HARTFORD, Conn. –Democratic lawmakers ignored their first proposal, but Republican lawmakers thought they would try again Thursday. Following the announcement of plummeting state revenue, the GOP trotted out a second budget proposal.
The second attempt at balancing the 2015 budget, which is nearly $300 million in deficit after Wednesday’s revenue estimates, included not restoring the sales tax exemption for over-the-counter medication and clothing and footwear, a hiring freeze, and ban on state employee travel.
But like their first budget, the second Republican budget relies on Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s 2011 tax increases and continues borrowing to pay for the 2009 Economic Recovery Notes.
Malloy’s first budget in 2011 included $1.8 billion in tax increases. None of those increases were repealed by Republicans in either budget proposal. The first Republican budget proposed paying off the $150 million in debt from the 2009 Economic Recovery Notes, but they were unable to get there in the second proposal.
House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero, R-Norwalk, said this isn’t a Republican budget, “this is a Republican alternative to their mid-year changes.”
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