On June 30, 2025, President Donald Trump's administration announced it was withholding over $6.8 billion in federal K-12 education funding for the 2025-26 school year, including an estimated $53.6 million for Connecticut public school districts and community organizations.
This interactive graphic explores the process a bill before the Connecticut General Assembly must go through to become law if it has an associated cost to the State. This cost is known as a "fiscal note" and can create some additional steps for bills to take before they ultimately pass the legislature.
As part of the biennial budget for fiscal years 2018-19, the Connecticut General Assembly passed two fiscal accountability measures, known as the spending cap and the volatility cap. During the 2023 legislative session, the legislature renewed and made several changes to these caps. This resource includes policy briefings on the spending and volatility caps enacted in FY 2018 as well as what changes were made to the caps in 2023.
Overcoming Connecticut's fiscal challenges to produce a balanced budget that maintains service levels and fulfills policy objectives requires creative solutions. Examining the state’s non-appropriated accounts for possible resource reallocation opportunities is one potential solution. The purpose of this policy briefing is to provide insight on what non-appropriated accounts are, how these accounts fit into the state’s budgeting process, and how including non-appropriated accounts in the budget development process can have the potential to help address Connecticut’s fiscal challenges.
This policy briefing provides a quick overview of Connecticut's biennial (two-year) budget process from the governor's initial proposed budget to a final product passed by the legislature and signed by the governor.
The Connecticut General Assembly has periodically created “revenue diversions” in state statute. A “revenue diversion” is established when the General Assembly diverts a portion of revenue, which would otherwise be deposited into the General Fund, to a different fund or account. Revenue diversion statutes are explicit in the amount of revenue that is diverted, established as either a percentage of total revenue or a flat dollar amount, along with a description of what the diverted revenue will support. Once established in state statute, revenue diversions exist in perpetuity unless adjusted by the General Assembly.