Latest news with #Ritter
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
After clash, ‘substantial' x4 progress on CT budget deal; ‘We're not going to raise taxes'
Only hours after a public clash, negotiators made major progress on a new, two-year state budget that could lead to a final vote as early as Monday. House Speaker Matt Ritter of Hartford had tangled with Gov. Ned Lamont's administration to the point that Ritter threatened to pass a one-year budget. That would have broken a tradition lasting more than 30 years as the state always passes two-year budgets in order to look ahead for the fiscal outlook. But after a logjam was broken, the one-year plan was essentially off the table Thursday. 'We made substantial, substantial, substantial, substantial progress,' Ritter said, repeating the word four times. One of the reasons for the progress, he said, is that negotiators decided to pre-pay $200 million for the pension obligations for public school teachers that creates extra room under the spending cap and helps to balance the budget. 'The key to the budget deal will be the teacher pension,' Ritter said. After numerous complaints at public hearings and private discussions this year, the public colleges will receive millions of dollars more than some expected. The University of Connecticut will receive $35 million more than the governor's proposal in the first year, even though that total is less than what the budget-writing committee had recommended. UConn would then receive an additional $10 million more in the second year, he said. The Connecticut State University system, which includes the 12 community colleges, will rely on its large fiscal reserves in the first year, which had been recommended by the budget committee. CSCU would then be increased by $10 to $15 million higher in the second year. But Ritter stressed that the totals for the second year, which would start in July 2027, could change. 'For people that get too worried about year two, we come back and revisit things and see where we are,' Ritter told reporters, adding that he had delivered the latest news to UConn President Radenka Maric. Ritter also stressed that the final details were still being written by the nonpartisan staff — a laborious process that traditionally takes 48 hours after a handshake agreement. 'There is no deal,' Ritter said late Thursday morning. 'I want to be very clear. We have not had that handshake.' On the tax side, a proposal to increase the capital gains tax that had been favored by liberal Democrats will not be in the final deal. The legislature's finance committee voted to raise taxes on the state's wealthiest residents by imposing a capital gains surcharge of 1.75 percentage points on top of the 6.99% rate that the wealthiest earners currently pay, meaning that the new rate would be 8.74%. But Lamont strongly opposed that idea as he has during his entire tenure as governor. Lamont said he too was happy with the overall progress on the two-year, $55.5 billion spending plan. 'We're going to have a good budget,' Lamont told reporters at the state Capitol. 'It's going to be done on time. We're not going to raise taxes. We're going to be able to honor the commitments to the most vulnerable. A budget is a reflection of our values. I think we're in a good place.' In a trade-off with Lamont, the final deal is expected to include the creation of a new child tax credit for the first time in state history. House Democrats prefer the child tax credit instead of Lamont's proposal to increase the popular property tax credit on the state income tax to $350 per tax filer. As such, the credit would remain at $300 per year. While the final version of the bill has not been released, the latest Democratic proposal calls for a permanent, refundable credit of $150 per child for a maximum of three children, or $450 per year. That represents a sharp drop from an original proposal of $600 per child for an overall total of $1,800 per year. With various pressing needs on the tax and spending sides of the complicated state budget, lawmakers say they are often unable to award as much tax relief as they would like. Democrats have been pushing for the full tax credit to be available to single parents earning up to $100,000 per year, heads of households earning up to $160,000 per year, and couples filing jointly earning up to $200,000 per year, according to an analysis by the legislature's nonpartisan fiscal office. The credit would start on Jan. 1, 2026 and would save families a combined $82.7 million per year. Besides the budget, another key bill in the final days of the session is the so-called 'implementer' that provides specific details to implement the $27 billion annual spending plan. In the past, the 'implementer' has sometimes turned into a hodgepodge of legislation that failed in various committees and then was jammed into the implementer at the last minute, creating bills that were so large that legislators would often miss key provisions that were purposely buried in obscure language. Ritter described it as a 'tight implementer,' adding, 'So far, it's the best one I've seen.' House Republican leader Vincent Candelora of North Branford was not pleased because the budget talks have been between Lamont and top-level Democrats who control both chambers of the legislature. 'When Republicans are not in the room, bad things happen,' Candelora told reporters Thursday. 'I think we are going to see that this budget is going to be cobbled together with gimmicks to end-around the spending cap. … I want a real, two-year budget that is based in reality.' Breaking with the tradition of not spending precious debate time on bills that will be vetoed, Ritter said the state House of Representatives will be debating a controversial bill on awarding unemployment compensation to striking workers. The workers would become eligible after striking for more than 14 days. The tradition was adopted so that bills would not take up precious time in the final days of the legislative session, which ends at midnight Wednesday, when some bills will be left on the table with no time for a vote. Ritter has long maintained the tradition, but this year will be an exception. 'This is year three. It's time to have that issue addressed one way or another,' Ritter told reporters. 'We have tried very hard in the House to find compromise, including last year's bill. We're going to let it go on the board. … I think there's a solution there somewhere, but we haven't been able to find it. That's the one exception we're going to make to that rule this year.' Known for accurately counting votes, Ritter said there would be at least 76 votes to pass the striking workers bill, but he said the House Democrats cannot muster 101 votes to override Lamont's expected veto. The 102-member House Democratic caucus has at least 20 moderate members who can break ranks with their colleagues and block any veto overrides. Candelora blasted the bill, saying it was purposely written to help unions. 'I think it's sending the wrong message to the state of Connecticut,' Candelora said. 'If you think about all the bills we've done, we do labor bills every other day in this chamber, but we don't have conversations about how to grow Connecticut's economy. So we continue to see bills that are choking out our businesses in the state of Connecticut for a very small population of union workers. … We have abused our unemployment system in Connecticut.' Democrats have been under extreme pressure on the bill from union members, who have helped Democrats win elections for decades and can also find candidates to force primaries against incumbent Democrats. The bill passed this week on strict party lines by 24-11 in the state Senate. While the precise timing was still up in the air, the bill will likely be debated on Friday or Saturday – when the House will be in session as they rush to finish their work by June 4. Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Connecticut lawmakers ‘close to a deal' on two-year state budget, Speaker Matt Ritter says
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. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Failing to reach a deal, CT Dems consider passing one-year budget; Lamont calls it ‘a mistake'
For decades, state legislators have passed two-year budgets in order to avoid haphazard, seat-of-the-pants, one-year changes. But failing this week to agree on a spending plan, some Democrats are suddenly considering switching to a one-year budget. They are racing to craft their plan with only one week left before the current legislative session adjourns on June 4, but Gov. Ned Lamont has raised strong objections to breaking the long tradition of two-year budgets that are designed to force lawmakers to look ahead at the state's fiscal outlook. House Speaker Matt Ritter, a Hartford Democrat, said lawmakers are running out of options as they round up the necessary votes for the $27 billion state budget for the new fiscal year that starts on July 1. 'As a legislature, the worst and most dangerous thing you can do is leave without a budget of some kind,' Ritter told reporters Wednesday. 'Your leverage is gone. Members are away. It gets hard to find the [dates for] special sessions. The days turn into weeks, and you get to July 1, and your municipalities and your nonprofits and others are at the whim of whatever the governor's office wants to do. … Every day that goes by, the power accumulates in the executive branch.' The immediate problem, Ritter says, is that both the legislature and the governor failed this year to set aside money for a recently settled three-year contract for unionized nursing home workers in the District 1199 union who had threatened to go on strike. While all sides knew that the contracts remained unsettled, they never set aside $140 million to pay the workers for the second year of the two-year budget. As such, the second year would not be balanced. 'A one-year budget … is very much in play,' said Ritter, who has served in the legislature for 15 years. 'That might be the best option. Our first-year budget is under the [spending] cap. It is in balance. The governor has blessed year one. The disagreement is year two.' The situation is further complicated by the so-called guardrails and the state's spending cap. Changing the so-called volatility cap to allow more spending requires a three-fifths vote, which is 91 votes in the 151-member House. Democrats hold the majority over Republicans by 102 to 49. 'This is the first time in my experience that you need 91 votes to pass the budget, to raise the volatility threshold,' Ritter said. But Lamont summoned reporters to his office Wednesday afternoon to denounce Ritter's idea, saying that there is still time in the final week to reach a deal on a two-year, $55.5 billion budget. The clash, he said, is not generally over cuts but instead on the size of the projected increases. '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 told reporters, saying he is willing to work through the weekend to reach a deal. 'There are no cuts. We're arguing about how much we increase funding.' While he did not include the nursing home money in his budget proposal in early February, Lamont said it was later added in because there were reductions, known as 'lapses,' in other accounts throughout the budget. Asked by a reporter if he would veto a one-year budget, Lamont responded, 'I'm inclined to do that.' Lamont had earlier described the Democratic one-year idea as 'a mistake.' When told of Lamont's objections, Ritter said, 'The executive branch wants a biennium budget, and they want it kind of on their terms. That's typical of a governor. … It's not what the legislature wants to do.' If lawmakers pass a one-year spending plan, they could return to the Capitol in Hartford in September to plug any holes left by expected cuts from President Trump's administration as the federal fiscal year begins on Oct. 1. While Ritter mentioned that a one-year budget had not been enacted in Connecticut since 1979 or 1980, multiple insiders said that the two-year budget tradition started as a major financial reform after the state income tax was enacted under Gov. Lowell P. Weicker, Jr. in 1991. Senate Republican leader Stephen Harding of Brookfield said Lamont needs to push back even harder against his fellow Democrats. 'It's more than a 'mistake', governor,' Harding said. 'It's a dereliction of duty. Unfortunately, Gov. Lamont has already folded like a lawn chair to his fellow Democrats after agreeing to blow by the once-'sacrosanct' state spending cap last week. Why wouldn't Democrats assume you will again fold like a lawn chair on this issue as well?' Harding added, 'Gov. Lamont: There is less than a week left in the legislative session. We have no budget. No tax cuts. No spending cap. We have passed nothing to lower energy costs. Get your mojo back, Gov. Lamont. You are being pushed around by majority Democrats. Threaten some vetoes. Stop showing weakness and do something.' State Rep. Tammy Nuccio, the ranking House Republican on the budget committee, told The Courant that she is stunned that the Democrats are having trouble passing a two-year budget when they have super-majorities in both chambers of the legislature and flush fiscal coffers from constant budget surpluses in recent years. 'I think it's a farce,' Nuccio of the one-year plan. She added, 'The priority right now should be protecting Medicaid. It should be, in my opinion, electric rates. It should be sustainability over the two years. We obviously have issues for overtime' in prisons and the state police. Nuccio and fellow Republicans say the state could save $116 million over two years by eliminating health care for undocumented immigrants, but some Democrats have said that coverage is a key priority. With a full week left until adjournment, the legislature is known for acting quickly when necessary and cutting deals at the last minute as they race toward midnight on June 4. Ritter said that House Democrats have not issued any take-it-or-leave-it ultimatums and are open to negotiations. 'It's not our final offer,' Ritter said. He added that House Democrats are not giving up or caving in. 'The legislative branch is not back-up singers. It is a co-equal branch of government. And it's not going to just bend a knee because somebody says on a sheet of paper, just make these cuts and we're going to go home. There are opinions in there, passionate opinions in there. And we have the tough job of threading that needle, and the needle right now, I believe, is a one-year budget.' Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@
New York Post
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
All-American Rejects backyard concert shut down by cops
It ends tonight — or does it? The All-American Rejects' unorthodox concert in the backyard of a house near the University of Missouri in Columbia on May 18 was shut down by police. But one of the officers who's a fan of the band let them play one last song to wrap up the night. Advertisement 8 Mike Kennerty, Nick Wheeler, Tyson Ritter and Chris Gaylor attend the Allstate Party at the Playoff in Houston in January 2024. Getty Images for ESPN In a 10-minute video of the concert, the band were performing their 2005 hit 'Move Along' when bandleader Tyson Ritter told his bandmates and the crowd, 'Alright guys. Whoa, whoa whoa. We've gotta stop it.' 'The cops just shut us down,' Ritter, 41, added. 'Sorry, y'all. We just got kicked off campus.' Advertisement 8 The All-American Rejects perform in a Missouri college town on May 18. The All-American Rejects/Youtube 8 Police shut down an All-American Rejects backyard concert. The All-American Rejects/Youtube The crowd booed as the band stopped their performance and Ritter disappeared from the backyard. As the audience chanted 'f–k the police,' Ritter returned and told everyone, 'They said we can play one more f—ing song! We get one more song!' Advertisement After the crowd cheered, Ritter said, 'I haven't done this in a long time, but I'd really like to thank the local police for letting us f—ing keep carrying on.' 8 The All-American Rejects play one last song at the house party. The All-American Rejects/Youtube 8 Tyson Ritter performs at the Innings Festival 2025. WireImage 'Holy s–t. How often do you get a blessing from an officer?' Ritter continued. 'Well, I guess we've got one more song for you, and I'll give you 1 million guesses to guess which one. You might recognize it.' Advertisement The band then performed their 2008 hit 'Gives You Hell' for the final song of the night. 8 Tyson Ritter, Chris Gaylor, Mike Kennerty, and Nick Wheeler of The All-American Rejects at KIIS FM's 12th Annual Wango Tango 2009. Getty Images 'Thank you so much for coming out you guys,' Ritter told the crowd. 'Get home safely because the man let us keep playing. You take care, Columbia. Congrats on the graduations.' Mark Fitzgerald, the Columbia Police Department's assistant chief of police, told CNN that the band, their security staff and the crowd were 'very cooperative' with officials — despite that the concert was 'in violation of several local ordinances.' 8 The All-American Rejects perform at the Hollywood and Highland Courtyard in 2008. Getty Images Fitzgerald said that the officers who responded to the scene 'listened to a couple of songs' before the patrol sergeant told the band of the rules they were breaking. But the sergeant also informed the band that they could play one more song before they ended the concert. 'The Sergeant told me that he knew exactly who the band was and listened to them a lot while he was in college,' Fitzgerald shared. 'The Police Department would be happy to have the All-American Rejects return and play in Columbia, hopefully with the proper permits and approval.' Advertisement 8 Chris Gaylor, Mike Kennerty, Tyson Ritter and Nick Wheeler of The All-American Rejects in a portrait for the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards. WireImage The All-American Rejects — which includes Ritter, lead guitarist Nick Wheeler, rhythm guitarist Mike Kennerty and drummer Chris Gaylor — have been on a house party tour where they've stopped at several college towns to perform at backyard parties. They already visited the University of Southern California and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
Hindustan Times
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
The All-American Rejects' ‘house party' tour has fans going wild
The All-American Rejects are on a mission to bring house-parties back into the game. Having embarked on a 'House Party Tour' to promote their new single, fans now have the chance to bring their favorite 2000's punk-rock band to their own backyards by RSVPing a venue on the band's Linktree page. The concept for this tour arose out of the band's desire to reconnect with true fans at the ground level and challenge how lucrative the mainstream concert industry has become. So far, the band has played in a backyard in Chicago, a bowling alley in Minneapolis, a Columbia grad party at a private lawn in Missouri and the quad of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. This string of concerts kicked off on April 30, a week after the band released their single Sandbox, which is a part of their new album Easy Come, Easy Go, set to release on June 5. This will be the band's first album in 13 years. The band invited fans to send more locations for pop-up shows via a social media post. A post shared by The All-American Rejects (@therejects) The most recent show happened at a backyard in Nashville. A post shared by Rolling Stone (@rollingstone) To invite the band to their hometown, fans need only drop their contact details on an RSVP link at their Linktree page. The location of these pop-up shows is, however, kept confidential up until a few hours before performing and the fan who recommends the location is informed only some time prior to the band's arrival. Completely free of cost, these shows are a way for the band to challenge inflated pricing and lack of interest found at big concerts and reconnect with an audience that truly enjoys their music. 'We played this random house party [in Los Angeles], and it was like, of all the shows we played in the last 10 years, it was, like, this big wake-up call to the reality of, 'Oh, this is why we started doing this.' We played in house shows. We played backyards, VFWs, and I just told my manager, 'That worked. Let's do that,'" explained Tyson Ritter, frontman of the All-American Rejects. Ritter also gave a speech to the packed crowd at a recent house party where he stressed on the importance of delivering nostalgia and true songs to its fan base rather than trying to make a quick buck and thanked his audience for keeping the spirit of rock and roll alive. A post shared by 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐒𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐃𝐀𝐘 (@takingbacksaturday) Fans took to social media to express their admiration of the brand's genius marketing move and love for their fans. The band's next house party is listed for May 23 following which they will be taking to the stage on July 7 in Calgary, Alberta which leaves sufficient space for more pop-up shows to be conducted in between. They are also slated to open the Jonas Brothers show at the Schottenstein Center on Nov 8.
