Rhode Island Politics
As one might expect, Matt and my topic was the state budget and the flat tax on last night’s Matt Allen Show. By way of explanation for my opening comments, “popo” is the word that Rep. Anastasia Williams used to indicate the police when she said that the flat tax would lead her constituents to…
One of the objections to e-verify has been that to oblige a small business – all businesses – to go on line to verify an applicant’s employment eligibility would be too burdensome. Rep Trillo and Rep Loughlin reported on Matt Allen’s Violent Round Table Friday night that the budget bill contains a provision that, henceforth,…
From Valley Breeze publisher Tom Ward’s on-line only editorial of yesterday. • The pension “Cost of Living Adjustment” (COLA) cuts are minimal, and a joke. Those in the private sector would have to save well over a million dollars by age 60 to have anything even approaching the largesse of a state pension. Pension proposals…
OK, the Budget as amended by the House Finance Committee is up. Have at it: Table of Contents ARTICLE 1 RELATING TO MAKING APPROPRIATIONS IN SUPPORT OF FY 2010 ARTICLE 2 RELATING TO BORROWING IN ANTICIPATION OF RECEIPTS FROM TAXES AND INTERFUND BORROWING ARTICLE 3 RELATING TO EDUCATION AID ARTICLE 4 RELATING TO MAKING REVISED…
The following resolution was passed by unanimous vote of the East Providence Republican City Committee at its meeting on Wednesday, June 17, 2009. Copies of this resolution will be mailed to all state senators and representatives in East Providence. The East Providence Republican City Committee strongly condemns the fiscally irresponsible and grossly short-sighted actions of…
Monique and Matt had a somewhat extended discussion of the beginning of the budget debate on the Matt Allen Show, last night. Another year of the wrong focus in the General Assembly, enabled with one-time revenue. You can be sure that we’ll have much more to say as the days and weeks pass. Stream by…
Governor Carcieri’s office has issued this statement about the 2010 budget bill (PDF) passed late today by the House Finance Committee. While the budget does make some very difficult choices and includes pension reform, it does not include much needed structural changes that will move the state forward and make us competitive to create jobs…
The House Finance Committee is releasing its modifications to Governor Carcieri’s proposed budget. Here’s what we’ve learned (via the ProJo 7to7): Tax Increases: * Raise the gas tax by 2 cents/gallon (earmarked for RIPTA) * Require out-of-state websites (think Amazon.com) to charge RI consumers Rhode Island’s 7% sales tax when applicable. * Rejects most of…
Governor Carcieri was on the John DePetro Show this morning and expressed his concern over what he was hearing–more taxes, fewer cuts–about the budget being floated out of the House. Calling them a “tin ear bunch,” he was clearly frustrated that some of his proposed program cuts had been reinstated and, worse, that taxes (including…
… could we stop with this stuff? Until Friday, the Carcieri administration had insisted for months that John Stephen and the Lucas Group, the Boston company for which he works, had volunteered their time to the state’s effort to win from the Bush administration a waiver giving it unprecedented freedom in how it spends its…