Non-profits have long said they need more financial support from the state. With another huge surplus projected for 2025, is now the time or will the state’s fiscal guardrails put a stop to it? We dig into the details with Connecticut for All Director Norma Martinez-Hosang.
Mike Hydeck: Well the string of staggering surpluses in our state coffers continue this week. The non-partisan budget office released a report that says we may be close to another billion in the black next year, and agencies that have seen funding flat in years past say it's time to invest more in things like school and elder care and mental health. Joining me now is Nora Martinez-HoSang, she's the director of Connecticut For All. Good to see you. Thanks for joining us. So your organization is a coalition of union groups and so many others, non-profits, religious leaders, fighting for tax fairness and other things. So here in Connecticut, we've had a budget problem for years; we were trying to get ourselves out of debt. Well, now the last several years, we've paid off our debt, we've paid down our long term liabilities. There are still tens of billions to pay off to make sure state employees can have their pensions in years to come. But Connecticut For All of us this big surplus a little bit differently. You'd like to see it taken care of in another way. How so?
Norma Martinez-HoSang: Yeah, you know, Connecticut For All is, like you said an organization of about 60 labor community organizations representing hundreds of thousands of people in Connecticut. And we're really working to shift what's happening in Connecticut with the extreme inequality that really affects us on the gender, social, economic and racial justice, we see that with a racial justice lens. As you said, this, we just heard an announcement that there's about more than a billion dollars in surplus. We think that, you know, communities are suffering and communities need to see that money invested now. I mean, I'll tell you a story. Just last week, one of the members of one of the coalition partners died from not having health insurance. And I'm not exaggerating. She went into the ER April 1, got diagnosed with terminal cancer and died April the 24th. As you said, Hartford schools are in dire need of funding. And although the 10-and-a-half million dollars that was promised and that's coming in is a great step in the right direction, the original hole was stated at $40 million. Paraprofessionals are suffering. They're making $24,000 a year. To bring them up to a living wage, you know, that costs money. We need long term investments in our communities, and we have the money now and we should invest it.
Mike Hydeck: So moving forward, Democratic leaders in the House and Senate say it's time to adjust the volatility cap. If you don't know, the volatility cap is when big hedge funds make lots of money, they pay more taxes, but that can go up and down, up and down. So they try to regulate that so the state can continue to pay their bills. Would you like to see the volatility cap adjusted? Is that part of what you'd like to see happen to change the way we have money in our state to address some of these issues?
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Norma Martinez-HoSang: Absolutely. You know, the volatility cap hasn't been as volatile as it was expected to be when it was enacted. And so I think it was, it's been about $400 million. We've seen up to a billion dollars coming in. So we don't see it as very volatile when the money that's coming in is that high. So we want to see it adjusted, we want to see the money that taxpayers have already paid, being used to support our communities and families.
Mike Hydeck: Moving forward, one of the stories you talked about was health insurance. They're trying, members of the state delegation are trying to come up with ways that everybody can get health insurance, whether if your company doesn't offer it, no matter what you're doing. Is that a step in the right direction? And does that start to help people who don't have it that you represent?
Norma Martinez-HoSang: Absolutely, any movement to covering more people absolutely helps. You know, we have members who are who are working 40 hours a week full time that actually do get health insurance through their jobs. But even then their copays are so high that they can't afford to, to get insurance, the insurance that they need. We have children who, because they're undocumented, cannot get health insurance, that's unconscionable in Connecticut, one of the richest states in the nation. So we see that as moving the right direction and money should be invested in that.
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Mike Hydeck: And that's another thing you've been fighting for in the state capitol as well. So now Republican leader in the House Vincent Candelora had this to say about this push to try to change the guardrails. He says, "I know the governor and the Democrats are trying to negotiate their way out of this and pretend they're honoring the guardrails. I'm very concerned that they're setting up things for next year for these guardrails to fail." What do you think, one, about the guardrails? And two, his comments on this. Does it feel as if, you know, you'd like to see a different kind of support?
Norma Martinez-HoSang: Yeah, I mean, who were failing is the people of Connecticut, that's who were failing. So the guardrails were never meant to, they were meant, and we believe in the guardrails you know. We need to have fiscal responsibility and that's okay. Totally need that. Pensioners need to get to, to be able to retire and have the money that they've expected. But we're failing the people of Connecticut when they are suffering, when they're living paycheck to paycheck, working one, two, three full time jobs and still can't make ends meet. That's who we're failing and that's what we're trying to change.
Mike Hydeck: Does Connecticut for All have priorities moving forward? What would you like to see addressed first? There's so many issues here. Are there anything that you say, Look, this is where we have to start?
Norma Martinez-HoSang: Well, I think, you know, we have a large number of issues. Starting anywhere would be great. I mean, we're fighting for, we're fighting for filling a hole for higher education right now. We hope that passes. But but higher education has been disinvested for many, many years. So even even when we get that support, we're looking for transformative investments that are sustainable and that are long term.
Mike Hydeck: Not a one off. Here's some money.
Norma Martinez-HoSang: Which is what might happen even with this support, and don't get me wrong, like, that's great. And we're so happy that our champions in the legislature are working with us and moving in that direction. But what we need is big, systemic change that's going to bring families out of the situation they're in right now.
Mike Hydeck: Norma Martinez-HoSang, Connecticut for All, we appreciate your time this morning. Thanks for joining us
Norma Martinez-HoSang: Thank you so much.
