Bye Appointed to Appropriations Committee

State Sen. Beth Bye (D-West Hartford) was appointed today by Senate President Donald E. Williams, Jr. to the legislature’s Appropriations Committee, which oversees all state spending.

The Appropriations Committee has cognizance over all matters relating to state agency budgets. Other issues under the committee’s jurisdiction include matters relating to state employees’ salaries, benefits and retirement, teachers’ retirement and veterans’ pensions and collective bargaining agreements and arbitration awards for all state employees.

Appropriations Committee membership is capped this year at 13 senators and 45 state representatives; before Bye’s appointment today, the committee had 9 senators and 45 representatives. Bye was appointed to the committee less than one week after special elections were held around Meriden, New Britain and Stamford to fill three vacant Senate seats.

“The debate and decisions of the Appropriations Committee are going to be major focal points of the legislative session, considering the $7 billion, two-year budget deficit we are facing and the outcry from the public to cut state spending,” Bye said. ‘I’m confident I’ll be able to advocate for valuable state programs while finding ways to cut and economize in other areas. Governor Malloy has given us a good model with his proposals to reduce state agencies by 30 percent and to cut state spending by three-quarters of a billion dollars.”

Bye is currently Co-Chairman of the Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee and is a member of the Education, Judiciary, Appropriations and Internship committees.