CT budget panel leaders pledge to reverse years of eroding funds for social service safety nets

Leaders of the legislature’s budget-writing panel pledged Friday to dramatically bolster Connecticut’s community-based social services and reverse more than a decade of eroding funding for the nonprofits that run these programs.

Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, and Rep. Toni E. Walker, D-New Haven, said the relief plan likely would be phased in over five or six years, similar to a pitch made last year by the state’s largest nonprofit coalition.

The co-chairwomen of the Appropriations Committee also wouldn’t rule out legally exceeding the state’s statutory spending cap to provide this aid for thousands of disabled and abused children, and people struggling with drug addiction.

This could put them at odds with Gov. Ned Lamont, as well as the legislature’s Republican minority, both of which have strongly opposed exceeding the limit on budget appropriations.

Read more: https://ctmirror.org/2021/01/29/ct-budget-panel-leaders-pledge-to-reverse-years-of-eroding-funds-for-social-service-safety-nets/