It is with some amusement that I’ve been watching the ongoing discussions in Hartford about a proposed “lockbox” for revenues meant to be used for transportation. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has recently reiterated his call for a constitutional amendment to ensure that taxes collected expressly for transportation initiatives are used as such. Sounds like a good idea, right?
In a recent session with reporters, Transportation Commissioner James Redeker certainly made a compelling case for increased spending in his department.
Connecticut’s roads are crumbling, with 35 percent of the state’s bridges rated functionally obsolete or structurally deficient and 41 percent of state and local roads in “poor” condition. Such conditions add an average of $661 per year for drivers, presumably from potholes and other nuisances necessitating front-end realignments or causing accidents.
Poor transportation infrastructure makes the state less desirable to business — and that’s the last thing we need, given our crummy economy. Indeed, according to Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Catherine Smith, not only is access to transportation one of the most important factors businesses consider when they’re relocating, but it has replaced talent of the workforce as the number-one factor.
The problem is that when taxes are raised to support transportation, lawmakers have this dreadful habit of spending the money on other things like awarding funds and favors to preferred constituencies. Meanwhile, roads and bridges can wait for another day.
So in calling for a lockbox for transportation revenues, as Al Gore did for Medicare 15 years ago, Malloy is essentially admitting that our political system is broken. If we don’t force the legislature to set the funds aside, then they will spend it on other things. How do we know this?
Because they have done precisely that, not only with transportation but with funds that were supposed to be set aside for public-employee pension funds. Though the Malloy administration is to be commended for taking steps in recent years to raise the level of funding, the state employee pension system was still well less than half funded as of 2014, while the teachers pension fund was relatively well off at 70 percent in 2008 but fell to 59 percent with the Great Recession.
And as revenue projections continue to falter along with the fortunes of Wall Street, the spending class in Hartford will be under even greater pressure to find the necessary funds to dish out on their favored projects.
With few exceptions, most lawmakers take a dim view of lockboxes, which limit their options and might very well exempt the item in the lockbox from budget cuts at the expense of some other project they would like to cut instead. In other words, it gives the power of the purse to someone else and lawmakers hate that.
There are exceptions, such as freshman state Rep. Devin Carney, R-Old Saybrook, who has called for a constitutional amendment to block any cash from being taken from the state’s $1.3 billion Special Transportation Fund, recently replenished with a half-a-percentage-point sales-tax increase, for anything other than transportation.
Why take such a drastic measure? Because if simple legislation establishing the lockbox was passed and signed by the governor, it could be overridden by another piece of legislation. Lawmakers could always find an excuse to cancel transfers to the transportation fund: an emergency or a budget shortfall that would force unacceptable tax increases or painful cuts in services.
But even a constitutional amendment would face obvious hurdles. First of all, legislation calling for the amendment to be put on the ballot would have to pass in the General Assembly by a three-quarters majority.
Secondly, as legal scholar Dan Klau recently opined, unless the wording of the amendment contains specific language allowing the state courts to decide cases involving alleged violations of the lockbox, the state Supreme Court will likely treat lockbox lawsuits as “political questions over which the judicial branch has no jurisdiction.” That means, Klau argues, a constitutional amendment would be little more than “feel-good” in nature and “legally meaningless.”
Oh and another thing. Do you think three-quarters of the General Assembly would vote to delegate any budgetary authority to the judicial branch? Not on your life.
Support authentic, locally owned and operated public service journalism!
The lockbox amendment is a nice idea but there’s a greater chance that Sen. Richard Blumenthal will become camera-shy than for the amendment to work. The only way to keep transportation funds where they’re supposed to be is for voters and taxpayers to insist that lawmakers keep them there and to vote against them if they do otherwise. Like most people, politicians understand the threat of losing their jobs.
Contributing op-ed columnist Terry Cowgill lives in Lakeville, blogs at ctdevilsadvocate.com and is news editor of The Berkshire Record in Great Barrington, Mass. Follow him on Twitter @terrycowgill.
DISCLAIMER: The views, opinions, positions, or strategies expressed by the author are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or positions of CTNewsJunkie.com.
More State Budget news

Stefanowski Talks Abortion, Employee Raises & Budget In First Press Conference
For a half-hour Wednesday, Bob Stefanowski stood outside the state Capitol and fielded questions on abortion rights and state employee raises in a sign the Republican candidate plans to run a more conventional campaign in this year’s rematch with Gov. Ned Lamont.
Keep reading
Lamont Signs The Budget
Alongside Democratic legislative leaders, Gov. Ned Lamont signed the $24 billion budget adjustment Monday that includes $600 million in tax relief. That’s more than they anticipated they would be able to offer Connecticut residents this Election year because revenue came in higher than expected, but it still creates about an $800 million deficit in 2024. …
Keep reading
ANALYSIS | It’s A Wrap: The Winners and Losers of the 2022 Session
It was a short legislative session, but the House and the Senate were able to move a lot of business this year, including the passage of a $24-billion budget with around $600 million in tax cuts.
Keep reading
Connecticut Acts To Help Its Lead-Poisoned Children
After decades of inertia, Connecticut is finally moving to help its thousands of lead-poisoned children and prevent thousands of other young children from being damaged by the widespread neurotoxin.
Keep reading
Bill Bolstering Contracting Oversight Board In Jeopardy After Lamont Administration Raises Concerns
It passed unanimously in the Senate, but a bill that would give the State Contracting Standards Board greater oversight over state contracting appeared stalled in the House Wednesday on the last day of session. “The governor and I have not talked about the bill,” House Speaker Matt Ritter said. “The commissioners have sent us a…
Keep reading
Senate Approves Tax Cuts, Sends $24B Budget to the Governor
The state Senate gave final approval late Tuesday to a $24 billion election year budget plan that includes around $600 million in tax relief while enabling the state to make an $3.5 billion payment on its unfunded pension debt. Senators voted 24-12 at around 10:30 p.m. to send the midterm budget adjustment to the desk…
Keep reading
House Green-Lights $24B Budget
On a party-line vote early Tuesday, the House passed a $24 billion budget adjustment package containing more than $600 million in tax cuts which Democrats heralded as “historic” and Republicans derided as temporary. Lawmakers voted 95 – 52 at around 12:20 a.m. to send the 673-page budget document to the Senate for consideration before the…
Keep reading
Budget Materials
The General Assembly is preparing to debate adjustments to the $24 billion state budget. Below are a few of the documents we’ve been provided as back-up materials. The budget, HB 5506. Town runs. Car tax impact on municipalities. Finance Committee Power Point.
Keep reading
Lawmakers May Vote for First Pay Increase in 20 Years
With legislative retirements mounting, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were considering Monday raising the salaries of General Assembly members for the first time in more than two decades and indexing their pay in the future. During a morning press briefing, House Speaker Matt Ritter told reporters that funding for pay raises had been…
Keep reading
Amid Surging Revenue, House Prepares to Vote on Budget Adjustments
Connecticut’s House of Representatives was expected to vote Monday on a $24 billion budget adjustment package, buoyed by revised revenue predictions that exceeded expectations by more than $350 million. The revised consensus figures released Monday confirm the surge in revenues that enabled Gov. Ned Lamont and legislative Democrats to reach an agreement last week on…
Keep reading
Dems Detail Budget Deal With $500 Mil in Tax Cuts, Extension of Gas Tax Holiday
Legislative Democrats and Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration announced Wednesday the details of a $24.2 billion budget adjustment package, which they say provides around $500 million in tax relief including extending a gas tax holiday until December. Lamont and legislative leaders outlined the agreement during an afternoon press conference in the state Capitol building. Both chambers…
Keep reading
Health Care Workers Call for New Hires
After a record number of health care workers are expected to retire this year, health care staff called on Gov. Ned Lamont to commit to filling 1,000 vacant positions by August 1 of this year. A record 1,137 state workers who notified the state that they will retire this year comes at a moment of…
Keep reading
Senate Joins House And Votes To Give Raises, Bonuses To State Employees
The Senate gave final approval by a 22-13 vote on a plan to give unionized state workers a set of raises and bonuses. The plan, negotiated by Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration and a coalition of public sector labor unions, provides three years of 2.5% raises and step increases as well as a total of $3,500…
Keep reading
House Advances Labor Deal In Historic Vote
Lawmakers in Connecticut’s House of Representatives signed off on a plan to give state workers a set of raises and bonuses Thursday in a mostly partisan vote on a negotiated labor agreement. The House voted 96 to 52 in support of the deal with 1 Republican, Rep. Tom Delnicki of South Windsor, joining all Democrats…
Keep reading
Republicans Propose Last-Minute Tax Package
Legislative Republicans pitched a $1.2 billion tax relief plan Thursday which reduces state income, sales and gas taxes and proposes to join other states in suing the federal government to challenge restrictions on spending pandemic relief funds. House and Senate Republicans announced the plan during a state Capitol press conference Thursday morning. It cuts the…
Keep reading
The Budget Battle Begins To Take Shape
Tax collections have improved and pushed Connecticut’s budget surplus to $4 billion, but the state budget still relies heavily on federal funding and without it the state would end up running a “sizeable operating deficit.” The Office of Policy and Management told state Comptroller Natalie Braswell Wednesday that if not for the use of the…
Keep reading