Gov. Ned Lamont shows no signs of losing his power as the state’s top political leader.
He’s also not eager to squander the budget stability Connecticut has enjoyed in recent years, thanks in part to bipartisan fiscal guardrails that were adopted in 2017.
Lamont, a Democrat, is a supporter of the guardrails, which restrict spending and borrowing and require lawmakers to save a portion of annual state revenues. The business community also supports the guardrails, but some Democrats want to work around them to increase spending on higher education, social services and other areas.
Despite facing pressure from his own party, Lamont in February proposed a revised, two-year $26.1 billion budget that stays within the fiscal guardrails and erases $500 million in bonded debt.
It maintained steady funding in most areas, but did provide some added investment in child care and education.
The former businessman-turned-politico is in his sixth year in office, where he has said one of his main priorities is promoting economic growth. Last year, he signed into law the largest income tax cut in the state’s history.
On the economic development front, Lamont is pushing for private investment in transit-oriented development to help address the state’s housing shortage.
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Annie Lamont is a successful healthcare venture capitalist and informal adviser to the governor. She is co-founder and managing partner of Stamford-based venture capital firm Oak HC/FT, where she focuses on growth equity and early-stage investments in healthcare and fintech companies.
She has significant influence in the venture capital industry. Last year she was appointed to Bloomberg financial’s board of directors. She was also named one of Modern Healthcare’s “100 Most Influential People in Healthcare.”
In November, she joined a panel discussion hosted by Axios to discuss her 2024 outlook for the VC industry.
“I think it’s a bipolar market and that great companies will get funded and do well, and those that are good companies or highly challenged companies will either go away or they will be consolidated,” she said, according to Axios. “So, I do think it’s going to be a very active (2024). The 2021 money is running out by 2024, and I think there is going to be a lot of consolidation in a good way.”