Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont has commended state lawmakers for passing a balanced budget with strong bipartisan support and on time during this year’s legislative session, which ended on Wednesday.
House and Senate Democratic leaders, as well as House Republican leaders, helped craft the $28 billion state budget adjustment bill that includes increased aid to cities and towns, Lamont said during a review of the session with news reporters in his office Thursday.
The governor and most members of the state General Assembly are contesting for reelection this year.
A bipartisan state budget is in contrast to the economic headwinds from Washington, he said.
“We are still managing through an incredibly complicated time with the Trump administration,” Lamont said.
“And we’re able to back people up when it comes to healthcare. We were able to get additional funding for schools. We were able to grow the economy while in many places it is contracting,” he said.
He added that stronger-than-expected state revenues helped.
“You know you got a war, you got the Strait of Hormuz, you got gasoline selling at an all-time high, and the consumer is still relatively strong. I think our sales tax is hanging in there. Our income is pretty high, capital gains are gangbusting,” Lamont said.
The governor also supports other major legislation that passed this year, including AI regulation, state restraints on ICE activity and a ban on the future sale of pistols that can be easily modified into submachine guns.
He said he’s yet to consider any vetoes.
