A&R opened contract negotiations with the State last week.  The objective for our first meeting was simply to establish the ground rules.  This was successfully accomplished.  The rules are fairly straight forward: 

• No recording devices allowed,
• No press or public allowed
• Meetings will be scheduled for half-days (they can certainly run longer if discussions warrant)
• The Union team will have 12 members plus the President, Vice President, and Attorney (John DiSette, Mike Myles, and Barry Scheinberg respectively).
• There will be only 1 spokesperson per side (Atty Barry Scheinberg for A&R). 
• All

The CT General Assembly was called into Special Session Tuesday (12/8/15) to address the projected budgetary shortfalls for fiscal years 2016 and 2017.  The Special Session was closed Tuesday night when a budget mitigation bill was passed in both chambers.  The bill, which includes $350 million in spending cuts and other adjustments, would balance the 2016 budget.  In addition to the line item reductions listed, the Governor has discretion to make additional cuts up to $90 million.  The mitigation bill also has $190 million in reductions for FY2017.

Prior to the Special Session, there were

Just a reminder to complete all HEP requirements by December 31, 2015.

If you are unsure of your compliance status or that of your dependents, you can visit www.cthep.com (which redirects you to www.connect2yourhealth.com).  Your spouse will have to create their own account to view their compliance (or you register for your spouse and let them know what they need to do).

Yesterday Office of Policy and Management Secretary Ben Barnes told the legislature’s two budget writing committees "I don’t believe that the state is in any kind of a crisis”.  Secretary Barnes also stated that “I believe we face challenges and will continue to face challenges and that the changing nature of our economy makes it very difficult to operate government services on the types of tax bases that we have.”  Read the entire story here at CT News Junkie.

Posted 11/19/2015

The legislature’s nonpartisan fiscal analysts projected the state will face $4.3 billion in budget deficits over the next four years. The Office of Fiscal Analysis estimates that the state is facing a $254.4 million budget deficit in 2016 and a $552 million deficit in 2017, but the deficit grows even further to $1.7 billion in 2018 and $1.8 billion in 2019.  The OFA's deficit projections are similar to those  of OPM.   Read the entire story at CT News Junkie

The leaders of the legislature's Democratic majority recommended suspending the state's public-financing of elections for 2016, cutting social services, and retreating from two major initiatives on transportation and municipal aid. The suggested cuts are part of continuing negotiations with Governor Malloy and the Republican legislative minority over how to eliminate growing deficits projected for this fiscal year and the one that begins July 1.

Read the entire story in the CTMirror.

Posted 11/17/2015