Bipartisan State Budget

May 17, 2018

For the second time in just over six months, the General Assembly has approved a bipartisan state budget.

We increased stabilized the Special Transportation Fund, restored MSP, and socked away funds in the Rainy Day Fund.

Here are some key features of the budget agreement:

  • Restores municipal aid cuts
  • Restores funding to the Medicare Savings Program that helps low-income elderly individuals and the disabled pay for the cost of medicine and health care premiums
  • Restores $12 million to the Husky A program which assists more than 13,000 people
  • Restores solvency to the Special Transportation Fund, helping to avoid transit district cuts, fare increases and keep transportation projects on track
  • Puts more than a billion dollars into the state’s Rainy Day Fund

While the bipartisan budget agreement is the capstone to a successful legislative session, we also moved forward on many other important issues, including:

  • Pay equity, or equal pay for equal work
  • Pay increases for home care and group home workers
  • Assuring a woman’s right to health care access
  • Drug price transparency
  • A ban on bump stocks to save lives and promote safety
  • Allowing undocumented students, or Dreamers, to have access to student financial aid
  • Assuring the timely handling and processing of sexual assault evidence kits and the compassionate and fair treatment of victims
  • A plan to increase the use of clean energy and to fight climate change
  • Joining the National Popular Vote Compact for direct election of the president

I hope you share my excitement over these accomplishments as we continue moving Connecticut forward!