Projo Politics Blog

Rep. Ray Sullivan is among a handful of lawmakers who have informed Democratic leaders that they cannot support the supplemental budget endorsed by the House Finance Committee on Friday.

"Unless something dramatic changes that I couldn't see voting for this supplemental budget in its current form," Sullivan told us this morning. "That's what I informed a member of the leadership team yesterday."

The current version of the mid-year budget-repair bill seeks to close a deficit of at least $357 million by increasing the state's gasoline tax by 2 cents, the cigarette tax by $1, cutting funding to hospitals and nursing homes, and stripping $55 million in revenue sharing from cities and towns.

The municipal aid cut "is the real driver" behind the opposition, Sullivan said. "We've all heard from our cities and towns. I don't think I'm alone in saying that mayors and town managers and school folks have called us pretty consistently. The cuts are just so Draconian... What's going to happen if we pass this, every single city and town is going to be asking for enabling legislation to pass a local supplemental tax increase."

House Democrats are scheduled to meet behind closed doors Tuesday afternoon to discuss the budget plan. Sullivan said he won't know how powerful the opposition is until that time.

"I'm not trying to be an obstructionist. I'm trying to see if there is an ability to get some of this local aid restored so that communities don't have to go to a burdensome tax increase," he said. "It's all about seeing what happens at 2 p.m."

Separately, convenience store owners have planned a State House rally at 4 p.m. to protest the tax proposals. While Governor Carcieri proposed the $1 cigarette tax, he has lashed out against the 2-cent gas tax hike.

 Tags  opponents Rhode Island state budget State House supplemental

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