Democratic lawmakers say they’ve struck a deal on a plan to spend as much as $400 million in unused American Rescue Plan Act funds.
“The stabilization bill is addressing some of the things we as a caucus felt needed to be addressed,” said Rep. Toni Walker (D-New Haven).
Highlights of the bill include $160 million for higher education, $21 million for early childhood education, $24 million for mental health services and $50 million for nonprofit service providers.
The University of Connecticut – including UConn Health – and the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities will evenly split the $160 million for higher education.
The $50 million for nonprofits, meanwhile, will provide a 2.5% raise for workers, matching the pay hike lawmakers approved last year for striking group home workers.
Democrats negotiated the plan with Gov. Ned Lamont.
“The governor appreciates the legislature for their hard work to build on the progress we made last year by passing a strong bipartisan budget that makes key investments in social services, higher education, childcare, housing, and transportation,” Julia Bergman, a spokeswoman for Lamont, said in a statement.
But she also said Lamont “has been clear that the proposed funding in the ARPA package must go towards one-time expenses and that any discussion of recurring expenses will take place next year when he proposes his budget for fiscal years 2026-27.”
Republicans are picking up on that last point and saying the Democrats’ “stabilization bill” is a bad plan.
They note much of the spending is for recurring costs. They also claim the plan breaks some of the state’s fiscal guardrails, notably the spending cap.
“I guess I am questioning the mental gymnastics that the democrats have gone through to try and convince the State of Connecticut that what they’re doing today is not a budget,” said Rep. Vincent Candelora, (R-Minority Leader).
He also criticized the Democrats for not reopening the current two-year budget, despite shifting funds and making revenue changes. The plan would raise fees on vehicle registrations as part of a program to fund state parks.
Democratic leaders say the fiscal guardrails have created a $256 million operating surplus in the current year, so there’s no reason to reopen the budget.
That doesn’t include $1.1 billion in additional funds that go to the pension.
Democrats also said they didn’t want to reopen the budget to avoid negotiating with Lamont and his proposal to shift $150 million for K-12 education funding to focus on early childhood education.
“That’s when we start to change our tune and what we want to go for,” Walker said.
