A year after building the largest fiscal security blanket in more than two decades of state budgets, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy moved onto the fiscal high wire without a net.
Malloy spoke decisively Wednesday about finding spending cuts to keep his $20.7 billion plan for 2012-13 in balance, but lawmakers and the state's chief business lobby balked at the plan's barely visible margin for error.
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The health and human services portions of Malloy's proposed budget adjustments include money to support an effort to move people out of nursing homes, add three childhood vaccines to the state's program and offer the first funding boost in five years to private human services providers.
The administration also intends to move ahead with plans to seek permission from the federal government to add enrollment restrictions and scale back benefits in a Medicaid program for low-income adults without minor children, a move that has drawn criticism from advocates and some key lawmakers.
Read moreGov. Dannel P. Malloy unveiled a revised, $20.73 billion budget plan for the next fiscal year, adding nearly $330 million in spending over the preliminary budget, largely to fund additional education aid for towns and to bolster the state employees' pension fund.
After recent retirements, the state Department of Social Services is relying on retirees hired back through a vendor for information technology work -- so much so that the commissioner has warned that a potential ethics opinion discouraging the practice could lead to "a threat to public health, safety and welfare."
Whatever new initiatives Gov. Dannel P. Malloy unveils Wednesday in his revised budget for the next fiscal year, he likely won't be asking for much extra staffing to carry them out.
Municipalities can't afford to take much more from their public works, police and fire, and other non-education departments.
Read moreSome are questioning whether the prospect of higher taxes is truly dead ... or simply on hold until after the November elections?
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Under Connecticut law, a home health aide can spend all day caring for you, but if you need help taking your pills, you'll need a nurse to come give them to you.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy next week will recommend changing that, a move his administration says could save the state millions of dollars and remove a barrier that keeps people from moving out of nursing homes.
Read moreRecycling programs should work like utilities do, said John Phetteplace, the solid waste manager for the town of Stonington. "You pay for your water; you pay for your electricity; you pay for your trash."
If you want to pay less, he said, generate less trash.
Read moreFederal environmental officials have warned Connecticut they will begin to de-certify a crucial pollution abatement program the day after the General Assembly session ends in May -- unless state policy-makers craft a solution first.
At issue is a more than $80 million backlog in applications for assistance through Connecticut's Underground Storage Tank Petroleum Cleanup Program -- and hundreds of gasoline stations that fuel industry representatives say are at risk of going out of business.
"It appears that DSS is taking a step backwards from the way Medicaid has been interpreted," state Child Advocate Jeanne Milstein said. "These kids are supposed to get whatever medical services are available that will allow them to reach their highest levels of functioning."
Read moreEast Haven -- Michael P. Lawlor, the state's undersecretary for Criminal Justice and Planning, said Wednesday evening that the state may examine the convictions of defendants who were arrested by the four local police officers now facing federal charges stemming from a racial-profiling investigation.
Advocates for low-income residents want the state to create a new health program for poor adults who don't get Medicaid coverage, and they say lawmakers must commit to doing so this year to make it work as part of federal health reform.
"We should take this opportunity and we need to take it now," said Jane McNichol, executive director of the Legal Assistance Resource Center of Connecticut.
Read moreThe legislature's top watchdog office is seeking access to confidential state tax information to assist in processing whistleblower complaints filed by state employees.
Auditors John G. Geragosian and Robert M. Ward also used their first annual report to lawmakers on Tuesday to recommend overhauling how agencies report lost funds, tightening competitive bidding rules and closing a loophole that allows retirees to collect full pensions and state-funded salaries.
As tax season arrives, advocates for the Connecticut's new income tax credit for working poor families are trying to keep commercial tax preparers -- and revenue-hungry state officials -- from getting their hands on it.
The Connecticut Association for Human Services, one of the private, nonprofit community's leading anti-poverty organizations, is coordinating an outreach campaign to steer needy households to free tax preparation services also run by nonprofits.
"The more money you spend on gambling, the more revenue you make, the likelihood is greater you are going to have more problems," said Marvin Steinberg, who steps down this week as head of the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling. He called the relationship between an increase in gambling and an increase in gambling problems inescapable.
Read moreGov. Dannel P. Malloy secured Connecticut's investment in a major genetic research initiative Monday -- but not before one more partisan debate.
Easy to miss in the flurry around the Two Storms Panel report was an idea called the microgrid -- a small electric grid with its own generation source.
It's normally linked to a main electric grid, but when that suffers widespread interruptions, a microgrid can isolate itself to keep running. "All the pieces have been tried that we need to put together," said Dan Esty, head of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. "Just not at the scale we're talking about."
Read morePension concessions granted by unionized state employees last year will provide just over one-third of the $4.8 billion savings projected by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's administration, nonpartisan legislative fiscal analysts reported Friday.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced plans Friday for a second round of agency consolidations, including combining oversight for the University of Connecticut, its health center and the chief medical examiner's office. He will ask the legislature to merge 15 departments and agencies into seven.
Read moreExcerpts from Gov. Malloy's State of the State Address:
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THE MINIMUM WAGE
Connecticut's hourly minimum wage of $8.25 is one of the highest in the nation, trailing Washington at $9.04, Oregon at $8.80 and Vermont at $8.46.
Five of the six New England states exceed the federal minimum of $7.25. The exception is New Hampshire, whose minimum is the same as the feds.
Connecticut is one of 18 states with a minimum higher than the federal standard. Twenty-thrree are at the federal level, four are below it and five have no minimum wage.
Ten states have a minimum wage indexed to the cost of living.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor
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