A Late Night in Hartford
Everybody else is blogging about the budget approval from last night, so I don’t have to!
New Britain State Representative Tim O’Brien posted before leaving the Capitol this morning around 5am:
I am sitting in the House chamber at 5am. It looks like things are done for the night. I will write more about what was included in the budget approved tonight when I have a bit more time. But a few quick notes…
There were a lot of good things in the budget. But, of course, I was very disappointed that the Governor pressed for and got cuts in important grants to fund education and keep property taxes down. This is going to leave cities and towns having to fill a shortfall in their budgets.
It also turns out that Rep. O’Brien was right about Governor Rell negotiating against her own proposals.
Christopher Keating over at the Courant’s Capitol Watch blog:
By a vote of 134 to 5, the House voted to spend $17.59 billion in the fiscal year that starts July 1 and $18.41 billion in the second year of the two-year budget. That translates into an 8.6 percent increase in the first year and 4 percent in the second year, according to the legislature’s nonpartisan fiscal office. The only tax increase will be a 33 percent hike in the cigarette tax to $2 per pack, up from the current $1.51 per pack.
Maura at MLN live-blogged it, catching this bit of fun:
Dude, a whole bunch of people just started clapping and singing hava nageela!
Boy, it’s getting punchy down there.
In the comments of Maura’s live-blog post, MikeCT adds some relevant linkage:
Here are the bills:
- Budget bill (just numbers)
- Human Services & Public Health implementer bill (details for those departments)
- Education Implementer bill
- Here’s a General Government implementer not yet voted on
I’m still wondering why this had to be done overnight, instead of during normal waking hours…