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By JON LENDER and EDMUND H. MAHONY, jlender@courant.com
The Hartford
Courant 8:10 p.m. EDT, March 22, 2013 Federal
investigators, who focused last year on an alleged conspiracy to kill a tobacco
tax bill in the state legislature, have now issued a subpoena for a nonprofit
agency's communications with top state officials, including Lt. Gov. Nancy
Wyman and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's
budget chief, Ben Barnes. A grand jury subpoena was served on the Middletown-based Community
Health Center Inc. in early December, demanding documents including any emails
and paper communications with numerous Democratic officials and political
aides, including Wyman, Barnes, and former state House Speaker Christopher
Donovan. Continue reading at http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-subpoena-bonding-0323-20130322,0,5652116.story
Senate passes its first budget in four years on 50 to 49 vote
March 23 2013
From: The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer
Organizations
Contact: Susan Kniep, President
Website: http://ctact.org/
Email: fctopresident@aol.com
Telephone: 860-841-8032
A Resolution for Municipal Leaders by the Federation
The Proposed Resolution is
to encourage municipal leaders to propose to their State Legislators the need to
Reform Collective Bargaining/Binding Arbitration Laws in order to control local
property taxes
Connecticut is facing the Perfect Storm! On the Revenue Side of municipal budgets in the 169 towns throughout
Connecticut, Governor
Malloy’s Budget, if passed, will dramatically reform the ability of
Municipalities to raise revenue. If
unable to collect automobile taxes while being offered no other means to
generate revenue while concurrently diverting State dollars such as Pilot
Funding to Education, municipalities must then look to dramatically control
their expenditures. However, on the
Spending Side of Municipal Budgets, approximately 85% are dedicated to personnel related
expenditures, which are in turn determined by Collective Bargaining and Binding
Arbitration Laws or the threat of seeking such recourse if Union demands are
not met.
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Grand Jury Steps Up Probe Of Rowland
- Courant.com
March 21, 2013|BY JON LENDER And EDMUND H. MAHONY,
jlender@courant.com, The Hartford Courant
Last June, the campaign for the Republican 5th District congressional
nomination was rocked by the disclosure that a federal criminal grand jury was
investigating former Gov. John G. Rowland's consulting arrangement with the
husband of then-congressional candidate Lisa Wilson-Foley. But the story
disappeared from the headlines. Now,
however, it's clear that the federal probe has continued into 2013 – as one of
Wilson-Foley's opponents for the GOP nomination, Mark Greenberg, said in a
Courant interview that federal agents asked him questions about Rowland for
about two hours about five weeks ago at their offices in New Haven. Continue
reading at ….. http://articles.courant.com/2013-03-21/news/hc-rowland-probe-0321-20130320_1_apple-rehab-lisa-wilson-foley-rowland-for-political-work
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State to pay U.S.
Education Department $4.5M settlement
By Jacqueline
Rabe Thomas CTMirror.org Mar
22, 2013 2:01pm State officials have
settled a longstanding lawsuit with the U.S. Department of Education
following charges that the State Department of Education "submitted false
claims for payment" by misrepresenting the number of children that
qualified for special education services. The settlement requires the state pay the federal
government $4.5 million. …… Without a
settlement, the state could have been required by a judge to repay $15.9
million if it was determined the state was at fault, Attorney General George Jepsen told the Education Committee earlier this month. Two resolutions await legislative action to finalize
the agreement. Settlements that exceed $2.5 million need to be approved by the
General Assembly. Continue reading at …… http://www.ctmirror.org/blogs/state-pay-us-education-department-45m-settlement
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Senate passes its first budget in four years on 50 to 49 vote Erik Wasson -
03/23/13 05:00 AM ET The Senate early Saturday passed its first budget in four
years by a vote of 50 to 49. The body approved a plan that relies heavily on
$975 billion in new tax revenue to stabilize the growth of the national debt
within the next ten years. The budget does not balance, however, and has a
deficit of $566 billion in 2023.
The Murray
budget contains $975 billion in spending cuts, including $275 billion in new
cuts to Medicare and Medicaid spending. But it also turns off $1.2 trillion in
automatic cuts scheduled over nine years. Factoring that in, the budget does
not constitute a net spending cut.
“Now that the Senate majority has written a plan we can
finally begin this conversation: Do we balance the budget and grow the economy
for all Americans? Or do we continue to enrich the bureaucracy at the expense
of the people?” Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.)
said after the budget passed.
"This budget is a rehash of the extreme policies that
continue to hobble the economy and crush the middle class," Sen. Minority
Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said. "The only
good news is that the fiscal path the Democrats laid out in their Budget
Resolution won’t become law.”
Passage of the budget at approximately 5 a.m. came after a
marathon “vote-a-rama” on the floor
during which leaders tried to tackle 562 filed amendments. Continue reading at http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/budget/289989-senate-passes-first-budget-in-four-years
RELATED ARTICLES:
Related: Biennial budget process approved
Related: Senate on record opposing chained CPI
Related: Paul's alternative budget fails, 18-81
Related: Reid warns of 'carnival stage'
Related: More amendment results on Floor Action blog
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Senate overwhelmingly endorses states' collection of online
sales taxes
FAA shuts down 149 air traffic towers
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Malloy's budget would deplete retired teachers' health-care
fund ...
March 19, 2013 By Jacqueline Rabe Thomas CTMirror.org
The health care plan that covers 35,000 retired teachers and their
spouses will be almost completely depleted two years from now if the governor
gets his way. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is asking legislators to eliminate the
state's contribution for retired teachers' health benefits in the upcoming
budget, a move that would save the state $70.7 million and help close a yawning
deficit. "I have to put down a budget... I think we have given the right
outline of what the budget should look like," Malloy said in response to a
question about the proposed cut. But the leader of the Teachers' Retirement
Board, the state agency that manages the health plan, reports this cut would
put the plan's funding at a "dangerous level" in two years. Continue
reading at ….. http://www.ctmirror.org/story/19484/budget-knife-hits-retired-teachers-heath-care
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