Lamont, CT Democrats at budget impasse after neither side budgeted for nursing home wage increases

New Haven Register – Wednesday, May 28, 2025
By Alex Putterman

HARTFORD — Budget talks between Gov. Ned Lamont and legislative Democrats have hit an impasse, top lawmakers say, amid disagreement over how to fund raises for nursing home workers both sides supported but neither appears to have budgeted for.

Now, with only one week until the end of the legislative session, some top lawmakers are suggesting a one-year budget, instead of the usual two-year budget, in an attempt to delay the confrontation at least a few months. By then, they say, state officials will have a better sense of the federal budget picture and can plan accordingly.

“As a legislature, the worst and most dangerous thing you can do is leave without a budget of some kind,” Speaker of the House Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, said Wednesday. “A one-year budget … is very much in play.”

Lamont, however, made clear Wednesday he objects to passing only a one-year budget — something the legislature hasn’t done in decades. 

“I think that’s a mistake,” Lamont told reporters. “Mayors, superintendents, everybody wants a little predictability. … We’ve got a week to go, I think we ought to be able to figure it out.”

Whereas Ritter said he didn’t see an easy way to bridge the gap between Lamont and the legislature, the governor described the sides as “so close” and expressed hope they could find a middle ground.

As recently as last week, Ritter sounded similarly optimistic about budget negotiations, claiming Lamont and legislative Democrats were not far apart and would likely reach an agreement in the coming days. Then, over the weekend, state officials reached an agreement with nursing home workers who had threatened to strike, granting them substantial wage increases.

Though both the governor’s office and top legislators knew the raises were likely coming, neither side had budgeted for them in their respective spending proposals.

Now, legislative Democrats want to pay for the wage increases outside the state’s spending cap, a hotly debated “fiscal guardrail” established in 1991 alongside the state’s first income tax. Lamont, a fiscally moderate Democrat, says he won’t consider that option.

“It’s just a slippery slope to get rid of the spending cap,” Lamont said. “That’s absolutely contrary to what the state committed to back when they did the income tax back in the ’90s.”

Instead, Lamont proposes allocating less money than previously planned for special education, the University of Connecticut, the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system — or some combination of the three — to fund the nursing home raises. Ritter says House Democrats would not accept that solution.

Ritter said his caucus and the governor’s office are roughly aligned on a spending plan for the 2026 fiscal year but about $140 million apart in the 2027 fiscal year. A one-year budget, therefore, would effectively punt a potential confrontation until either this fall, when legislators are likely to convene for a special session, or next spring.

Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said Wednesday a one-year budget was “one of the options that that we’re considering,” calling it “a reasonable plan” if it proves too difficult to bridge the gap with the governor’s office.

Top Republicans say they oppose the idea of a one-year budget, arguing Democrats should choose their priorities and pass a budget under the spending cap. In a statement Wednesday, House Republican Leader Stephen Harding called the proposal “a dereliction of duty,” calling on the governor to reject it.

“Get your mojo back, Gov. Lamont,” Harding said. “You are being pushed around by majority Democrats. Threaten some vetoes. Stop showing weakness and do something.”

At the core of the conflict between Lamont and fellow Democrats is a fundamental debate over the fiscal guardrails, which the governor defends but which many legislators now see as unduly restrictive.

During a caucus meeting Tuesday night, Ritter said, numerous House Democrats expressed frustration that passing a budget had become so difficult even as the state continues to run large surpluses. This sort of conflict with the governor’s office could make legislators less likely to renew the guardrails in their current form in coming years, he said.

“I get it, it’s (Lamont’s) thing, he’s run on it, he’s won twice,” Ritter said. “But I would only say to him, I think it’s gone too far at this point.”

Lawmakers have until June 4 to pass a budget and any other bills the plan to take up but are likely to return for a special session this fall to adjust spending based on what happens with the federal budget currently under consideration.

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