Neronha’s Budget Battle: Gov and Legislature Have Increased AG’s Funding 18% in Past 4 Years
Wednesday, April 26, 2023
Despite Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha’s complaints that his office’s budget is underfunded, data provided to GoLocal by the Department of Administration and Speaker Joseph Shekarchi’s office shows that the number of positions and overall spending has increased over the past three years.
18% Increase in 4 Years
According to the Department of Administration’s data, “The Governor’s FY 2024 budget requested $34.9M for the AG’s office, an increase of 3.4% over FY 2023 (revised) and 18.2% over the FY 2021 enacted amount."
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTNeronha has lobbed a series of tweets at Governor Dan McKee and the legislature claiming his office is underfunded.
However, numbers from the Department of Administration show a consistent increase in funding over the past few years. According to the McKee administration:
- In FY 2023, the Governor proposed (and the General Assembly approved) an additional 2.0 FTE for the AG’s Office to support the Mental Health Court.
- The Governor’s FY 2023 budget included a total of $667K to cover increases for existing staffing needs, expert witness obligations related to pending complex litigation, as well as general operating and capital costs primarily for the protection of state witnesses, IT and computer software costs as data security becomes more critical and building maintenance.
- In FY 2022, the AG received $0.8 million for eight new positions, including five attorneys and three paralegals, increased resources available for large, multi-state cases, addressed increasing workloads for cases that involve child abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault and elder abuse and to staff the newly created Diversion Court and intake unit.
- The Governor also submitted an amendment in FY 2022 allowing the Office of the Attorney General to receive up to $600,000 in proceeds from multi-state litigation settlements.
GoLocal shared the data regarding the 18% budget increase with Neronha's office and asked if those numbers were consistent with the Attorney General's numbers -- they did not respond.
Speaker Shakerchi Data Show Increase in Staffing
According to Shekarchi's office:
In FY 2021, the budget approved by the General Assembly was for 239.1 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs )for the AG’s office.
In FY 2023, the current year budget as approved by the General Assembly, the FTEs increased by ten positions to 249.1.
In the FY 2024 budget, as submitted by Governor McKee to the Assembly in January (effective July 1, 2023), he recommended keeping the FTEs at 249.1. Neronha has requested an additional 20 positions to 269.1.
“I had an excellent meeting with Attorney General Neronha recently and he made a strong case for additional funding that the Governor did not include in his budget submission. However, I can’t commit to any items in the budget until after the May revenue projections are completed,” said Shekarchi.
The Revenue Estimating Conference – comprised of the financial advisers of the House, Senate and the Governor's administration – will conclude on May 10. Then, the budget will be finalized a few weeks later.
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