skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

A potent winter storm is thumping 1,500 miles of the US. Two more are right behind it; Amid scientists' warnings, Trump admin. sued over medical research cuts; Mississippi communities find local solutions to rural education challenges; CT groups rally against gas pipeline expansion.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

President Donald Trump approves 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum. Democrats who oppose dismantling the agency have been denied access to the Department of Education. And some places buck policy trends on sex education and immigration.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Medical debt, which tops $90 billion has an outsized impact on rural communities, a new photography book shares the story of 5,000 schools built for Black students between 1912 and 1937, and anti-hunger advocates champion SNAP.

Report: CT budget controls too restrictive, changes needed

play audio
Play

Tuesday, December 24, 2024   

A new report found Connecticut's fiscal controls on the state budget restrict long-term growth.

The controls were introduced during the 2018 budget year to stabilize the budget and long-term controls but since their implementation, the budget surplus total grew to more than $12 billion, which observers said means they are twice as restrictive as they are supposed to be.

Patrick O'Brien, research and policy director at Connecticut Voices for Children, said there is a better way for the budget controls to work.

"We make the case for a more balanced approach," O'Brien explained. "One that maintains fiscal discipline while introducing the flexibility necessary to fund current needs and make public investments essential to supporting families and children, and growing the state's economy."

Reforming the fiscal controls involves changing the state's revenue and spending caps. In practice, the state needs a well-designed volatility cap since personal income and entity taxes are highly volatile. But the current cap's threshold was set too low and is indexed to a variable with no meaningful connection to the taxes, which created up to $755 million per year in restricted revenue, or more than $5 billion between 2018 and 2024.

Making changes to the caps would result in more reasonable restrictions on the collected funds. The report noted Connecticut's spending controls are beneficial. But because personal income growth is slower than the nation, it is limited economic growth.

O'Brien argued the spending cap could have created more revenue.

"If the state's spending cap had continued adjusting since fiscal year 2018 based on the original inflation index rather than a narrower index but excludes food and energy," O'Brien emphasized. "Which has made the spending cap excessively restrictive."

The report also found adjusting the budget reserve fund allows the funds to be used for services beyond debt reduction, like programs to help the state's children and families.

Disclosure: Connecticut Voices for Children contributes to our fund for reporting on Budget Policy and Priorities, Children's Issues, Education, and Juvenile Justice. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
A Sierra Club report found moving to offshore wind instead of building up natural gas can reduce 42% (14 million short tons) of annual CO2 emissions from New England's power sector. (Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

Connecticut groups are rallying today against a natural gas pipeline expansion. Project Maple would extend Enbridge's natural-gas pipeline …


Social Issues

play sound

In rural Mississippi, where education disparities run deep, community leaders are stepping up to fill the gaps left by limited resources and …

Environment

play sound

Environmental groups are raising alarms as the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Covert Township moves closer to becoming the first decommissioned nuclear pl…


Around 72% of Montanans believe workers' unions help Montana's economy, according to a January poll from the bipartisan firm RABA Research. (Adobe Stock)

play sound

A January survey of Montanans showed a large majority support workers' rights, even as several bills that could affect them move through the state …

Social Issues

play sound

Events for Black History Month are being held around the U.S. In South Dakota, leaders of the state's main history museum, which is currently under …

A Red America, Blue America Research survey revealed a majority of voters, 52%, would be less likely to support legislators who voted to fund private education with tax dollars. (Rawpixel/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

A recent online survey revealed strong opposition among Tennessee voters toward expansion of the state's private-school voucher program. More than 50…

Social Issues

play sound

A northwest Texas family is waiting to hear from agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement after a recent traffic stop. Jose is in the country …

Environment

play sound

West Virginia has thousands of unplugged and improperly plugged oil and gas wells that could leak and contaminate groundwater, potentially harming …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021