The Assembly's Finance, Appropriations, and Bonds Committee on Wednesday adopted an omnibus measure aimed at eradicating concentrated poverty and strengthening early childhood education, as well as $674 million in capital funding over five years for the University of Connecticut. It also supported reinforcement programs.
But child care plans that rely on surpluses and transfers of extrabudget funds could be complicated by legislative leadership's announcement this week that Congress will not make formal adjustments to next year's $26 billion interim budget. .
The Democratic-led Finance Committee voted largely along party lines to support a bill that would create a new Office of Neighborhood Investment and Community Engagement in the Department of Economic and Community Development.
The office will work with local authorities to develop a 10-year plan to tackle “concentrated poverty”. “Intensive poverty” is defined as U.S. Census areas in which at least 30% of residents have incomes below the federal poverty level. With an annual income of more than $31,200 in 2024, her family of four will be above the poverty line, according to FPL.
Economic development authorities must submit a progress report to the commission by June 1, 2025, and a complete plan to Congress by January 1, 2026. Those plans are likely to include proposals for further state investment in these communities.
Local governments will be required to establish regional development corporations to help implement these plans.
“What we do to the children of this state who live in concentrated poverty is a crime. What we accept and condone is a crime,” said Conn. said Sen. John Fonfara (D-Hartford), one of the most vocal advocates in Congress for increasing state investment in poor urban centers. “We destroy our children. We force our adults into substandard lives.”
Fonfara noted that some of these censuses show local unemployment rates exceeding 30%, crime rates and taxes are high, and that “the majority of people living in these communities are black or black.'' “Latinx,” he said, adding that society seems to accept that.
However, most Republicans on the committee opposed the bill.
Rep. Holly Cheeseman of East Lyme, the committee's ranking Republican, said the bill goes far enough to ensure the state's investments create jobs and improve student outcomes. He questioned whether he was requesting testing.
“How do we find the right people within DECD to manage this brand new office?” Cheeseman asked, adding, “I wish we could be more specific.”
But Democrats countered that for too long, lawmakers have allowed the poorest communities to suffer at a far lower standard of living than most of the rest of the state.
Connecticut has long been recognized as one of the wealthiest states in the nation, but concentrated poverty has led to a decline in overall rankings in areas such as access to health care and educational achievement. said state Rep. Eleni Kavros DeGraw, D-Avon.
“Wouldn't it be great if we didn't just have dollars?” she said.
Sen. Marilyn Moore, a Democrat from Bridgeport, Connecticut's largest city and one of its poorest, said the state would be better off if more communities could experience real economic growth. He asked skeptics to consider what financial support is available.
“See what rate of return you can get by digging deeper into the problem,” she said.
The Finance Committee's recommendations on state revenue and borrowing, along with spending recommendations expected from the Appropriations Committee on Thursday, will form the basis of final negotiations between top legislative leaders and Gov. Ned Lamont on the next state budget.
investment in childcare
The Treasury Board also wants to help boost economic development through major new investments in child care and early childhood education.
The committee approved a bill that would direct $50 million to the bond and earmark an additional $50 million from this year's projected surplus to fuel an early childhood education fund created last year.
The measure also directs the state Office of Early Childhood to establish a grant program to help child care providers improve wages, education and other services. It would also create a new program in New London County to share child care costs between participating families, employers and the state.
Rep. Kate Farrar, a West Hartford Democrat who led the investment bill, said after the meeting that the lack of child care and early childhood development services is a real threat to the economy.
“It’s urgent,” she said. “I'm hearing from her family about the crisis in my district. I know I'm not alone.”
Too many early childhood educators don't earn enough to cover their living expenses, he said, adding that the industry won't recover without “innovative and bold action” by the state.
But House Speaker Matt Ritter (D-Hartford) and Senate President Martin M. Rooney (D-New Haven) announced that lawmakers would not formally reconcile the previously approved $26 billion budget. Given this, funding for this bill could be problematic. June of the fiscal year starting in July of this year.
Any attempt to reduce or increase revenue would require the budget to be reopened to include the new revenue schedule. But restarting the budget also requires lawmakers to plug holes in pension contributions and other technical items that require additional funding, but they also need to plug holes in higher education, social services and children's minds. Health programs want to postpone the issue until late next year so they can focus more resources.
And since the child care bill would transfer surplus funds to an extrabudget early childhood education fund, the transfer of that revenue could become an issue.
But the Finance Committee's other co-chair, Rep. Maria Horn (D-Salisbury), and Farrar both said that means the child care investment bill is unlikely to gain full legislative approval this year. He said he did not think it meant that.
They noted that half of the proposed $100 million in funding would be financed by borrowing and would not affect the revenue schedule in the upcoming budget.
There are also other options that could be discussed for funding even if lawmakers don't formally adjust the next state budget.
Farah added that there is “a lot to discuss” before the regular legislative session ends on May 8.
Panel backs new university project to overhaul pension investments
While lawmakers may not formally adjust the next budget, they are considering changes to the annual package of capital projects financed with bond borrowings that typically support city school construction. Upgrading highways, bridges, and other transportation infrastructure. State building repairs. Capital projects at state universities. and small community-based projects in MPs' local districts.
The Finance Committee recommended $673.5 million for the University of Connecticut's new capital construction program over the next five fiscal years, including $126.5 million in 2024-2025.
UW President Radenka Maric outlined some pressing needs to lawmakers in late March. Most of the new investment will support science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs, including building new science facilities and renovating the Gantt Science Complex.
Malick said Connecticut faces a yearly shortage of 6,000 workers in manufacturing and 7,000 workers in health care. Additionally, approximately 5,000 new life sciences professionals will be needed over the next five years.
University officials also hope to begin a $100 million renovation of Gampel Pavilion. Home of the university's national championship men's and women's basketball teams he was built in 1990.
“Since the beginning of the historic and highly successful UConn 2000 program, UConn's academic enterprise and its campus have transformed to become the envy of higher education institutions around the world,” university officials said Wednesday. said in a statement after the committee. “The well-being of UConn is tied to the well-being of all of Connecticut, and extending UConn 2000 will allow us to continue to thrive together for generations to come.”
In other business Wednesday, the committee also approved a bill ordering an independent review of the state's pension fund performance.
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor at the Yale School of Business, ranked Connecticut's annual performance from 2017 to 2022 as the second-worst in the nation. Sonnenfeld told the Finance Committee during a hearing last week that the state has made progress under new Treasury Secretary Eric Russell, who took office in January 2023.
Russell announced a 12.8% increase in pension investments last year, and Yale researchers say this was under the leadership of new Treasurer and State Investment Advisory Board Chair Ellen Schuman. He testified that it reflected “recent, promising changes.”
But researchers said further improvements were needed, including setting regular performance reports to benchmark against all other states. Independent review and oversight by auditors reporting to the Legislature. We will overhaul existing cumbersome reporting methods to improve the public's understanding of investment performance. Establish clear guidelines for replacing outside investment managers hired by states to support investments in funds.
The state has funded multi-year capital programs at its flagship universities since the mid-1990s, when it first launched UConn 2000. Subsequent updates to this popular capital program continue to bear the same name decades later.
