Projo Politics Blog

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- While House Democratic leaders attempted to rally votes for their $7.2 billion budget-repair bill at the second closed-door caucus in two days, House Republicans readied amendments aimed at restoring municipal aid and eliminating the proposed gasoline and cigarette tax hikes.

And it appeared at least one such concession was already in the works, as the lawmakers gathered for Wednesday's budget debate.

One Democrat emerging from the caucus, State Rep. Rene Menard, D-Lincoln, said he had been led to believe that $25 million of a proposed $55 million general-revenue sharing cut would be restored before the mid-year, deficit avoidance plan was put to a final vote.

Menard provided a copy of a handout from House leaders at the caucus which indicated how much each community would get. As the caucus drew to a close, members emerged talking on cellphones, sharing the news with their local officials.

A short time later, Rep. Joseph McNamara, D-Warwick, said he had been led to believe the leadership had decided to drop, for now, a proposed 2-cent hike in the gasoline tax, which stands at 30-cents a gallon though consumers already pay an additional penny at the pump in the form of an environmental regulatory fee.

In the meantime, the six-member House Republican bloc came armed for battle.
As the current-year budget debate unfolds this afternoon at the State House, they may decide against introducing all of the amendments. But with a morning deadline for getting proposed amendments into the hopper, they had them prepared.

One would eliminate the proposed 2-cent increase in the state's gasoline tax,
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Another, introduced by Rep. Laurence Ehrhardt, R-North Kingstown, takes its cue from a gas-tax cutting proposal first made by Rep. Charlene Lima, a top deputy to House Speaker William J. Murphy, in May 2006. It would rollback the gas tax by a penny, for each penny the price at the pump exceeds $2.10.

Others in their package seek to reinstate the city and town "management tools'' that Republican Governor Carcieri proposed as a tradeoff for mid-year state aid cuts when he first proposed this budget-repair bill in January. One would limit the topics eligible for collective bargaining to wages and benefits, taking "hours and working conditions'' out of the mix.

Another seeks to limit the issues open for negotiation in teacher contracts, excluding for example, class sizes and curriculum, while another removes minimum-manning from the items up for discussion in local police and firefighter contracts.

Republicans are also hoping to attach to the reworked budget a requirement that all state and municipal employees pay at least 25 percent of the cost of their health insurance. Freshman Republican Rep. Brian Newberry was expected to seek a vote to require lawmakers to contribute at least 20 percent to the premium-cost of their own 100 percent state provided health insurance. Many, but not all already voluntarily contribute 10 percent of the cost.

Read about Tuesday's discussions: Lawmakers find budget decision a taxing effort.

 Tags  budget Providence R.I. State House

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