Lawmakers Will Ignore Rell’s Proposal And Call Themselves Into Session
by Christine Stuart | Dec 14, 2009 8:05pm
(9) Comments | Commenting has expired
Posted to: State Budget, State Capitol
The General Assembly will convene Tuesday for a special session, but it won’t be the one Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell requested.
House Speaker Chris Donovan said Monday evening that the legislature will return Tuesday morning, but won’t take up Rell’s recommended $337 million in spending cuts.
Instead, the legislature’s Democratic majority will get to work on a plan that asks Rell to delay a scheduled $100 million contribution to state employees pension plan.
The plan being drafted by the legislature’s Democratic majority will also recommend delaying some of the Jan. 1 changes to the estate tax, move up the use of about $33 million in rainy day funds from 2011 to 2010, and reduce the budget by about $60 million. It will not make any cuts to social services or municipal aid, like Rell’s proposal did.
Donovan said the legislature took Rell’s budget mitigation proposal very seriously, but in the end discovered it would cost the state 5,000 jobs and $38.5 million in federal funds.
“We’re not talking about state employee jobs. We’re talking about jobs in hospitals, in communities, in various industries that will be lost in Connecticut,” Donovan said.
Donovan also accused Rell of being derelict in her duty to capture federal funds and grants.
Michael Cicchetti, deputy undersecretary of the Office of Policy and Management, said that‘s absolutely not true.
“The notion that we‘re leaving federal dollars on the table is simply not true,” Cicchetti said in a brief visit to the Capitol Press room. Cicchetti also opined that not one job would be lost under Rell’s proposed deficit mitigation plan.
State Rep. John Geragosian, D-New Britain, said the numbers are accurate. He said the Democrats believe Rell’s budget cuts will result in the loss of 2,000 jobs in hospitals and nursing homes alone.
The Connecticut Hospital Association testified last week that the $80 million in Medicaid funding it receives from the state helps it generate $200 million in economic activity. If Medicaid was cut by 5 percent as the governor proposed then the $200 million in economic activity, which includes jobs, would disappear.
“There are problems with these cuts,“ Majority Leader Denise Merrill, D-Mansfield, said referring to Rell‘s proposal. “And you can’t ignore the fact that significant job loss that would result from these cuts really should be the state’s first priority.”
“We’re not going to come out of this recession by cutting jobs,” Merrill said. “We’re going to come out of the recession by paying attention to job growth.”
But Cicchetti and House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, said there are problems with the Democratic proposal too.
The state’s revenue loss is simply not high enough to trigger the $100 million delay in funding state employee pensions, Cicchetti said. He said the agreement between the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition and the governor is triggered only when state revenues dip below $300 million. By his account it has only lost $245 million in revenues.
The Democrats say that’s not true that the state Comptroller’s number is below $300 million.
Cafero said he never thought he’d see the day when Donovan, known for his support of labor unions, would insist upon the governor underfunding union pensions. “But that’s what he said,” Cafero said.
The rest of the Democratic plan is unspecified cuts, Cicchetti said. “The only definitive part of the plan is a tax increase,” he said referring to the delay in the estate tax threshold.
“If this were not such a serious fiscal situation, Speaker Donovan and the Democrats’ ‘plan’ would be laughable,“ Rell’s spokesman Rich Harris said Monday. “Instead, it’s shameful.”
“We’re going to come in session and we’re going to save these jobs and we’re going to solve our deficit problem,” Donovan said. The session date has yet to be announced, but Donovan promised it would be before the Christmas holiday.
Following the press conference Democratic lawmakers gathered at Costa Del Sol in Hartford to raise money for The House Democrat Caucus Committee. Donovan said in an interview last week that the committee raises money to support the organizational structure for the party’s re-election campaigns. It is one of eight leadership PACs allowed under the Citizens Election Program.
“How ironic that Speaker Donovan is hosting a political fundraiser this evening and tomorrow will likely ignore calls to take special-interest money out of campaigns and fix our campaign finance system,“ Harris said. “Shameful – and irresponsible.”
Rell had also asked the legislature to fix the state’s fledgling campaign finance system while the state appeal’s a federal judge’s ruling, but lawmakers won’t be doing that tomorrow either.
State Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D-Milford, said in a phone interview earlier Monday afternoon that the legislature is still working on a solution for the campaign finance system. She said a special session may be held in January or February to address the necessary changes.
Meanwhile the Second Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in the case on Jan. 13.
(9) Comments
posted by: middleoftheroad | December 14, 2009 10:51pm
Things are getting out of control. This is not an acceptable way to address the deficit, or the budget as a whole, which cannot survive the gimmicks.
Everyone has known about this problem for a while. Why isn’t anyone presenting some kind of real, sustainable solution?
posted by: City Hall Watch | December 14, 2009 11:23pm
This is a repeat of a bad dream…the bus is careening down the highway bouncing off the guardrails and it’s approaching the cliff? What does Donovan and the Democrats do? Keep on driving right over the ledge…
1. It is beyond irresponsible to pay even less into the pension than you are already paying. What you are paying is insufficient to cover the committment you already made. Now, Donovan wants to make it worse. Stupid idea.
2. Move up millions from the Rainy Day fund from next year to this year. That’s real bright. And what do you do next year, Donovan?
3. [edited]. When was the last job Merrill created? The level of taxes, government intrusion and inability to balance is what kills jobs.
4. Don’t believe a word from the CT Hospital Association. They will say anything to protect their revenue stream. So will all the others with their hand out. Come on people, pull your head out…
posted by: In The Know | December 15, 2009 3:32pm
Here we go again with more smoke and mirrors. But the real question which must be asked is; “what is the best for the citizens of CT and the tax payers?” Does it make sense for tax payers to pay for state employees who provide the same healthcare services at 3 times the costs of nonprofits for comparable services? Does it make sense for the tax payers to pay for the early retirements of state employees after 20 years with full insurance and built in 2.5% increases each year? Why should taxpayers pay for all of this while most of us will never approach these types of deals in the private sector? Of course the answer is that the Democrats are being bought off by the promised votes of state labor unions! And they are using our money to buy the votes!
posted by: CT Jim | December 15, 2009 5:22pm
In the know,
You don’t seem to know very much do you??
First off show us the #s on your 3 to 1 state -vs- non profits. can’t find it?
Didn’t think so.
State workers get 20 and out packages?
There are over 50,000 state employees and less than 10,000 (State police and corrections officers) get 20 and out the others have to work 30 plus years and the monies vary based on at least 3 tiers.
The state employees gave over $700 million in concessions last year, What did you give?
no where near that did ya?
Didn’t think so.
Just because YOU lack the guts to organize and fight for better pay and better benies doesn’t mean everybody has to follow your weak lead. And state employees ARE tax payers and more likely than not because they are compansated with a living wage pay MORE than YOU!
Don’t you think state employees are sick of carrying you?
They may be but choose the high road and go to work everyday in jobs that are not the best in conditions not optimum.
posted by: Michael Sullivan | December 15, 2009 6:48pm
During Connecticut’s recession, the needs of our families have grown at the same time the state has fewer resources to help them. CT Voices for Children has suggested several revenue options that could contribute to a more balanced approach to meeting the state’s growing needs while avoiding cuts that would harm our children and our economic future. The problem is too big to be solved by cuts alone. These options could include closing corporate tax loopholes, evaluating the “hidden budget” of tax breaks, and making our income tax more progressive. The details can be found in our issue brief on the topic. We’ve also summarized some of the damaging impacts of the Governor’s proposed cuts on children.
posted by: City Hall Watch | December 16, 2009 11:31am
CT Voices for Children:
I have carefully read your documents. Your entire plan for deficit mitigation rests on ripping more money out of the pockets of the very families you claim you want to protect.
1. Raise the gross receipts tax on gas. We already pay two taxes on gas and have the highest or near the highest tax on gas of anywhere in the country. The state collects $300 million or more in gas taxes each year and spends less than half of that on roads and bridges with the rest of it going to pay for programs you support. Raising this tax will directly hurt small businesses, middle income families and the poor.
2. Raise the “sin” taxes and expand the “sin taxes.” The state just raised cig taxes by a dollar a pack. That’s not going to generate enough money so you want to put a supertax on fast food and sodas, not sit down restaurant food and alcohol. Who do you think patronizes fast food places and why are their sales going through the roof in a recession? Yeah, cheap food and the poor and lower middle class are the ones who go there most often. Your plan will hurt them.
3. Raise the income tax. This is rich. Like we don’t pay enough already because our income tax is not as high as NY and NJ and RI? Those are hardly bastians of good government in any sense of the word. We should model ourselves after some of the most corrupt, poorly run states in the Union? And by the way, this will hurt middle income families too.
4. Raise Corporate taxes and eliminate tax credits. Sure. Then there will be a reduction in middle class jobs. The Hartford is laying off 1,000 people it says anticipating changes that will be demanded of the federal healthcare “reform.” Do you think that raising corporate taxes will preserve or kill jobs? You also want to change the tax structure for small businesses. Great. The engine that drives the CT economy such as it is, are small firms, many employing a handful of people. Their owners are middle class. You will hurt them.
5. Spending cuts disproportionately affect families and children you say. Deficits affect us all. The spending cuts the governor has proposed, and I don’t support all of them, are pretty much directly proportional to the share of the budget dedicated to Human Services and Education which is 37%. The real crime is that 8% of our total budget is consumed by debt and its growing. The second crime is that the amount of spending each year on average has doubled and tripled the rate of inflation for at last a decade. Much of it has been dedicated to programs that provide safety nets for children and famlies, as you like to say, “the most vulnerable among us.”
You consistently fail to recognize the tremendous investment the state makes in children and families. Even so, you are never satisfied. It is never enough. You cannot tax your way out of this mess. The legislature in its lack of wisdom, just last year, passed the largest tax increase in the history of the state. That’s not enough. They cut nothing and actually increased spending by almost 2 percent, again higher than the rate of inflation. Where does it end? When we are all broke and unemployed? How much more of the budget do professional social workers want to control? All of it?
posted by: CT Jim | December 16, 2009 3:45pm
City Hall,
So on #4 of your post you say that the Hartford “announced” that it is laying off 1,000 people in anticipation of a bill that hasn’t been passed and will not take effect if it is for a least 3 years.
Really???
They actually said that???
WOW!! I NEVER saw that.
Or were you reading their minds?? LOL
Also when did the hartford become a big player in Health Care???
Auto- YES
Homeownners-YES
Life-YES for sure.
But health care???
You know city your posts are getting a little out of whack but I will take your word for it and expect that the Hartford will put out a new press release that says they no longer have to lay off a 1,000 people because Senator (i love myself) Lieberman has killed the bill. And if they don’t I think we should all ask that their corporate tax to be doubled.
posted by: City Hall Watch | December 16, 2009 4:44pm
CT Jim:
My bad…it was Aetna. Here are the first two graphs of the story from the Hartford Biz Journal.
“Aetna today announced that it is laying off about 1,250 people by the end of the first quarter 2010, including 160 immediate cuts in Connecticut.
The company said the workforce reduction is a result of declining enrollments caused by the economic downturn, as well as the threat of health care reform and regulatory changes being proposed by the federal government.”
posted by: CT Jim | December 16, 2009 4:59pm
City,
Does the threat of legislation actually stop peope from buying Health Insurance?
I believe Aetna is way over dramitizing a situation for sure.
If not outright lying about it.
But I will make the same assumption that we should see Aetna saying these cuts will not have to be made because the bill died.
And if not I hope people like yourself will step up and call them the ruthless liars they would be if they didn’t.
Then we’ll double their taxes.