STAMFORD, CT – Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell has instructed agencies to keep state vehicles off the roads two days a week to save on expenses, according to StamfordPlus.com. Exceptions would be made for law enforcement, inspections, environmental testing, or other critical activities under the recent directive.

"My goal is make a significant reduction in the amount of fuel state vehicles are using," Rell said, according to StamfordPlus.com. "We continue to struggle with a deficit for the budget year that ends June 30 and face large gaps in the next two fiscal years. Like the other directives I have issued in recent days, the savings we achieve through these measures will not close these gaps alone - but every dollar saved is a dollar less we will have to cover when we close the books on this year and write the budget for the next two years."

The Governor's instructions ask agency heads to keep state fleet vehicles idle two days a week by eliminating non-critical travel and substituting telephone conferences and other forms of communication in place of field activities wherever possible. Agencies are instructed not to simply replace fleet vehicles with reimbursed travel in personal vehicles or to shift non-critical travel to days when vehicles are in use.

Exceptions to the ban are granted for such uses as law enforcement, client care or transport, revenue assessment or collection, inspections of health care facilities, consumer protection inspections, transportation of medical or laboratory specimens, requirements under union contracts, death investigations, highway and bridge inspections, and emergency situations.