Speaker Nicholas Mattiello (left) and Finance Chair Marvin Abney (right) address legislators and the media on Thursday.
The loss of community grant funding by a number of social service organizations under the propopsed House Finance budget for Fiscal Year 2017 was just one of the topics addressed at a budget briefing at the Rhode Island State House on Thursday.
Following the passage of the House Finance budget early Wednesday morning, Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello and Finance Chair Marvin Abney met members of the General Assembly, media, and public to answer questions about the $8.9 billion budget that will be taken up on the House floor next Wednesday.
Issues that were addressed on Thursday included the elimination of the controversial community service grant program — and those social service groups affected — and hot-button topics including charter school funding and empowerment schools.
SLIDES: See GoLocal's FY17 House Finance Budget Winners and Losers BELOW
“I’ve gotten a lot of questions on [community service grants],” said Mattiello. “Interestingly enough nobody likes grants until it affects them. I know that grants go for a worthwhile purpose. We’ve acknowledged the need, that they do good work, but you can’t serve both interests simultaneously.”
The community service grant program was officially “terminated” by leadership last week before the unveiling of the budget, and programs which had previously gotten $11.6 million were slashed to a smaller list seeing $6.1 million available for the coming fiscal year.
When asked about $50,000 in funding for Youth Pride being cut, Mattiello offered the following.
“Is that service being provided somewhere else? I heard guidance counselors are providing it. Is is something be addressed by other means? You really can’t have it both ways — if you get rid of the [community sevice grant] program, some of these programs have to go,” said Mattiello.
The House finance proposal calls for school districts to choose between a 7 percent overall cut in payments to charter schools, or to cut itemized costs such as transportation, textbooks and special education.
“Whenever you change a formula, there are winners and losers,” said Mattiello. “The intent was to help as many children as possible. The plan we passed is $1 million better for charter schools. Among that universe, there’s winner and losers. The urbans do better, and the Mayorals are less.”
“Our goal and the final decision maker is equity. Each district is treated differently,” said Mattiello. “Overall, charters are better off. We’ve received a lot of inquiries. The perception of winners and losers I don’t agree with. If you’re a loser, you were winning for too long. So someone who was losing can be brought up to where they should.”
Mattiello said “unofficially” that empowerment schools — the Raimondo administration’s plan to give principals and teachers autonomous control over most of the major decisions made in their schools — are still in play
“We’re trying to get as much buy-in as possible, and we’re have ongoing negotiations,” said Mattiello. “I hope the ultimate product will be something that will serve our students well. We’ll see if we need to consider any changes. You can always build a better mousetrap.”
Related Slideshow: FY17 House Budget—Winners and Losers
The House Budget is passed and there were some last minute and controversial surprises.
When controversial Article 18 got pulled from the budget on Tuesday, critics had lauded the removal of the provision, which appeared to benefit a single wind farm - and the substantial political donor who owned it. But the real winner here is National Grid, the company owned by the British Energy Conglomerate, who would have had to force electric rate payers to pay millions more to connect renewable energy projects to the power grid and pay a greater share.
The battle is not over, however; Speaker Mattiello said that after having received feedback on Article18 and that he "reached the conclusion there are pieces of the article that do not need to be in the budget." Given the level of scrutiny is it highly unlikely the measure will see light of day as a stand-alone measure before the session adjourns, but it can't be ruled out.
Mattiello said that the House finance budget is taking $1 to $2 million from the $5 million for next year from the statewide tourism office and giving it back to the regional tourism bureaus. “We had a snafu in the effort. We’ll rely on the locals for the year, and then it will transfer back to state initiative,” said Mattiello.
One of the biggest battles of the 2016 General Assembly session started when Governor Raimondo proposed a tagging fee on medical marijuana plants -- to major pushback.
The tax as proposed in the Governor's 2017 budget would have imposed a $150 per plant charge on patients lawfully growing marijuana for medical purposes, and a $350 per plant charge for caregivers, for a projected total of $8.5 million in new revenue.
House finance scaled back the fee-per-plant to $25, to cover the costs of regulating the marketplace.
“Advocacy works. We listened to folks, no one really liked the proposal we received,” said Mattiello. “[As far as] the need of regulations, we’re probably on the low end of that. But we didn’t want to enhance revenues on prescription medications.”
A surprise amendment that resussciated a dead proposal.
A late session effort by the City of Providence to get a $20 million bond question on the ballot for ProvPort in November initiatially hadfallen flat as a line item in the budget.
Legislation introduced by Senate Majority Leader Dominick Ruggerio in late May and now a budget article add-on for a bond referendum of $20,000,000 to fund the acquisition, expansion and infrastructure improvement of up to approximately 25 acres of land and facilities located between Allens Avenue in Providence and the Providence River by ProvPort, Inc.
While it appears to be a House Finance budget “loser” the battle is not over yet for the year, as Mattiello said there is still ongoing discussions.
Mattiello touted in his “pro-business, pro-economy” budget lowering the minimum corporate tax from $450 to $400. This comes a year after the General Assembly lowered it from $500 to $450 last year, taking away at that time the dubious distinction for Rhode Island being the state with the highest corporate minimum tax.
“There are no new taxes or fees,” said Mattiello of the House Finance FY17 budget (apart from the $25 medical marijuana tax).
Raimondo had called for a $40 million school construction and renovation bond to be put on the November ballot, but Mattiello said during a media briefing that the state should wait for the completion of a study expected to show what exactly the construction needs are for the state’s schools.
Mattiello said that there is still funding in the budget for school construction needs, as Raimondo had also proposed an $80 million appropriation for construction and renovation, including of $9.1 million for the school building authority -- but the dedicated bond question that would have increased resources by 50% -- was off the table in the House Finance budget.
After years of steady increases in the state’s cigarette tax, smokers got a reprieve in House Budget when the committee rejected Raimondo’s proposal to raise the cigarette tax twenty-five cents from $3.75 to $4 a pack.
Make no mistake about it, this is just as much about the convenience stores not wanting the additional tax on their golden goose - and New England Convenience Store Association lobbyist Brian Goldman just got vetted by Senate Judiciary for his nomination from Raimondo to replace Associate Judge Frank Cenerini, who retired in October 2014.
Governor Raimondo once again pushed for an increase in the state’s minimum wage, and it appears she will be once again denied by the legislature.
Speaker Mattiello said that Raimondo’s effort to boost the minimum wage from $9.60 to $10.10 an hour would be a no-go. So while it falls in the loss category for those who were pushing for it, it could have been labeled as a win for business owners who have said they couldn’t incur such a mandatory increase.
“We are giving pension relief to everyone who receives some type of pension income, whether it’s public employees, private, or veterans,” said Mattiello.
Mattiello noted that the tax deduction “will be income tested, [and] you have to be Social Security age to qualify.” The tax exemption is slated to apply to the first $15,000 in retirement income, for those qualifying individuals with incomes of $80,000 or less, and couples up to $100,000.
While the removal of Article 18 was championed as a win against crony capitalism, there was more at stake than just one developer with strong political ties. While the article appeared as of Tuesday looked to be gone from the budget, that did not mean the legislative proposal could not stand alone. EcoRI was quick to point out however all that the article did for provide for a number alternative energy incentives including:
Article 18...would allow loans for projects using net metering and virtual net metering, as well as those priced through the Renewable Energy Growth Program.
Article 18 also includes a five-year extension of the state Renewable Energy Fund, which provides grants for small- and medium-sized solar projects. The funds are collected through a monthly surcharge on electric bills and the pool of funds, currently about $6 million, is distributed to solar developers and installers through the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation.
Article 18 also exempts residential and commercial manufacturers from paying local property taxes. It also establishes a statewide property tax rate for commercial renewable-energy systems. The new tax rate will be determined by the Office of Energy Resources.
Everyone who loves the beach gets a win with the the House budget. Speaker Mattiello touting that “beach fees are reduced to the 2011 level” for the coming year.
A season pass for residents would be slashed from $60 to $30, non-residents from $120 to $60, and Rhode Island senior citizens from $30 to $15. Plus, one-time entrance fees would be lowered for residents from $10 to $6 (and senior citizens, down to $3).
