Connecticut’s General Assembly voted on Monday to exceed the state’s spending cap for the first time in nearly two decades to fix a $300 million Medicaid shortfall this year.
The bill passed by a vote of 98-46 in the House and 24-10 in the Senate, meeting the required two-thirds majority.
Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont signed a declaration to allow lawmakers to appropriate the money as part of an agreement reached with the majority Democrats.
House Speaker Matt Ritter said the bill also frees lawmakers to spend more of the state’s current $2.4 billion surplus.
“The ability to spend more money than perhaps the administration originally proposed,” he said.
“And that would help us pay for things like municipal aid, special education, and hopefully Medicaid. Things like that are very important to us,” Ritter said.
Republicans voted against the move.
It violated the bipartisan fiscal guardrails that Lamont had promised to protect, said House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora.
“We already have the revenue cap being diverted this year. We have the volatility cap being changed to grab more money. And now the last remaining cap, which is supposed to be sacrosanct, will be blown through for next year’s budget,” Candelora said.
Lamont’s pronouncement is the first of this kind since 2007, when Republican Jodi Rell was governor.
