By Mark Pazniokas

Gov. Ned Lamont conceded today that the 2019 session of the General Assembly will end June 5 without a vote on highway tolls.

He said he was recasting his focus for the final weeks to delivering a budget that will provide a reliable fiscal blueprint for Connecticut for the next two years.

“My first priority is to get an honestly balanced budget done on time,” Lamont said. “That was a promise I made during that campaign. I heard from every superintendent of schools and mayors. ‘Even if I don’t get all the money I want, get it to me on time, so I can plan accordingly.’”

Lamont made his comments a day after meeting with legislative leaders, when it became clear to administration officials that a special session would offer the governor his best chance of convincing the General Assembly to accept a comprehensive system of highway tolls as the most reliable way finance overdue improvements to the state’s transportation infrastructure.

By Mark Pazniokas and Keith M. Phaneuf

With less than three weeks until the end of the 2019 legislative session, Gov. Ned Lamont’s first-year priority of returning highway tolls to Connecticut remains a work in progress, complicating efforts to corral a majority — and generating a day of political spin to odds today at the State Capitol.

Gov. Ned Lamont talks with reporters today. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Mark Pazniokas for CTMirror.org.

Republicans called a visit by Lamont to the House Democratic caucus the previous night a “desperate” bid for votes, then they abruptly revised their own tolling alternative, itself an apparent bid for votes. Lamont quickly dropped by the Capitol pressroom to say the GOP shift was why “voters are so cynical about politics and politicians.”

Of course, the governor also has given voters ample reason for cynicism. As a candidate last year, Lamont said he favored trucks-only tolling, not his current plan to impose tolls for all motor vehicles traveling on the Merritt Parkway and three interstate highways, 84, 91 and 95.

With important variables yet to be defined, passage of a tolls bill remains uncertain.

By Mark Pazniokas

Gov. Ned Lamont simultaneously delivered an apology and pep talk to the House Democratic caucus tonight, acknowledging that his highway tolling proposal had put fellow Democrats “in a pickle,” while defending the plan as a necessary and overdue boost to Connecticut’s lagging economy.

Hands on hips, Lamont spoke for seven minutes to Democrats in their caucus room, a place typically off limits to the press and visitors. He assured them he was deeply committed to the fight for the passage of tolls — and the re-election of those who joined him. Lawmakers stood and applauded as he left without taking questions from them or the press.

House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, had recently suggested the visit, and with a few minutes notice to the press, Lamont and his senior staff made the walk from his corner office on the second floor of the west side of the State Capitol to the caucus room on the east side. Lamont quickly told them he was demanding a tough vote.

“I know that,” Lamont said, his voice dropping as he scanned the room. “I’m asking every one of you to cast a really difficult vote.”

By Keith M. Phaneuf

With less than four weeks left in the legislative session, Gov. Ned Lamont made a bipartisan appeal for compromise on tolls.

The Democratic governor pledged to dedicate more resources to transportation construction between now and 2024 — the first year toll receipts might be available. This generally was recognized as one of the soft parts of Lamont’s plan.

But the governor also insisted any bargain would have to include electronic tolls, saying this was essential to provide long-term fiscal stability to a transportation program otherwise headed for insolvency.

“I am more than willing to entertain a compromise that shores up our Special Transportation Fund, provides for some short-term borrowing until the point at which tolls come online,” Lamont wrote in an open letter to the General Assembly.