Last week, the Connecticut State Senate voted to approve a two-year, $40 billion budget, sending the bill to the desk of Governor Malloy.

Last week, the Connecticut State Senate voted to approve a two-year, $40 billion budget, sending the bill to the desk of Governor Malloy.

We commend the members of the General Assembly and the Governor for the steps they have taken to make our state’s budget reflect our shared values and vital needs. The final budget makes significant improvements over the Governor’s February proposal, sustaining critical investments in children and families while moving the state toward a more equitable revenue system.

Many appropriations in the final budget reflect the priorities for which Connecticut Voices for Children advocated (see our briefs on the Governor’s and Legislature’s budget proposals), including:

• Maintaining HUSKY A health coverage for pregnant women and many parents;
• Preserving most funding for the Behavioral Services Program (also known as Voluntary Services) at the Department of Developmental Services (the Governor proposed cutting this program by nearly two-thirds); and
• Avoiding deep cuts to higher education by restoring nearly $43 million of the $61.4 million in funding to the University of Connecticut, Board of Regents, and Office of Higher Education that would have been cut by the Governor; and
• Continuing to invest in the health, education and success of our next generation.

In order to maintain such crucial investments in the face of a General Fund deficit of over $1 billion, the budget adopts several measures recommended in our “Funding Our Future” brief to raise new revenue. These include:

• Adopting a more progressive personal income tax, r