Appropriations Committee Approves $51 Billion Spending Plan

04.22.2023
Appropriation Committee chairs Rep. Toni Walker and Sen. Cathy Osten
Issues & Policies

The legislature’s Appropriations Committee approved a $51 billion spending plan April 18 that largely matched Gov. Ned Lamont’s state budget proposal.

The committee’s budget spends $25.1 billion in fiscal 2014, a 3.7% increase over the current year, and $37 million more than the governor proposed in January.

State spending will increase another 3.2% in fiscal 2025 under the committee’s plan, an increase of $374 million over the governor’s recommended budget.

The committee’s budget carries forward $260 million from this year’s surplus while using surplus dollars to fund some current programs through June 30.

It also reduced proposed higher education spending cuts and appropriated new funding for health clinics that also qualify for federal funds.

‘Hard Budget’

Appropriations Committee co-chair Rep. Toni Walker (D-New Haven) described the plan as “a hard budget.”

“The costs are coming in, the asks are coming in, and the needs are coming,” she said. 

“We have stuck to the confines of the spending cap. We know that everyone is going to want more.”

Committee co-chair Sen. Cathy Osten

Committee members said the state’s statutory spending caps and fiscal guardrails determined spending decisions.

“We have not made everybody happy this year,” committee co-chair Sen. Cathy Osten (D-Baltic) said.

“We have stuck to the confines of the spending cap. We know that everyone is going to want more.”

Budget Revisions

In addition to revising Lamont’s education, social services, and transportation spending recommendations, the committee made a series of cuts to state agency personnel counts.

Many agencies, including the Department of Revenue Services, Department of Social Services, and Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, saw position counts slashed. 

Committee members also rejected the governor’s proposal to make the Office of Workforce Strategy a stand alone agency, instead moving it to the Department of Economic and Community Development. 

The committee acted the day before the Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committee released its tax plan, which features $300 million in state income tax cuts.

The governor expressed concerns this week about provisions in the legislature’s tax and spending plans that circumvent some statutory fiscal controls.

Legislative leaders and administration officials will negotiate these budget proposals, with additional revisions expected before the full legislature acts ahead of the June 7 adjournment.


For more information, contact CBIA’s Ashley Zane (860.244.1169) | @AshleyZane9.

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