On Wednesday, the Appropriations Committee presented a budget that quite simply made heads shake in the halls of the Legislative Office Building. The Democrats, staring down a potential recession at worst and at best facing slower revenue collections than anticipated, wanted to change it up and present a fiscally prudent budget with no tax hikes or significant increases in spending. With an election year coming, politically, it makes perfect sense.

If you recall, in February, Governor Rell introduced a fiscally sound budget mostly based on "adjustments" and a few initiatives that raised expenditures by $90 million. This week, the D's countered with a budget that not only neutralized the Governor's proposed increase, but as announced went as far as trimming off another $20 million.

Historically the Majority party takes the Governor's budget shifts, spending on priorities that they feel best fit the direction the state should take, and more often than not, add significant funds for special initiatives that they have announced earlier in the session at high profile press events. So you can imagine, the Republicans at first were wondering if they had heard the Co Chairs of the Appropriations Committee correctly, then began to question the details.

Herein lays the devil. The Republicans countered that if in fact this budget is as it seems, they will have absolutely no problem supporting the proposal. However, they fear that this budget has become a fairy tale budget and insufficient allocations for new initiatives like the state administered 401K plan and old stand by entitlement programs like Medicaid and Pharmacy programs will lead to huge deficiencies in the years to come.

Just this morning, Governor Rell stated after the Bond Commission meeting that this point alone was a huge stumbling block and in fact the proposal as written does not have her support.

And then there's the other end of the spectrum - tackling the revenue aspect of the state budget. The Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committee are grappling with their own set of issues. It is projected that the Appropriations budget approved on Wednesday is roughly $60 million over what the Finance Committee has preliminarily allocated to the state budget in terms of revenue.

This poses a serious problem for the plethora of implementing bills within the Committee that are teed up in the Finance committee to provide incentives for promoting initiatives. Several tax credits or tax incentive bills will make it to the agenda, but the cap on incentives will inevitably need to be lowered and priority will be given to bills that will not impact revenues for the next year or two.

The committee process becomes an important strategy at this point in the game. An effective way to kill a budget allocation is to eliminate the implementing legislation that details for what use the funds are being allocated. With less than six days to the final deadline for Finance, this issue will definitely heat up. And then you can't forget all those bills that have either a tax or budget impact that were sent directly to the House or Senate floor and will need their special place within the final state budget and revenue package.

So sit tight - more to come in the weeks ahead. And for those who are counting on the session closing on time at midnight, May 7, complete with a spending and revenue plan in place, you might want to reconsider that plan, at least for now.

This week, Senate Democrats led by President Pro Tempore Don Williams (D - Brooklyn) unveiled a proposal that they announced will help grow jobs and tax revenue for Connecticut. This plan would help Connecticut companies compete for Connecticut state contracts.

Twenty states have enacted a preference law, giving an advantage to local companies competing for in-state contracts. Senator Gary LeBeau (D-East Hartford) explained that targeted tax breaks and state investments in high-tech start up companies are one way to help Connecticut businesses. However, he added, "I'm talking about a leveling of the national playing field that will result in a greater investment in our local economy and our state workforce."

Senator Gayle Slossberg (D-West Haven) added that the clean contracting legislation passed last year set the foundation for this type of proposal. "That legislation requires the new contracting standards board to consider the value of awarding a state contract to a Connecticut business, as opposed to outsourcing to another state," she said. The clean contracting legislation will go into effect on January 1, 2009.

Currently, Connecticut is sending more than $117 million of taxpayer money to out-of-state companies from the Department of Social Services' contracts alone. Passing a reciprocal advantage law will benefit Connecticut companies because not only would they have an advantage when competing in Connecticut (as a preference law would give), but they would also receive a comparable advantage when competing with companies from 35 other states that have such laws including California, Florida, Illinois, Nevada, and West Virginia.

"Connecticut companies deserve a level playing field and right now that doesn't exist," said Williams. We'll continue to keep you up to date as this legislation moves forward in the process.

This is one of the most innovative proposals this session that had the minority party scratching their heads wondering why they had not thought of it first! According to gossip in the halls, credit goes to Senator Edith Prague for surfacing the idea and the Senate staffers who researched the issue and presented to leadership their findings, which were the basis for the policy decision - a real team effort!

Governor Rell is committed to filling vacancies on state boards and commissions with qualified and dedicated Connecticut residents who want to make a significant impact on state government.

There also is a list published by the Secretary of State's office of all of the boards and commissions in the state. Boards include the Advisory Council for Special Education, the Connecticut Historic Preservation Council, and the State Board of Examiners of Environmental Professionals, just to name a few. Not every board has a vacancy and the Governor does not have appointing powers for every board, but it may help you decide what boards or interest areas get you excited! Contact information for those boards is also included on the website if you want more information before making a commitment. If you have an interest in volunteering your time and efforts by participating on a board or commission, feel free to give us a call for more information.

If you don't have a specific interest after reviewing the list or talking with us, you can simply click the second link which will can bring you to a generic form, the Boards and Commissions Background Form, that you can print and complete so that the Governor's Office has your name and background information on file for consideration as openings come up. To submit your name for a possible appointment by the Governor, send to:

Office of the Governor
Attn: Director of Boards and Commissions
State Capitol
210 Capitol Avenue
Hartford, Connecticut 06106

Or Fax to: (860) 524-7357