Lawmakers prepare for debate on fiscal guardrails, other issues in new legislative session NBC Connecticut [Video]

Connecticut lawmakers will return to the Capitol Wednesday to kick off the 2025 legislative session.  

The top priority will be crafting a new two-year budget, but lawmakers say priorities range from housing to energy prices to healthcare.  

The legislature has a longer session – January to June – every other year, and that’s when they craft a two-year spending plan.  

This year’s debate is likely to include conversations on whether lawmakers should relax the state’s fiscal guardrails.  

“I certainly hope we’ll be able to come to some agreement on flexibility regarding the fiscal guardrails,” Sen. Martin Looney (D – President Pro Tem) said.  

Looney and other Democrats have voiced a hope of changing the volatility cap, a guardrail that limits the state’s ability to spend money from income tax collected from stock market investors and other revenue streams subject to a lot of variance.  

This year’s budget includes $1.4 billion …