UPDATE: Bipartisan $46.4B biennial budget passes Senate; cannabis bill headed to special session
The Connecticut Senate overwhelmingly approved a $46.4 billion, two-year state budget early this evening, 31-4 — something Gov. Ned Lamont called “the most progressive, transformative, and life-changing budget our state has ever seen.
“We agreed across party lines that now is the time to ensure thousands of families have access to affordable child care, the expansion of access to free and affordable health care will provide security to households, and investments in our future through workforce development will make our state stronger,” Lamont said. “The investments in equity will lift up our state for generations to come.”
It is the state’s first bipartisan budget since 2018.
The new budget calls for spending $22.7 billion in the fiscal year starting July 1 ”“ an increase of 2.6% ”“ and $23.6 billion the following fiscal year, a 3.9% increase.
It does not dip into Connecticut”™s $3.1 billion-plus rainy day fund, meaning that roughly $1.4 billion will be distributed to the municipal teachers”™ pension fund.
Under state law, any amount in the rainy day fund over 15% of Connecticut”™s general fund appropriation automatically must be used to pay down pension obligations to the state employees”™ or the teachers’ pension fund; State Treasurer Shawn Wooden, who funneled $61.6 million to the state employees union last year, confirmed to the Business Journal that this year”™s overrun would go to either union.
As Lamont promised, there are no new major tax increases in the budget.
However, both houses of the General Assembly approved a separate measure, House Bill 6688, which would levy a so-called “highway tax” on large trucks. The House passed it yesterday afternoon, 88-59, followed by the Senate Wednesday morning, 22-14.
The bill establishes fees starting at 2.5 cents per mile for vehicles weighing 26,000 to 28,000 pounds, and gradually increasing to 17.5 cents per mile for those weighing over 80,000 pounds. It would also apply to all state roads, not only highways, starting in January.
The budget also increases the state Earned Income Tax Credit from 23% of the federal EITC to 30.5%, bringing the total refunds to working poor households to approximately $158 million.
The restaurant industry, one of the hardest hit by the pandemic, is receiving another $7 million in aid.
Meanwhile, the legislation passed by the Senate on Tuesday morning to legalize recreational marijuana will not be voted upon during the General Assembly’s regular session, which expires at midnight tonight.
Facing a threatened filibuster by House Republicans over a provision that is no longer in the bill, House Speaker Matt Ritter (D-Hartford) said this afternoon that it will instead be voted upon during a special session, which will be called sometime before the end of the fiscal year on June 30.
Senate Bill 1118 would allow the buying and possession of marijuana at age 21, beginning Jan. 1, 2022. Consumers would be legally allowed to possess 1.5 ounces and another 5 ounces in their homes or in a locked vehicle.
It originally included a provision that “a former backer of a producer may apply to the department for a provisional cultivator license and subsequently a final cultivator license without being subject to a lottery.”
That language ”“ which was dropped by the Senate before its 19-17 vote ”“ was seen as being unfairly advantageous to that unnamed entity.
But House Republican leader Vincent Candelora (North Branford) has called for an investigation into why the provision was included in the first place, arguing that the House should not consider the bill before the session ends and threatening a filibuster. Should the latter occur, the Senate would need to reconvene and vote again on the measure.