Human Services

As the Senate voted 22-13 to give final approval late Tuesday to a revised $20.5 billion budget for next year, both parties saw state finances on the cusp of a major change.

There was no agreement on the nature of that change: Democrats see the budget closing small deficits and preserving vital services until a recovery, while Republicans predict that gimmicks in the plan mean another looming budget crisis.

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A controversial proposal to give collective bargaining rights to certain home care workers and daycare providers is headed to the governor's desk after passage Thursday night by the Senate, completing a process begun less than seven months ago with two executive orders. The measure would allow unions representing daycare providers and personal care attendants paid through public programs to negotiate with the state.

Though Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is trying to see the fiscal glass as half full, key legislators tied to budget talks conceded this week that many of Malloy's top initiatives may have to be scaled back, delayed, or cut altogether.

For Mimi Galusha, taking care of her parents has meant leaving her job and draining her 401(k). For Arlenne O’Brien, it means worry and daily visits to make sure her mother is being properly cared for in a nursing home. For Arnold Francis, it’s been a matter of adjusting his expectations since his wife’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

Their stories vary, but in providing care to relatives, Galusha, O’Brien and Francis are among an estimated 486,000 state residents who form what experts call the backbone of the long-term care system, providing care valued in the billions of dollars out of a sense of obligation or choice.

And as the state’s population ages, Connecticut is going to need more people like them, just as demographic trends make their availability less certain.

This story is the result of a partnership between The Connecticut Mirror and WNPR. For an audio report by WNPR's Jeff Cohen, including interviews with a number of people in this story, click here.

The often debated question of whether to legalize marijuana use for palliative purposes took a different twist Friday as the legislature's tax-writing panel rejected an argument that this would be a drain on the state's coffers.

The Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee voted 36-15 to adopt the bill, which now heads to the House of Representatives.

Probate Court Judge Robert Killian wants Connecticut to follow the lead of the majority of other states by allowing for people with psychiatric disabilities to be medicated, even if they object, while they're in the community -- if remaining unmedicated would leave them or others at risk of harm.

The concept, part of a bill pending before the legislature's Judiciary Committee, is vehemently opposed by advocates for people with mental illness.

Minority Republican legislators insisted Thursday they can shave more than $340 million off Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's budget plan for next year, add more than 160 new state troopers and still provide modest income and sales tax breaks next fiscal year. The Appropriations Committee rejected the plan in a party-line vote. Read more

Washington -- As lawyers at the Supreme Court this week battle over the future of the Affordable Care Act, housing advocates and others down the street were hoping the act could eventually play a major role in revitalizing public and subsidized housing.

Eileen Pedevillano, like hundreds of other state residents, has made the once-a-year Mission of Mercy her regular source of dental care. Every year, she spends a few hours in line outside to snag a spot at the clinic, which takes patients on a first-come, first-served basis. Some years, the line has been so long the clinic reached capacity before opening.