In a relatively brisk five-hour session, the House of Representatives approved on a party-line vote a $9.2 billion budget for the fiscal year starting July 1.
The spending plan includes House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello’s top priority, the first step to phasing out Rhode Island’s car tax. It also eliminates a $134 million deficit; includes at the Community College of Rhode Island a scaled-back version of Governor Gina Raimondo’s free college tuition program; and avoids any broad-based tax increases.
“It’s a budget that balances interests,” Mattiello told reporters. “It’s a budget that has no broad-based tax increases, that gives back to the people, that starts the process [of phasing out the car tax]. I committed this year and I bet a lot of people doubted that we were actually going to this year put $26 million into repealing the car tax. It was a priority to me because I want the folks out there to know that we’re serious; we’re going to get it done.”
Lawmakers voted shortly before 9 p.m., ending their budget session far earlier than is usual. In past years, the vote has typically gone well past midnight.
But House Minority Leader Patricia Morgan was unimpressed. She said the budget is built “on a wing and a prayer” because it includes $30 million in one-time fixes by taking money from other sources and $25 million in cuts yet to made by Raimondo’s office.
“And the reason we had a $134 million hole in our revenue is because our economy is weak,” she said. “We are not getting the income taxes, we are not getting the corporate taxes, we are not getting the sales taxes.” Morgan, who is mulling a possible run for governor, said the May revenue estimating conference pointed to a net outflow of residents from Rhode Island.
Republican lawmakers floated a number of policy proposals, including creating an office of inspector general to root out fraud and waste; cutting money from the state economic development agency to offer tax relief to senior citizens; and phasing out the tangible property tax for businesses. With just 11 members in the 75-member House, the GOP lawmakers were unable to get traction for their proposals.
Raimondo spokesman Michael Raia praised the House budget.
“In January, Governor Raimondo introduced a jobs budget that invested in job training, education and middle class relief,” Raia said. “She thanks Speaker Mattiello and the entire House for their hard work to pass a budget that protects our priorities that have cut Rhode Island’s unemployment rate from the highest in the nation to a rate that is lower than Massachusetts’s, helped created 13,000 new jobs and given businesses a reason to take a fresh look at Rhode Island. This budget sets our state on a path to be the fourth state in America to offer tuition-free community college for every high school graduate.”
Debate began shortly before 3 p.m. Lawmakers took a one-hour break for dinner before resuming their discussion shortly after 7:30 p.m.
Mattiello expressed pride in the budget and he characterized it as a step forward for the state in a difficult budget year.
He said he wasn’t sure until late in the evening that lawmakers would be able to conclude their budget vote before 9 p.m. Thursday, but said that ending legislative activity before 10 p.m. will remain his practice as speaker.
“Nobody plans on staying here until 5 in the morning,” Mattiello said. “It’s incremental. It’s one half-hour at a time before you realize I’ve gone beyond the point of no return. Nobody likes that more than me, but I’ve learned that lesson the hard way too many times, so I’m prepared to do just hard stops at 10 o’clock. My policy for as long as I’m speaker is going to be 9 o’clock, unless I can get done by 10, and no later than 10 o’clock.”
Mattiello said budget or legislative sessions that go past midnight are no longer acceptable to citizens.
The budget includes a 90-cent hike in the minimum wage, in two steps, by January 2019.
The spending plan is slated to move to the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday.
Lawmakers hope to end their session for 2017 next week. Still hanging in the balance are some contentious issues, including proposals to strip domestic abusers of guns and to mandate paid sick leave for workers at companies with more than 10 employees.
