The Appropriations Committee will hold a public hearing 3 p.m., Thursday on Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s March 1, deficit mitigation plan, which takes about $220 million from next year’s budget to close a more than $500 million deficit this year.
In December more than 300 people turned out to speak at an all-day hearing on Rell’s proposed deficit mitigation plan. In the end the General Assembly ignored Rell’s proposal and put forth their own, which she then vetoed later that month.
It’s unclear how many may testify Thursday, but according to the legislature’s Office of Fiscal Analysis 62 of the 83 items that make up the $81.8 million in net reductions, were included in Rell’s last deficit mitigation plan.
It’s likely the Connecticut Hospital Association will be there to testify against a new hospital tax on earnings. And municipal leaders will be there to oppose the $45 million in municipal aid cuts.
A total of $58 million would be taken from 10 special funds and trusts, including $12 million from the Citizens’ Election Fund, and $6 million from biomedical research.
The second largest component of Rell’s latest plan includes canceling a $100 million contribution to the state employees’ pension fund, which was allowed under an agreement reached last May between Rell and the state employees’ bargaining coalition.
