The governor’s office was quick to refute a Republican state representative’s claims that a surplus fund within a proposed Special Transportation Fund would be an end run around a proposed constitutional amendment.
State Rep. Gail Lavielle (R-Wilton), in testimony before the legislature’s Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee, questioned the need to segregate surplus funds into a “Transportation Excess Surplus account” as outlined in proposed legislation. She said, “If we decide as a legislature to put a lockbox constitutional amendment to the voters on next November’s ballot, we can’t at the same time be passing bills that create new opportunities for diverting [special transportation funds] away from transportation purposes.”
The governor’s spokesman Devon Puglia said the representative’s premise is fundamentally incorrect because the surplus account is subject to the same lockbox protection. He said in a statement, “Since the account … would be in the Special Transportation Fund, it would therefore be subject to the protections of a constitutional amendment protecting dollars within the [fund].”
