HARTFORD, CT — A budget revision bill that adds hundreds of millions of dollars in state aid to municipalities, increases property tax credits and sales tax exemptions and creates a $2,000 tax credit for family caregivers passed the legislature Saturday night on bipartisan votes in both chambers. The bill now heads to Gov. Ned Lamont’s desk.
Senate Bill 1 passed the Senate on a bipartisan 30-6 vote after four hours of debate Saturday evening, followed a few hours later by a 127-21 vote in the House.
“We have a budget that is going to meet the needs of our communities, who have been screaming out for help all session,” said House Democratic Majority Leader Jason Rojas of East Hartford. “There’s no doubt that the future, there’s always concern about it, right? We’re always worried about what it’s going to look like. And it’s right to do that. But in this moment, we have an opportunity to invest in our children, and in our families, in our workforce, in healthcare, in our state. And that’s an awesome opportunity that we all have here together as Republicans and Democrats to do something right.”
Rojas’ comments came moments after Minority Leader Vincent Candelora of North Branford had struck a similar tone with his closing comments shortly before 10 p.m.
Candelora expressed concern about adjusting the state’s fiscal guardrails and pointed to fiscal analysis showing potential future deficits.
“I shudder at that thought,” he said.
Candelora warned that the state’s fiscal guardrails that have kept Connecticut out of deficits were not to be taken for granted.
“When I hear people say, ‘The money’s there, let’s spend it,’ you know, we have to look at these out years,” he said.
He said the budget would give short-term relief, but said the state needed to have a real conversation next year about property taxes, Social Security taxes.
Similar comments had been made hours earlier in the Senate.
“In this budget, every town is receiving an increase in education and municipal aid,” said Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, Senate chair of the Appropriations Committee. “It’s important that we return dollars to our communities.”
Among other appropriations, the budget revision adds just over $150 million in additional Education Cost Sharing funds, $20 million to ensure all school districts receive at least a 2% increase in their ECS grant, $18 million in aid for magnet and charter schools and vocational-technical schools. In non-school funding, SB1 includes $100 million in state grants to municipalities and a $300 million transfer of “volatile” state revenue to the Early Childhood Endowment, which support childcare educators and facilities.
On the revenue side, the budget provides a caregiver tax credit for individuals who pay out-of-pocket costs to support the daily living activities of family members. This will support families and allow individuals to remain independent, state officials said. The bill also eliminates sales tax on school supplies – at an estimated $6 million annual savings to families, provides tax credits to support UConn basketball and hockey at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford, and creates a tax credit for small businesses to encourage employers to offer Individual Coverage Health Reimbursement Arrangements, through Access Health CT’s BusinessPlan platform.
Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding of Brookfield said the bill contained “a lot of good items” and acknowledged that it had the support of some Republicans, but also criticized the $2 billion in increased spending.
“I think … when you boil it down, it’s $2 billion increase from the year previously, it … openly overspends the spending cap. It modifies the volatility cap significantly,” Harding said. “And as many people have said, I’ve seen this movie before and I don’t like the ending. And I fear that these type of practices are going to lead us to where we were when I was a state representative, voting in historic back-to-back billions of dollars in state increases.”
With Senate approval, and a solid Democratic majority in the House expected to follow suit, AARP Connecticut issued a statement commending the Senate for its vote and looking forward to House approval and Gov. Ned Lamont’s signature.
The group in particular praised the family caregiver credit, which it estimated would affect more than 700,000 people in the state.
“We applaud lawmakers on both sides of the aisle for standing with family caregivers by supporting a caregiver tax credit,” said Nora Duncan, AARP Connecticut state director. “The economic value caregivers provide often comes at a personal cost to their health and financial security. Many are juggling jobs, family responsibilities, and thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket expenses to care for a loved one. “
Without family caregivers, Duncan said, many more residents would wind up in insituttional care, driving up costs significantly.
Gian-Carl Casa, president & CEO, CT Community Nonprofit Alliance, said the budget bill preserves “a much-needed funding increase for community nonprofit providers that was approved in last year’s biennial budget and will continue to address long term underfunding for vital programs that serve tens of thousands of Connecticut residents.”
Nonprofits, he said, provide a safety net for a wide range of human services, including mental health and substance abuse programs.
Advocates for the state’s non-resident independent living centers, though, expressed disappointment that the budget did not include an increase for their facilities.
“We continue to be disappointed that despite living in one of the wealthiest states in the nation, the state budget adjustments for FY27 do not include a funding increase for the state’s five non-residential Independent Living Centers,” said Kim Smith, program director at Disabilities Network of Eastern Connecticut and vice chair of Connecticut Association of Independent Living Centers. “Connecticut continues to bring in far more in tax dollars than are appropriated in the state budget, yet funding for our Centers has been stagnant for years, while our service areas are shrinking and need for services is increasing.”
Smith said the group’s request for $1 million in additional funding was reasonable and affordable and “would have gone a very long way towards meeting the needs of the half million people with disabilities in our state who can utilize our services.”