PROVIDENCE – Gov. Donald L. Carcieri signed into law the FY 2008 supplemental budget plan shortly after it was passed by the state Senate.
Approved last week by the state House of Representatives, the budget makes cuts to several areas of government spending, including state aid to municipalities and RIte Care, the state’s health care system for families enrolled in the Family Independence Program. The budget does not raise any taxes.
Carcieri, who proposed a number of draconian measures in response to a $168 million deficit the state faces for FY 2008, praised both chambers of the General Assembly for passing the tax-and-spending package.
“I’m pleased that both the House and the Senate have acted on this important fiscal austerity measure,” Carcieri said in a statement this evening. “Approving the revised budget for the current fiscal year is the first step to solving the state’s fiscal crisis.”
The package, which passed the Senate today by a 25-to-11 margin, cuts planned state aid to municipalities by $12.5 million between now and June.
According to a news release, the budget will also eliminate RIte Care health care coverage for more than 2,800 non-citizen children, as well as welfare payments to children whose parents have exceeded the 60-month time period they are allowed to remain on the Family Independence Program rolls. Exceptions will be made for domestic violence victims, the homeless and the disabled.
The legislature estimates the RIte Care cuts will affect about 3,400 children whose families reach the 60-month limit as of Aug. 1. That figure represents less affected people than Carcieri’s proposal, which would have eliminated support for 7,400 parents.
The budget also anticipates savings in several other areas, including allowing more prison inmates – except sex offenders and those serving life terms – to earn time off their sentences for good behavior.
The budget also increases the age and length-of-service requirements for health insurance coverage for retiring state employees, and would require those who retire after Sept.1 to pay significantly more for their insurance. Under this plan, retirees would have to be at least 59 years old and have worked for the state for 20 years to qualify for insurance. They would also have to pay 20 percent of its cost, an annual outlay of $1,692 for those with individual coverage.
Although the budget implemented widespread cuts to state programs, legislative leaders pointed to several areas Carcieri had proposed cutting that they were able to restore or maintain.
The plan enacted today restores $5 million of the $7 million the governor had proposed to eliminate from the Neighborhood Opportunities Program, which supports affordable-housing initiatives.
The state’s Historic Preservation Tax Credit program also had been scrapped by the governor in his original supplemental budget proposal. But a bill passed by both chambers in April kept commitments to already-approved projects – albeit at a slightly lower reimbursement rate – though it closed the program to new projects.
