Lamont acted on Tuesday by vetoing six sections of Senate Bill 298, a 98-section emergency-certified package that the Connecticut General Assembly passed quickly last week with little review. The cuts totaled $4 million in grants and earmarks that would have directed money to specific organizations, according to Lamont’s veto message. The governor’s action preserved other provisions in the measure that he said were not earmarks.
In his veto message, Lamont wrote that his position was not against the missions of the organizations named in the vetoed sections or the legislative goals behind them. “Let me be clear at the outset: my objection is not to the missions of the organizations named in these sections, nor to the goals the legislature seeks to advance. Many of these programs do meaningful work in communities across our state,” he wrote. He then said, “My objection is to the process.”
Lamont said the emergency-certified bill “sailed to passage on a fast track” that bypassed committee review and public hearings. He also framed the veto as part of a response to demands for more transparency about how legislatively directed funds—often called earmarks—are proposed, reviewed and distributed. “Over the past year, Connecticut residents have rightly asked for greater transparency and accountability in how legislatively directed funds — commonly referred to as earmarks — are proposed, reviewed, and distributed,” Lamont wrote. “When taxpayer dollars are set aside for specific entities outside of a competitive or formula-based process, the public deserves to know exactly how and why those decisions are made, what standards apply, and what oversight mechanisms are in place.”
One vetoed item would have provided $750,000 this year and next to the Capitol Region Education Council, or CREC, for a teacher training program. The veto message also addressed the structure of the deal, writing that the provisions “direct specific sums to particular entities outside of a competitive or formula-driven framework” and that approving them without structural reform would “perpetuate a system that lacks consistent transparency and enforceable standards.”
Lamont’s vetoes included multiple targeted awards across state government departments. The governor vetoed $174,000 from the Department of Economic and Community Development to the VFW in New London, $70,000 through the Judicial Department to the Village Initiative, and $330,000 from the Department of Economic and Community Development to the Hartford non-profit Our Piece of the Pie. He also vetoed $200,000 from the Department of Education for a grant to Free Agent Now, or FAN, an East Hartford company aimed at helping young athletes.
The veto message included a quote attributed to FAN’s owner. It said that Roger Wierbicki had told the Department of Education last year: “At our core, FAN is an educational resource that assists in resume construction.” Lamont’s message also vetoed a separate recreation provision, cutting $2.5 million from the Office of Policy and Management for outside recreation in Hartford.
Although he vetoed the earmarks, Lamont said he left other appropriations in place, including a transfer of $1.7 million to the Department of Labor for personnel costs. He also said he expected the veto would not “overshadow the many important provisions” that remained in the bill. Lamont wrote that he was “proud of the work we have done together on these priorities,” and he pointed to parts of the bill that he described as strengthening health and safety standards for warehouse workers, safeguarding Connecticut’s elections from federal interference, and enhancing training for police officers.
Lamont’s decision drew immediate political pushback from Senate Democratic leaders. The Connecticut Mirror had reported the day before that Lamont planned to make line-item vetoes, and the veto message arrived amid criticism from Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney of New Haven and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff of Norwalk. They complained that the terms of the emergency-certified bill were negotiated and could have been revised before passage.
As expected, Lamont also signed Senate Bill 299, the other emergency-certified bill passed by the General Assembly last week. That measure addresses “bottle-bill redemption fraud” that has become more prevalent since Connecticut doubled deposits to 10 cents, while other states remained at a nickel.