Gov. Ned Lamont is expected to use a line-item veto to kill a $40 million supplemental appropriation for special education that the Senate unanimously passed Tuesday over the governor’s objections.
In a statement issued moments after the Senate gave final passage of a bill that cleared the House on a 140-5 vote Monday night, Lamont said he cannot support the added funding in the current fiscal year as conflicting with the spending cap.
“Even while well-intentioned, the way this funding was hastily approved by the legislature is reminiscent of how budgeting was dangerously done in the past,” Lamont said. “These concerns, combined with expenses that are already pushing beyond the spending cap, are why I cannot support adding this significant expenditure this late in the fiscal year without a plan to cover budget overruns.”
The added funding is an unwelcome element of an emergency bill Lamont wants to streamline the approval process for the acquisition of a hospital in bankruptcy, as is the case with Waterbury, Manchester Memorial and Rockville General hospitals. With a line-item veto, Lamont can keep the hospital language and shed the funding.
The line-item veto is rarely used in Connecticut, and both House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, were uncertain about its use.
In 2016, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed a budget but canceled more than $22 million earmarked for municipalities, health clinics and the Connecticut Humanities Council.
“We have a line-item veto in Connecticut,” Malloy said then. “I actually crossed out lines. I actually put my initials next to them.”
Ritter said he would consult with Attorney General William Tong about Lamont’s ability to strike a section of House Bill 7067, which has an appropriation but is not a full budget. It was one of two emergency bills that won final passage Tuesday.
Whatever the legality, Duff said he hoped the governor would accept the funding measure and perhaps negotiate other changes in the proposed biennium budget.
“My position is it’s extremely important to many communities, mine included,” Duff said. “The best of actions would be to sign the bill.”
The supplemental funds at issue would go to certain local school districts facing increased costs for special education. It was initiated by the Senate Democratic majority with little to no consultation with the Democratic governor.
Its passage and the prospect of a veto could portend difficult budget negotiations for Lamont, a Democrat whose fiscal conservatism in a time of surplus revenues is a source of friction with elements of the legislature’s Democratic majorities. Senators seemed to anticipate his statement during their debate.
Sen. Derek Slap, D-West Hartford, said special education is an obligation of the state, as well as local school districts, and failing to meet that obligation with the state expecting another budget surplus is hard to defend.
“I think our constituents are getting pretty sick and tired of reading about the state budget surplus as their mill rates keep going up,” Slap said.
Lamont called for an additional $40 million for special education aid and a separate $14 million grant program in the biennial budget he proposed this month, but his plan would not make the additional funding available until the second fiscal year that begins on July 1, 2026.
“As I noted in my budget speech, I have seen and heard firsthand how the right program makes a lifelong difference for these special kids. These programs have also put an increasing strain on our towns,” Lamont said. “That’s why my budget proposal increases our commitment to special education by an additional $40 million and asks the legislature to establish the High-Quality Special Education Incentive Grant program, backed by a $14 million investment.”
He said the $54 million increase in total would be more than double the $25 million increase made in the last biennium budget.
Slap said the governor’s initiative was appreciated, but his timeline is not.
“It’s a crisis that must be dealt with now, not 18 months from now or two years from now,” Slap said. “It is a disaster for many towns. They face impossible choices, very difficult cuts, cuts to services for children, and pretty soon, because they’re all setting their budgets in the next couple months, what’s going to happen — property tax increases, right?”
While the bill passed by veto-proof margins, Ritter and House Minority Leader Vincent J. Candelora, R-North Branford, warned Monday night that a veto creates a different dynamic. They did not rule out his ability to convince sufficient lawmakers to uphold a limited veto.
Overriding a veto requires a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate.
Lamont, who is on a trade mission to India, is not scheduled to return to the Capitol until Monday.