A little therapy dog who visits hospitals and senior centers was brought to the House Chamber by his owner to calm the legislators’ stress. Christine Stuart of the Ct News Junkie took this photo on the House floor in the run-up to the budget vote.
State Rep. Lonnie Reed, D‑Branford, one of 11 Democratic legislators voting against a bitterly contested $40 billion, two-year state budget, said in an interview yesterday that to the end, she fought for and was hoping for “a final budget proposal that I could support.”
“Unfortunately, the budget we were asked to vote on gave me great concern that it would sabotage all of the incentives for economic growth that I have championed throughout my tenure at the Capitol.” The state budget runs to June 30, 2017.
Reed co-chairs the General Assembly’s Bipartisan Life Sciences Caucus, and has been a driving force in recruiting bio-science and bio-tech companies to Branford and in finding ways to promote economic advances. “I chose to cast my vote in the long term best interest of my constituents and the State of Connecticut,” she said.”
State Rep.Sean Scanlon, D‑Guilford and Branford, serving his first year in the legislature, represents two sections of Branford, Stony Creek and Pine Orchard and the town of Guilford. He, too, voted against the budget because his constituents, he said, were against it.
“Whether it was as a candidate or now as an elected official, I have made and will always make listening my biggest priority,” he said. Legislators from one end of the state to the other said they were swamped with calls, e‑mails and texts from constituents urging them to reject the budget.
“So while there were a lot of things in this budget I do support – an attempt to address property tax reform and the restoration of funding for our libraries and parks and services for the disabled and mentally ill – I realized after hearing from and listening to my constituents that I could not support the final version of the budget.”
The House lawmakers pulled an all-nighter, beginning their budget debate shortly before 5:30 a.m. Wednesday. Before the debate got underway, Democratic leaders held a back-room caucus in an effort to garner sufficient votes to approve the plan.
Reed has represented Branford for seven years and is the House chair of the Energy and Technology Committee. She also serves on the powerful Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committee.
Had two of the eight absent representatives voted against it, the budget would have died in the House yesterday. They were absent because of illness or other family or business commitments. their staffs said.
The budget squeaked by the House on a mostly party-line vote of 73 to 70 with 11 Democrats joining 59 Republicans in opposing the plan. Seventy-two votes were needed for passage.
Meanwhile, the state Senate took up the budget bill Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. They had less than seven hours left before the mandatory midnight deadline ending this legislative session. Behind the scenes there was a good deal of arm-twisting. There were also scores of other bills awaiting passage, but many of these died on the other side of midnight.
Republican senators filibustered for more than five hours against the proposed budget. In the final hour of the legislative session, Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano, R‑North Haven, stopped the filibuster as the Democrats readied themselves to “call the question” in order to force a budget vote. Fasano decried the fact that Republicans had been left out of the budgetary discussions from day one. Then as the clock ticked toward midnight, in the final hour of the legislative session the 36-member Senate voted 19 – 17 to adopt the budget. All 15 Republicans voted against it and two Democrats, Paul Doyle and Joan Harley joined them.
State senators Ted Kennedy, Jr., and Martin Looney.
Senate President Martin M. Looney, D- New Haven, praised the budget, saying legislators had finally taken on “burdensome” property and car tax issues, long-term concerns of the state’s taxpayers. “For the first time we are providing significant relief to property owners through the use of the sales tax,” he said. State Sen. Ted Kennedy, Jr., who represents Branford and five other towns in the 12th District, voted with his fellow Democrats to adopt the budget. He is seen here with Looney as midnight approaches.
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