Social Service Spending in Rhode Island

Yesterday’s Projo article discussing the state’s $60,000,000 budget shortfall quotes Marti Rosenberg from Ocean State Action who says that Rhode Island's human services programs have been "sliced to the bone". RI Policy Analysis doesn’t think that the facts back up that statement. Some of the specific facts they cite in refutation are…

In FY 2004 Rhode Island’s General Revenue spending on welfare and other assistance programs was the third highest in the country per $1,000 of personal income. Rhode Island’s spending on Medicaid is the fourth highest in the nation per $1,000 in personal income....

We are one of only eleven states that do not count time spent on welfare in another state towards the federal five-year limit on benefits, and our sanctions policies on welfare recipients who do not comply with their work or education plans are among the most lenient in the nation....

Between January 1993 and December 2001, Rhode Island ranked last in the country in welfare caseload reduction….Moreover, in 2003 head-of-household recipients stayed on welfare longer in Rhode Island than in any other state -- 76% longer than the national average, and almost 25% longer than in number two ranked California....

Even more stunning is the fact that 21% of Rhode Island welfare recipients subject to the federal limit of a maximum of five years on welfare had been granted exemptions by the state, and had been receiving benefits for a longer period. Nationally, only 3.1% of recipients had been exempted. The number two ranked state on this measure was Maine, where only 8.8% of welfare recipients had been exempted from the five-year limit.