HARTFORD — Nonprofit human services providers contend they can help solve Connecticut's budget problems by taking over more state-operated programs, an idea that appears to be gaining steam among some legislative Democrats as well as Republicans.

The Connecticut Community Nonprofit Alliance unveiled a proposal Wednesday that would shift residential services for people with developmental disabilities, as well as mental health and substance abuse treatment programs, from the state to the private sector. The group said its plan would save $1.3 billion over several years. This comes as Connecticut faces a projected $1.5 billion deficit in the fiscal year beginning July 1.

"We are part of the solution to the state's budget crisis," said Barry Simon, president of Oak Hill, the state's largest nonprofit provider of services to people with disabilities. "The legislature and the governor can avoid devastating cuts to vital human services by moving state-operated programs into the community and into the nonprofit sector."

Connecticut has a system where both state employees and private nonprofit providers deliver state services ranging from group homes to in-home support. While many Republicans have pushed for years to privatize those programs, more Democrats, including Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, are supporting the idea.

"The budget difficulties have become so stark that I think people on both sides of the aisle are now saying, 'We've got to take care of the people who really need caring for in Connecticut,'" said Gian-Carl Casa, president and CEO of the nonprofit alliance.

"Everything has to be on the table," said state Rep. Catherine Abercrombie, D-Meriden, the co-chairwoman of the General Assembly's Human Services Committee, who appeared at Wednesday's news conference with the nonprofits. "At the end of the day, we all need to get out of this together."

But Jennifer Schneider, spokeswoman for the union SEIU 1199, called this latest push to expand privatized services "a familiar refrain from privatization advocates during difficult budget times," at the expense of state-operated services.

"These private agencies provide only private services and would fully benefit from a complete privatization of state services. However, the state and clients need a private and public partnership the way the majority of states in this country have," Schneider said.

Saving money by shifting middle-class state workers into $12-an-hour jobs at nonprofit agencies would further harm the state's economy, she said.

Malloy's administration in August released a plan to privatize 40 group homes and other services for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities. The unions representing hundreds of affected state workers warned the plan would decimate the state's ability to serve people with disabilities.

Malloy's plan has since slowed, and the unions' have put legal action on hold. Malloy's office has said the governor's privatization plans for the Department of Developmental Services have not yet been finalized.