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Wednesday, 02 January 2008 |
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By JIM BARONPROVIDENCE – The 2008 General Assembly convened Tuesday with the House and Senate both planning to ring in the New Year with largely ceremonial sessions.
After that, however, the legislature is preparing to get to work almost immediately to address a state treasury quickly filling with red ink that threatens to drown government programs and swamp Rhode Island’s business sector.Lawmakers returned to their respective chambers at 4 p.m. to reacquaint with colleagues and receive welcome and greetings from the leadership as the legislature meets it constitutional responsibility to convene on the first Tuesday in January. Little or no real business was conducted in either chamber, however, according to House spokesman Larry Berman and Senate spokesman Greg Pare.Item Number One on just about everybody’s agenda, in one way or another, will be the budget deficits totaling more than a half-billion dollars. State officials estimate the current year’s budget is in the red by about $150 million and the budget that takes effect July 1, will start off in a $450 million hole.Although Gov. Donald Carcieri is not scheduled to present his budget for the 2009 fiscal year until the end of the month, the House Finance Committee is going to begin its work this week, meeting Thursday to examine Carcieri’s plan to save $100 million by eliminating 1,000 state jobs.Leaders in the House and Senate have joined Carcieri in saying they will reject any attempt to increase broad-based taxes like the income or sales tax but that they will consider virtually any other way to bring in additional revenues or stanch state spending. State payrolls and employee benefits will be candidates for cuts. Although it may not generate savings immediately, House Speaker William Murphy intends to introduce a proposal to shift state pensions from the current defined benefit plans to a defined contribution set-up similar to the 401k plans now prevalent in the private sector.Bills will likely go in the hopper soon to squeeze more money out of the state lottery and in particular it’s two slot machine venues – Lincoln’s Twin River and Newport Grand. Last year the lottery dropped from being the state’s third largest revenue generator to the fourth, behind business taxes.Pawtucket Rep. William San Bento and East Providence Sen. Paul Moura have each suggested bills to allow the slot parlors to remain open 24-hours a day, at least on weekends and holiday eves. San Bento would also like to ask voters whether they want to make Twin River a full casino, with table games and other amenities that other big-time gambling establishments offer. Voters soundly rejected a proposal for a Narragansett Indian casino in West Warwick in 2006 and sentiment is mixed among legislative leaders about whether to bring another casino plan to the ballot so soon. With the massive budget deficits looming, this year has seen more than the usual amount of scuttlebutt about regionalization, particularly among the state’s 36 school districts and perhaps even combining the activities and services of the state’s 39 cities and towns into a more county-based system. Whether the innate parochialism of citizens and the entrenched fiefdoms of the municipal status quo can once again beat back that idea, as they have every other time it has come up in the past remains to be seen. But there is a growing consensus that something must be done, especially since one of the few things Carcieri and the legislative leaders seem to agree on is that there will be no additional state aid for cities and towns or school districts in the tight budget ahead, and outright cuts – unheard of in previous years -- are not being ruled out. While he is keeping the specifics close to his vest until he presents his budget and delivers his State of the State address in the coming weeks, Carcieri makes it clear that steep cuts in social services are on the way. These will likely come in the form of suggestions to lower the eligibility levels for services such as RIte Care and child care subsidies If any steps are taken to increase the amount of tax revenue coming into the state, they will likely take the form of modifications in programs like the Historic Structures Tax Credit or the Movie and Television Tax Credits. Proponents and critics both say the programs are victims of their own success. While they have increased economic development by encouraging the renovation of old mills and factories to new uses such as housing, and have brought numerous high-profile as well as low-budget movies and television shows into production here, the tax credits that have been generated are sapping state revenues at a time when the budget can least afford it.With contentious debates over cutting benefit programs and raising taxes all but inevitable this year, divisive social issues such as gay marriage and abortion will likely remain on the assembly’s back burner for at least another session. |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 07 January 2008 )
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