CT lawmakers look for more funding to address needs for next year

Various advocacy groups continue pushing for additional funding as lawmakers try to figure out how much extra money they have to spend next year.

The legislature’s Appropriations Committee decided last Thursday not to revisit the current two-year, $51 billion budget. That means no changes in spending for the second fiscal year of the budget.

Lawmakers are confident they’ll be able to address various needs in other ways, including unspent American Rescue Plan Act funding and surpluses within the budget. They’re just not sure how much money that is.

“Well that’s one of the big unanswered questions, we don’t have a hard and fast number yet,” Sen. Martin Looney (D-President Pro Tempore) said.

Democrats say their priorities is helping the University of Connecticut and Connecticut State College and University system, which are both facing deficits next year.

“The CSCU community is grateful for the collaborative efforts of the General Assembly and for recognizing the important role public higher education plays in our students’ futures, state, and economy,” Chancellor Terrence Cheng said in a statement after the Appropriations Committee’s decision last week.

Democrats also want funding for municipal aid, mental health support, nonprofit service providers and childcare.

“We have far too many children who go to kindergarten who aren’t prepared to be there,” Looney said.

Gov. Ned Lamont, speaking at an event announcing $35.3 million in grants for nonprofits, agreed those service providers need help.

“You've got to set priorities when it comes to a budget, you can’t have everything as a priority,” Lamont said. “But this is a priority for me.”

Advocates for childcare and early childhood education planned a rally for Wednesday evening, one of nearly a dozen they’d scheduled around the state.

They say the system is underfunded, creating staffing shortages that limit available daycare spots and driving up costs.

“We need a lot more money, childcare providers are closing their doors, there are a lot of classrooms that can’t open,” Child Care for Connecticut’s Future Coalition Director Eva Bermudez Zimmerman said.

Lamont, who proposed moving $43 million within the budget, agrees.

“We'll sit down and negotiate about that, yeah, but for me, childcare and daycare are really important,” he said.  

Republicans support spending available funding, especially ARPA money, but are opposed to moves they think violate the spirit of the state’s fiscal guardrails.

Sen. Stephen Harding (R-Minority Leader) said that includes the proposed creation of a childcare trust fund that can accept donations and spend funding outside the budget.

“You're going around the fiscal guardrails and using tactics that are technically legal, but completely outside of the spirit of why we enacted the guardrails in the first place,” Harding said.

He also said the state budget should be up for debate, in part because revenues are down compared to the projections used when the budget was approved last spring.

“The budget should be opened, we should be addressing the revenue cap,” Harding said.