The Connecticut General Assembly has adopted a $37.6 billion budget for the 2014 and 2015 fiscal years after the state Senate voted 19 to 17 on June 3 to approve the biennial spending bill passed the day before by the House of Representatives.
The budget, which maintains state aid to municipalities and invests in higher education, features no new taxes but does include extensions of several taxes that were set to expire.
The budget increases state spending by 8.6 percent, according to Budget Director Ben Barnes. The state fiscal calendar runs from July 1 through June 30.
“Of course, no budget is perfect and this budget required many tough cuts, many tough choices and hard compromises,” said Gov. Dannel P. Malloy in a statement after the House passed the budget June 2. “We still have a long way to go. But this budget shows that we’ve got our priorities straight, and we are determined to keep Connecticut moving forward.”
Senate members approved the budget just before 10 p.m. on June 3, a day after members of the House approved the budget by a vote of 95 to 48 following a debate that stretched from the evening of June 1 into the early hours of June 2.
No Republicans from either house voted in favor of the budget, and three Senate Democrats joined their counterparts in dissenting. Senate approval came by a razor’s edge, with 19 “yea’s” required for passage.
Among the more controversial aspects of the budget debate was the question of whether $6 billion in federal Medicaid assistance should count against the state’s constitutional spending cap. The budget bill that ultimately passed did not include the $6 billion in funds, with Malloy and Democratic legislators arguing that Connecticut is the only state to include its federal Medicaid appropriation under the umbrella of state spending.
However, Republican leadership, including House Minority Leader Larry Cafero, say the shift allows the budget to exceed the state’s spending cap, which he said represents a violation of the state’s constitution.
[Editor’s note: This article was updated June 4 to reflect state Senate passage of the 2014-2015 budget. An initial version was published June 3.]
