A Connecticut legislative vote on hospital tax increase to help address the state's budget impasse could come as early as Friday, according to a Hartford Courant report.
Connecticut Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy has proposed increasing the state's hospital provider tax from 6 percent to 8 percent. His office has said updating provider tax provisions and increasing the tax rate are efforts designed to bring in more general fund revenue "that will support healthcare investments" and bring in hundreds of millions in federal grant revenue over two fiscal years.
The Connecticut Hospital Association previously came out against the proposal. However, hospitals have since agreed to support the proposal "because millions of dollars would be sent back" to them, according to the report.
Connecticut lawmakers have not yet decided whether they can vote on the hospital tax increase Friday. However, they said a decision is forthcoming.
"I just don't think we're there yet. The administration and the hospitals have been in ongoing discussions based upon what we passed in both our budgets, or at least proposed in both of our budgets, and we'll see what happens with those discussions," State House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz, D- Berlin, told Hartford Courant. "We'll decide Thursday what we're going to do."
The state's next fiscal year begins Sunday.
Read the full report here.