Lawmakers to hold special session to decide on budget

Lawmakers will head into a special legislative session later this month, as they were unable to reach an agreement on a new stated budget by the end of the legislative session.
Lawmakers met until 3:15 a.m. Wednesday to try to arrive at a deal and remained in negotiation until the session ended at midnight Wednesday.
?We've had two years where we got out on time, had our budgets done and on time?We take pride in that as a legislature,? House Speaker Jim Amann (D-Milford) said earlier in the day.
Each side blamed the other for the negotiation failure. ?My Democratic friends seem to be locked into a bubble world where they don?t see and feel what?s happening,? state Senator William Nickerson (R-Greenwich) said.
Senate President Don Williams (D-Brooklyn) said the Governor Rell (R-CT) is out of touch and breaching the trust of negotiations. ?The problem has been the inflexibility of the governor and her absence from budget negotiations. We have been making what I consider progress in the negotiations. The problem has been the governor has been nowhere to be found, never been in the room and is operating in a parallel universe,? Williams said.
The Legislature has a constitutional obligation to submit a budget on time. However, there aren?t ramifications for failing to do unless the budget has not been finalized by July 1, which is the start of the new fiscal year.
While the budget negotiations continued behind closed doors as the session ended, lawmakers on the floor of both chambers pushed through other important measures such as passing a one-year moratorium on the Sikorsky Memorial Airport construction, and cleaning up an eminent domain bill.
Related Information: Budget talks shift to spending amid impasse Summer session looms in Connecticut budget battle Amann: Budget deal imminent