Fasano: State Needs a Budget that Protects Most Vulnerable

Governor’s Concession Deal Will Further Hurt Nonprofits

Hartford – Senate Republican President Pro Tempore Len Fasano (R-North Haven) released the following statement in support of the nonprofit providers and advocates who held multiple press conferences around the state today to call for action on the state budget and called on lawmakers to restore funding for day services for those with disabilities.

“I want to thank all the nonprofit providers and families who stood together today to raise their voices and call for action. Connecticut needs a state budget – and that budget must be one that protects the state’s many exceptional nonprofits, which have often been shown to provide more services at a better quality and lower cost than state run care.

“Nonprofits have wrongly been the target of cuts not only in the governor’s executive order, but also in the budget proposals and outlines put forward by Democrat legislators this year. Lawmakers need to recognize that the governor’s state employee concessions deal would hurt nonprofits in three ways. First, it would make it impossible to privatize services, and therefore halt all plans to move services and funding to nonprofit providers to increase care and efficiency. Second, because the proposed concessions deal negotiated by the governor does not achieve as much in labor savings as Republican proposals, Democrat budget outlines that rely on the governor’s deal also contain harmful changes such as deep cuts to core social services for those with disabilities – cuts Republican budget proposals have purposefully avoided. Finally, because the governor’s concessions deal ties the hands of future lawmakers by locking in state employee benefits, it also means in future years of budget shortfalls lawmakers will have no choice but to cut from social services yet again, because there will be no other option to reduce government expenses if state benefits are locked in for 10 years.”

“We cannot ignore that the governor’s concessions deal moves us closer to a budget that fails to protect nonprofits and the vulnerable populations they care for. People are suffering today and lawmakers need to act. But we also need to ensure the budget we pass actually protects these services, which is what Republicans have put forward and what we are continuing to advocate for.”