Gov. Malloy Makes Last-Minute Budget Cut to Town Aid

Gov. Dannel Malloy has signed the $19.76 billion state budget and used line-item authority to cut some spending, including $20 million in municipal aid.

The legislature passed its annual bond package and cancelled or delayed $1 billion in financing for projects and programs, according to the Connecticut Mirror.

The cut to municipal aid comes after many towns and cities have already finalized their budgets.

The State House didn't call a vote for Malloy’s Second Chance Society proposal, according to the Hartford Courant.

The measure was expected to save $15 million.

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House Speaker Brendan Sharkey said many legislators still had questions about the proposal.

“There is not a comfort level in our caucus to run the bill today,” he said. There is certainly I think unanimous support for the concept and the principal.”

The chance of the bill passing looked optimistic up until Thursday.

“It’s an election year and ...it’s hard to get things done in election years,” Malloy said when asked about the non-vote.

He added that it wasn’t a good excuse, but he understood why the proposal didn’t get through.

He also said there was talk at the capitol about scary propositions in the bill, but that they weren’t true.

Malloy recently cut back some Second Chance Society goals in hopes of enticing the legislature to take up the matter outside of the normal session. He spoke publicly about it numerous times over the past couple weeks.

Related: Malloy Proposes Major Bail Changes

Under the proposal Malloy wanted to eliminate bail for many non-violent misdemeanor offenders. It costs the state about $120 per day for the state to house one prison inmate.

There are about 435 people in the prison system whose controlling offense is a misdemeanor.

Malloy cited studies that show such defendants who are kept for between eight and 14 days in jail are 56 percent more likely to be rearrested before trial. Even a short period behind bars could mean the loss of a job even before a person has been convicted.