Maria Horn

After months of negotiations, the House of Representatives delivered a state budget that includes the largest income tax cut in the state’s history and significant increases in funding for local schools, also known as Education Cost Sharing (ECS) funds.

This week at the Capitol we have been hard at work in the house passing legislation to help children, seniors, educators, and many more Connecticuter, but our work is not yet done as we work towards a balanced budget.

Most of my work is now in Hartford, as there are very few days between now and June 7 that we are not in session. On my drives back and forth, even late at night, I am always so grateful to return to the Northwest Corner. On my drive this week, I got to witness the progress being made on the construction of the new Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) sprouting up in North Canaan – it is really beginning to take shape!

Last week I used my vegetable garden as a metaphor for the budget process. Although I haven’t had a chance to inspect yet (I’ve been in Hartford all week) my husband tells me that the frost Wednesday night this week was not kind to my seedlings. I guess that’s a reminder about resilience: sometimes the best laid plans get whacked, and you have to dig back in with new ideas or better arguments for the old ones. Happily, the budget negotiations have not hit a hard frost (yet – fingers crossed) and I remain hopeful that we’ll have a set of numbers we all agree on soon.

The House of Representatives passed HJ 1 on Wednesday, which means you will get to decide if we amend the state constitution to allow no-excuse absentee voting.

I spent most of the day on Sunday getting my vegetable garden up and running. I went to a couple of local garden centers and bought some new seeds, seedlings, compost, and tomato cages. As I started work in the garden itself, it struck me that it was a little like the budget and legislative process (bear with me – I dream about budget spreadsheets these days).

Now that May is officially here, House legislative sessions are starting to fill up the calendar. This also means that organized advocacy campaigns are becoming more frequent. In our session day last week, for example, teachers from across the state were at the capitol to make the case for several bills that affect teaching, and I got to meet with several teachers from the Northwest Corner. It will not surprise you to learn that teachers make great advocates! Special thanks to Jeanine Coleman, a retired teacher from the NW Corner who made sure we were supporting teachers in the General Assembly.

Last week the Finance Committee, which I co-chair, took “final action” on two big bills, one on taxes and the other on bonding, that set the parameters for how the state will raise revenue for the next two years. The Appropriations Committee produced a spending package that lays out where those funds will be spent.