Connecticut lawmakers passed a bill to close the state’s current $220 million budget gap on Tuesday. The bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in both houses of the legislature.
The bill replaces many of the unilateral cuts to state services made earlier by Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy, including more than $31 million in payments to hospitals. Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney (D-New Haven) says the bill also restores $16 million in state funding to municipalities.
“So that municipalities, this far into their current fiscal year, are not going to be hurt by this bill,” Looney said.
Looney said that the bill was achieved by shifting cuts to other state services.
That did not sit well with State Senator Dante Bartolomeo (D-Meriden), who was one of three senators to vote against the bill.
“I’m concerned about cutting $4 million to temporary family assistance, which provides a safety net for families with children, and about cutting a million dollars in community residential funding for developmentally disabled individuals,” Bartolomeo said.
Lawmakers still have to deal with the projected budget deficit for the next fiscal year that begins on July 1st. That deficit is projected to be $900 million.
