Senate Republicans Release State Budget Proposal Update
May 16, 2017Hartford – Today Senate Republicans released a complete line-by-line update to the Confident Connecticut Republican state budget proposal for fiscal years 2018 and 2019 to address the dramatic revenue drop reported in the most recent consensus revenues.
“Tough decisions had to be made to close a devastating shortfall in the budget. But we are proud to offer a budget proposal that continues to protect municipalities, provide funding for core social services, support our state’s transportation needs, and increase funding for education to towns and cities across the state. We protect hospitals from being hit with more taxes and we protect taxpayers from being overburdened by new taxes or policies that would result in significant increases to property taxes,” said Senate Republican President Pro Tempore Len Fasano (R-North Haven).
“Republicans came together in our state to release an initial budget proposal that dramatically changes the way we approach the state budget and recommends significant structural changes to put our state on a more stable path and rebuild the public’s confidence. Each Republican caucus is now recommending changes to our proposal to lay the groundwork for negotiations and show the different options for our state to move forward with the comprehensive Republican package we have put forth,” said Deputy Senate Republican President Pro Tempore Kevin Witkos (R-Canton).
Sen. Fasano explained why the Senate Republican updated budget was not released until later in the day today.
“It’s disappointing that what leaders agreed to in negotiations has not been followed today. All legislative leaders agreed to share complete line-by-line, two year budget proposals with one another and the governor today so that we could all review each other’s plans in full before our meeting tomorrow, at which point we would make a decision together about sharing all budgets with the press,” said Fasano. “I had wanted to respect what was said to one another and allow the governor and the other leaders to review our budget proposal before our meeting tomorrow and before issuing any press releases. But since other caucuses have not followed that agreement, the Senate Republican caucus is also sharing our revised budget today.”
Summary and line by line budget attached.
