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| B- | Connecticut |
• Population (rank): 3,504,809 (29)
• Average per capita income (rank): $34,048 (1)
• Total state spending (rank): $20,674,608,000 (26)
• Spending per capita (rank): $5,899 (14)
• Governor: Jodi Rell (R)
• Took office: 07/2004
• Senate: 36 members: 24 D, 12 R
• Term limits: None
• House: 151 members: 107 D, 44 R
• Term limits: None
Connecticut is in the midst of a reform wave, generated by the contracting scandals that brought down the administration of former Governor John Rowland four years ago. Not only has Rowland's successor, Jodi Rell, won widespread popularity for taking up the cause of clean government but ordinary citizens have developed the habit of reporting potential governmental misdeeds on their own. The Auditor of Public Accounts has been so overwhelmed with whistleblower complaints — more than 100 in 2007 — that the office no longer has time to complete all the performance audits that are supposed to be its main function. On the whole, however, the surge in citizen vigilance, assuming it continues, should be a boon to Connecticut's democratic process.
State agencies have gotten the reform message. Responding directly to the Rowland scandal, they have increased transparency in contracting and stepped up training for both central-procurement office staff and agency employees. In fact, the reins may have been tightened a bit too much. In a reaction to the so-called "fast track" contracts of the Rowland era, the state has made its contract requirements so thorough that they have added significantly to delays in getting the contracts processed. "Five or six years ago, we could turn things around in 30 days," says Carol Wilson, director of procurement programs and services. "Now, we're more to the 60-day or 90-day timeframe. We want to look at reducing turnaround times."
Meanwhile, auditing of government functions has become a popular pastime in the legislature. The Legislative Program Review and Investigations Committee conducts a half-dozen or more in-depth audits each year on topics such as the tax system and the state's long-term planning activities. The committee frequently writes legislation based on its report findings, and it's had good luck achieving its goals, with more than half of the recommendations becoming law.
Connecticut is working to institute performance-based budgeting and program measurement. It has tried this in past years, but to little effect. Now, however, the House Appropriations Committee has launched an initiative called Results-Based Accountability that sets outcome goals across departmental lines, and instructs the agencies involved to report performance information with their budget requests. The program hasn't taken hold across the entire Connecticut bureaucracy, nor has the data started to drive the Office of Policy and Management's decisions, yet. But the fact that the legislature has bought in means it stands a good chance of expanding its reach.
The House and Senate have begun using the information to track trends and redirect money toward programs that are working, and the legislative Office of Fiscal Analysis is hiring two people dedicated to the program. "It's huge when you start to make the commitment in personnel, because that's when you start to institutionalize it," says state Representative Diana Urban, a champion of the effort.
Connecticut has been faulted in the past for its poor long-range financial vision. And this is still a problem. Long-range planning efforts instituted in the early 1990s were de-emphasized under Rowland, and the Office of Policy and Management — once home to many of those efforts — operates with less than half the staff it had 15 years ago. But there are signs of change here as well, particularly in the emerging willingness of the executive and legislative branches to work together in looking beyond the current year's budget. The Office of Policy and Management and the legislative Office of Fiscal Analysis present five-year financial projections to the Appropriations and Finance committees. In addition, legislative fiscal-impact statements now extend five years into the future, and the Office of Fiscal Analysis is testing the accuracy of the projections two and four years into program implementation — a look back that should be a big help.
There also is some good news on the more immediate budgeting front: Connecticut's reliance on one-time revenues to balance its budget has been minimized significantly, and there has been progress toward building a rainy day fund equal to 10 percent of the general fund budget.
For additional data and analysis, go to pewcenteronthestates.org/gpp.