After the Rhode Island House of Representatives passed a new $15.2 billion state budget Friday, this year’s session of the General Assembly is winding down.
The Senate is expected to approve the budget this week, sending it to Gov. Dan McKee’s desk.
Here are a few key details about what is in the record-setting fiscal plan.
1. The Most Money Ever
Fueled by better-than-expected state revenue, the spending plan adds about $300 million to what Gov. Dan McKee proposed in January. The new budget is about $900 million more than the current one and a big increase from the almost $9 billion budget for fiscal 2016.
“It’s not something that can be sustained,” House Minority Leader Michael Chippendale (R-Foster) said during his closing remarks on Friday evening.
House Minority Whip David Place (R-Burrillville) dramatized his concern with a brief speech later expanded into a tweet. He said decades of Democratic control have reduced Rhode Island’s former economic glory – something signified by the grandeur of the Statehouse – to a nanny state dominated by exploding spending on social services and burdensome regulations on business.
Democrats defended the continued upward trajectory of state spending.
“This budget is an effort to address the concerns and struggles of everyday Rhode Islanders who need good schools, who need access to healthcare, who need to be able to pay their bills and who need to know that their government is honest and effective,” said House Speaker Chris Blazejewski (D-Providence), who ascended to the most powerful legislative position in May.
2. Tax debate still runs red hot
The House rewrite of McKee’s budget proposal phases in a new surtax on income over a million dollars over three years, rather than doing it all at once.
The upper bracket will climb a percentage point to 6.9% on July first, to 7.9% in 2027 and top out at 8.9% in 2018. But if supporters thought the incremental process would temper criticism, they were wrong. During the budget debate on Friday, Republicans castigated the tax hike as an anti-business job-killer.
“This bill will have a ripple effect for years to come and will negatively affect our children and grandchildren,” said state Rep. Richard Fascia (R-Johnston). He said the bill punishes people who have worked hard to become successful.
Supporters of the measure, including Rep. Teresa Tanzi (D-South Kingstown), pointed to worsening income inequality and the effects of President Trump’s budget bill in describing a severe need for more state revenue.
“Right now in the state of Rhode Island, one in three kids are going hungry – used to be one in four,” Tanzi said. “We’re now facing one in three people who are food-insecure in our state. This is us ensuring that we’re still able to provide the bare minimum for the individuals who need it the most in our state.”
3. Sudden impact: Inspector General
Speaker Blazejewski took everyone by surprise when he offered support shortly after ascending to his post for creating an office of inspector general. At the time, he called it an important step for boosting confidence in government.
The budget includes $1.2 million to staff the office with 12 people. Blazejewski’s approach will spare the legislature and judiciary from the purview of the inspector general, a move he defended as consistent with separation of powers, while still allowing a focus on the vast bulk of state spending. Republicans celebrated plans to create the office, a concept first suggested in the scandal-plagued early ‘90s.
4. Everyone hates high energy costs
Budget questions involving energy got the second most sustained debate, next to taxes. Republicans tried reinserting Gov. McKee’s proposal to put off to 2050, from 2033, the target for offsetting with renewables all of Rhode Island’s energy use.
McKee’s election-year pitch had the appeal of lower prices for energy. But supporters of renewables pointed to the energy shock from the US and Israeli war with Iran, citing the unpredictability of energy prices. They said continued investment in renewables offers more promise of long-term savings.
In the end, the budget passed by the House leaves in place the mandate to move Rhode Island to net zero by 2033.
5. A speedy budget vote
Fifteen to 20 years ago, House budget debates typically went to 1, 2 or 3 in the morning. Former Speaker Nick Mattiello ended that practice, saying it sent a bad signal for lawmakers to be debating spending when most people were sleeping. The trend toward a faster budget process continued under Speaker Joe Shekarchi, who stepped down in May.
The spending debate on Friday clocked in at under four hours, before lawmakers went to the third floor of the Statehouse for food and drink offered by leadership. As usual, lawmakers debated with respect and civility for one another – and GOP Leader Chippendale praised that, along with Speaker Blazejewski’s openness to communication with the 10-member minority party.
The Rhode Island Senate, which usually moves with greater speed, is poised to pass the budget on Tuesday.
