By: Rep. Gail Lavielle

On December 19, the members of Connecticut’s 2011-2012 General Assembly gathered for the last time as a legislative body to vote on a bill that would close the state’s yawning budget deficit for the current fiscal year.

It was an unusual evening. While our 187 lawmakers share the congenial familiarity that comes with proximity – after all, we spend entire nights together on the floor – there is often tension in the air, particularly when the focus is on fiscal policy, the greatest source of divisiveness in our legislature. This time that tension was gone, because the budget bill on the floor was bipartisan.

Democrats have long comprised the majority in both state legislative chambers, and have thus controlled the budget process. They generally draft a budget bill and bring it to the floor without accepting input from the Republican minority. Excluded from contributing to the bill, the Republicans offer a separate alternative budget as an amendment, and a number of smaller amendments presented as compromises. After extended floor debate, the majority passes its original bill.

This was the process used to pass our current state budget. The majority, with the governor’s support, imposed the state’s largest ever tax increase and more than $1 billion in spending hikes, while unanimously rejecting the Republican no-tax increase alternative proposal.

But five months into fiscal 2013, revenues had fallen short, spending had ballooned, and savings from state union negotiations had not materialized, creating a $365 million current deficit and forcing the state to borrow to pay operating expenses. Connecticut’s constitution required the legislature to balance the budget before yearend.

The majority’s path was not sustainable, and something had to give. It did. In Connecticut, unlike in Washington, the Republicans offered help, and the Democrats accepted. After two weeks, genuine bipartisan negotiations produced a deficit mitigation bill that passed almost unanimously in both chambers. Notably, it’s the first budget bill in years that hasn’t raised taxes.

The bill eliminates the $252 million deficit that remained after the governor’s $108 million in rescissions. Because it’s a compromise, no one is completely happy with it, as it makes many tough spending reductions. But it leaves municipal aid virtually intact, doesn’t touch the Rainy Day fund, and eliminates longevity bonuses for non-union state employees. It also preserves the first increase in five years for the private nonprofits that provide most of the state’s community-based social services.

Make no mistake — closing the current deficit is only the tip of the iceberg. We face a $2.2 billion deficit in the 2014-2015 budget we must begin tackling in January. But now we have something we didn’t have before: a collaborative process that works.

This will be more important than ever before. Not only must we resolve a severe and ongoing financial crisis, but we must also find answers to serious questions about weapons, mental health care, school security, and ambient violence. The people of Connecticut, who have shown the world their remarkable strength and compassion, deserve lawmakers who can work together in good faith even when they disagree.

As a General Assembly, we have much to do to resolve Connecticut’s structural financial issues, and to restore people’s prospects for jobs, education, retirement, and quality of life, as well as their confidence in the safety of their communities. My hope is that our work this month has set a precedent for meeting the challenges ahead of us, and that the New Year will bring a renewed spirit of collaboration to Hartford.