by Donald Eng
HARTFORD, CT — Gov. Ned Lamont has signed a controversial bill that passed the General Assembly under emergency certification, with a few key line-item vetos.
Senate Bill 298 is a wide-ranging omnibus bill that addresses education, warehouse working conditions, police training, firefighter cancer funds, and more. But included in its 98 sections and 121 pages were some funding earmarks that House and Senate Republicans objected to and that House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora of North Branford urged Lamont to line-item veto.
On Tuesday, Lamont announced he had done just that.
“Let me be clear at the outset: my objection is not to the missions of the organizations named in these sections, nor to the goals the legislature seeks to advance,” Lamont said in exercising his line-item veto power. “Many of these programs do meaningful work in communities across our state. My objection is to the process.”
In the past year, Lamont said, state residents have asked for greater transparency and accountability in how legislatively directed funds — commonly referred to as earmarks are proposed, reviewed, and distributed, Lamont said.
“When taxpayer dollars are set aside for specific entities outside of a competitive or formula-based process, the public deserves to know exactly how and why those decisions are made, what standards apply, and what oversight mechanisms are in place,” he said.
Lamont cited House Bill 5039, a bill he proposed and that addressed transparency and the distribution of legislative funds. He said it would establish clear guardrails for earmarks, including detailed identification of recipients, defined purposes for the funds, reimbursement-based disbursement, annual reporting by recipients and publication of a public database showing where taxpayer funds are going.
“Those reforms are straightforward. They are reasonable. And they are necessary,” he said. “Until meaningful transparency and oversight standards are enacted into law, I will not approve new legislatively directed appropriations embedded in omnibus legislation.”
In total, Lamont vetoed six sections of S.B 209: Section 5(a), $174,000 for the New London VFW; Section 6, $70,000 for the Village Initiative Project; Section 7, $2.5 million for outdoor recreation in the City of Hartford; Section 11, $330,000 for Our Piece of the Pie; Section 12, $750,000 for two years to the Capitol Region Education Council; Section 13, $200,000 for a grant to Free Agent Now.
Lamont said approving the funding without structural reform would be perpetuating a system that lacks consistent transparency and enforceable standards.
“I hope this action does not overshadow the many important provisions contained in this bill, including strengthening health and safety standards for warehouse workers, safeguarding our elections from federal interference, and enhancing training for our police officers,” he said. “Once we have a clear statutory framework that ensures accountability and protects public trust, I will welcome the opportunity to review future targeted appropriations within that structure.”
Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding addresses the media outside the Senate chamber on Feb. 25, 2026 at the State Capitol in Hartford, CT. Credit: Donald Eng
Republican leadership seized the opportunity to use the vetoed earmarks as a 2026 campaign issue. Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding of Brookfield said millions of dollars of taxpayer money went unquestioned by what he called an arrogant supermajority.
“As Senate Republicans will continue to say, the state government candy store must be closed down,” he said. “To do that, we need more Republicans at the State Capitol.”