R.I. state budget process earns high marks in report

GOV. GINA M. RAIMONDO IS shown signing her first state budget. Rhode Island was ranked seventh among the states for its budget process quality by State Policy Reports.  / COURTESY GOVERNOR'S OFFICE
GOV. GINA M. RAIMONDO IS shown signing her first state budget. Rhode Island was ranked seventh among the states for its budget process quality by State Policy Reports. / COURTESY GOVERNOR'S OFFICE

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island’s budget process was ranked seventh in the nation, tying with Tennessee, by State Policy Reports, a Federal Funds Information for States publication.
State Policy Reports ranked all 50 states’ budget processes. High scores were given to states with strong requirements for balanced budgets, such as mandates in state constitutions for all stages in the budget process, as well as powers for governors to control spending, including item-veto authority and the ability not to spend appropriated funds, along with large reserves and how easy the budget is to understand.
States were ranked on a 100-point scale, 100 being the best. Michigan topped the list at 86, followed by Georgia, 84; Minnesota, 83; Missouri, 82; New York, 81.8; West Virginia, 81; Rhode Island and Tennessee, 78; and Hawaii, Louisiana and Oregon, 77.
The next-closest New England state was Maine, which ranked 20th with a score of 71.5. Connecticut was 29th with 65.3; Massachusetts 41st with 55.7; Vermont, 45th with 51; and New Hampshire was last on the list with a 25.9 score.
The U.S. average was 68.8.
House Finance Committee Chairman Raymond E. Gallison Jr., D-Bristol, said he is proud that the state has been recognized for its efforts to make the budget understandable and transparent. His committee is responsible for vetting the state budget each year.
“While the state budget will always be extremely complicated, the House and Senate Finance Committees and fiscal staffs do a tremendous amount of work maintaining openness though countless hours of hearings every year and hundreds upon hundreds of pages of public documents and summaries that are available online. Through our constitution and our state laws and practices, we’ve established a process that has now been independently recognized as one of the best in the country, and that recognition should strengthen Rhode Islanders’ confidence in their state government,” Gallison said in a statement.
State Policy Reports also gave Rhode Island the maximum points for its balanced-budget requirement, for its stabilization funds and reserves, and understandable budgets and finances. It received its lowest score in the governor’s ability to reduce spending, where it receives a five out of 25 possible points. More points were given to governors who have the power to veto individual line items in the budget, something it said Rhode Island lacks.
“A good budget process gives people confidence that their state is run in an orderly, efficient and open manner,” the study stated.

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