Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont (D) gave a sneak peek into his upcoming budget proposals on Wednesday morning at an annual breakfast with state business leaders.
During his State of the State speech last week, Lamont was tight-lipped about what the biennial budget might look like, which he’s expected to release in February.
That was not the case when he addressed his former business peers at the Hartford Marriott.
“Our economy is growing faster than the national average, faster than our peers. We have a lower unemployment rate than the national average, and that's usually not the case in Connecticut,” Lamont said. “And that growth will probably allow us to increase spending, you know, with the spending cap by about a billion dollars.”
The budget passed in 2023 and left mostly untouched in 2024 was around $51 billion. The state had its sixth consecutive budget surplus last year.
Republicans have called on Lamont to keep the fiscal guardrails in place, crediting the 2017 spending laws with allowing the state to pay down pension debt and build up the rainy day fund. Democrats and various Connecticut-based non-profits want to amend them to spend more on social services, like housing and education.
The breakfast was held by the Connecticut Business and Industry Association. CBIA President Chris DiPentima rattled off some staggering statistics about the state of business in CT: there are 73,000 job openings, the labor force has decreased by 30,000 people since pre-pandemic levels, and 27% of the state’s workforce is 55 or older.
The reason? Affordability, according to DiPentima.
“Growing the workforce in Connecticut means growing the population, keeping people here and attracting more people to our great state,” DiPentima said. “That's how we're going to fill those open jobs. That's how we're going to realize our economic potential. And that, my friends, is where affordability comes in, addressing Connecticut's high cost of living is key costs like energy, health care, child care and housing.”
During his State of the State address and again at the CBIA breakfast, Lamont said affordability was one of his main legislative priorities this year.
