A local lawmaker is speaking out about funding taken from the Special Transportation Fund in the newly adopted state budget. Danbury Republican State Senator Mike McLachlan says some of his constituents are upset because they don't feel elected officials are in touch with reality.
He wants a lockbox on the Special Transportation Fund.
Language in the bill expands how much money can be spent from the Fund for items other than fixing roads. McLachlan says under the bill, boating enforcement is now considered transportation. While part of Candlewood Lake is in his district, McLachlan says that should not come out of the Special Transportation Fund.
Governor Dannel Malloy signed the revised state budget into law, acknowledging he'd like to see at least one more change. He says the state ultimately needs to amend its constitution to ensure revenues collected in Connecticut's Special Transportation Fund are spent on transportation matters, not other programs.
A bill passed during Monday's special legislative session included such a provision, but only in state statute.
Malloy, who has proposed a 30-year, $100 billion overhaul of state transportation infrastructure, said Monday's vote was the ``first step'' toward a constitutional amendment. That process typically can take two years, but Malloy contends the question could appear on the 2016 ballot.
