankly what's gonna happen is you're gonna see at home, tax increases to make up for this political posturing going on, this fiscal irresponsibility going on, this short-term planning going on.'
While the governor wasn't as explicit in his criticism of the one-year budget concept, he did say that he was inclined to veto such a plan if it ever reached his desk.
After the public volley between Ritter and Lamont, closed-door discussions between the two camps resumed.
Late Wednesday evening, top Lamont administration officials convened in Ritter's office for a meeting with the two Democratic leaders. By the time the two camps concluded their talks, word began to spread among legislators and Capitol insiders that a two-year budget deal was close. Multiple lawmakers briefed on the talks told News 8 they expected the deal to be announced on Thursday, echoing Ritter's statements.
The exact details of the deal discussed on Wednesday evening were not immediately available, but Ritter did offer insights into the broad outlines of the deal he hopes will be informally agreed upon on Thursday.
'I think we've moved a long way, I think we're able to fund things that we weren't able to fund prior,' Ritter said.
Lawmakers are set to reconvene on Thursday morning.
Stay with News 8 as this story unfolds.
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