Gov. Ned Lamont on Wednesday vetoed a bill favored by municipalities that would have doubled the maximum value of contracts that a city or town could exempt from sealed bidding from $25,000 to $50,000.
“While the goal may be to streamline administrative procedures and reduce bureaucratic hurdles, I cannot overlook the potential risks associated with reducing transparency and accountability in the awarding of public contracts,” Lamont wrote in his veto message.
The veto of Senate Bill 226 was the first issued by the governor from the 2024 legislative session that concluded on May 8. The measure passed by votes of 34-1 in the Senate and 142-2 in the House.
Officials from the Council of Small Towns and the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities had urged passage of the bill.
“Given rising costs for goods and services due to inflation and other factors, increasing the threshold, which has remained the same for more than 10 years, is warranted,” said Betsy Gara of COST in written testimony.
Requiring sealed bids for cheaper goods remained a local option under the bill.
The veto comes at a time when contracting oversight may be a sensitive issue for the governor: Kosta Diamantis, a former state official who oversaw school construction, was charged two weeks ago with extorting contractors and accepting bribes.
Lamont declined, however, to veto a state bonding bill that includes a single sentence loosening rules on school projects by allowing construction managers to also bid on the subcontracts for school construction.
The ban on construction managers bidding on subcontracts was sought by the Lamont administration after the FBI opened its investigation in the school construction program.
That type of contracting, which is frequently referred to as “self-performance,” was advocated by Diamantis, the former official indicted by a federal grand grand jury.
The repeal of the ban was inserted into the bond bill by Rep. Jeff Currey, D-East Hartford, co-chair of the Education Committee, with the assent of Democratic legislative leaders and the governor’s office.
Lamont has since said he will ask General Assembly next year to restore the ban.
The governor has pledged to veto one other bill: A measure passed in the final minutes of the session that would create a $3 million fund intended to aid striking workers.
The strikers’ bill has not yet reached his desk, according to the legislature’s bill tracking system.
As of Wednesday, the governor has signed 69 bills.