PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - The Latest on Rhode Island state budget negotiations (all times local):
11:45 p.m.
A late-night panel of the Rhode Island House of Representatives is considering a new $9.2 billion spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year.
The House Finance Committee began a hearing late Thursday night shortly after Democratic House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello announced details of the revised plan.
The committee was planning to vote on it. If approved, it would move the proposal on to a vote in the full House a week later.
Mattiello says he hoped the vote would happen before midnight, but that left legislators just an hour to deliberate. It’s not clear if they would make that deadline.
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11 p.m.
Rhode Island legislative leaders are unveiling a $9.2 billion spending plan for the upcoming budget year that includes a cut to car taxes and a pilot version of Gov. Gina Raimondo’s free college tuition plan.
House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello announced some of the plan’s details late Thursday night. He spoke as the revised budget proposal was being sent to the House Finance Committee for deliberations and a vote.
If the committee approves the plan, it will be sent to the full House of Representatives a week later.
Mattiello and Raimondo, both Democrats, and other state leaders have been negotiating for days over competing priorities and how to close a roughly $134 million shortfall.
Mattiello says Raimondo has agreed to cut $25 million in general government spending.
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10 p.m.
A scaled-back version of Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo’s plan to provide free college tuition has made it into a new state budget proposal.
The Democratic governor’s spokesman Mike Raia said Thursday night that the scaled-back plan would cover two years of free tuition for in-state students at the Community College of Rhode Island. He says it would cost about $3 million in its first year and rise to $6 million in subsequent years.
Raimondo’s original plan would also have provided free tuition for students in the third and fourth years at the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College. That plan was dropped in a compromise with legislative leaders.
The tuition plan is a small part of the roughly $9 billion spending plan for the upcoming budget year scheduled to be introduced late Thursday night in the House Finance Committee.
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8:35 p.m.
Rhode Island House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello says negotiations on a new state budget have ended and the proposal will be introduced for a vote in the House Finance Committee.
The Democrat said Thursday night that the budget plan is settled and “there’s no further negotiations at this point.”
He didn’t provide any details about what’s in the roughly $9 billion spending plan for the new fiscal year that begins July 1. He says state budget writers are finalizing the details before the plan is sent to the finance committee.
The committee is scheduled to debate and vote on the plan late Thursday, which would send it to the full House of Representatives next week. Mattiello says he hopes the committee vote happens “long before midnight.”
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7:55 p.m.
Deliberations over Rhode Island’s budget are expected to go late into the night as top legislators meet behind closed doors.
The finance committee of the state House of Representatives had been scheduled to hold a hearing on a revised budget proposal at 7 p.m. Thursday but has now delayed its start by at least two hours.
Among the state officials meeting in the office of Democratic House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello (mat-ee-EL’-oh) Thursday night is state Commerce Secretary Stefan Pryor. Pryor declined comment after being asked if legislators are considering cutbacks to the state economic development agency.
Budget negotiators are looking to find money to close an estimated $134 million budget shortfall while also fulfilling other priorities, such as Mattiello’s plan to cut and eventually eliminate Rhode Island’s despised car taxes.
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5:45 p.m.
Top leaders of the Rhode Island General Assembly say major agreements have been reached to balance a new state budget.
Senate President Dominick Ruggerio said Thursday evening that budget negotiators are “close but we’re not there yet” after meetings with House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello and Gov. Gina Raimondo.
The three Democrats met in the hours before a revised budget plan for the upcoming fiscal year is scheduled to be unveiled in the House Finance Committee.
Ruggerio says they are “still looking for efficiency, still looking for savings somewhere.”
Mattiello told reporters Thursday that the revised plan will close a $134 million shortfall and include his top priority: cutting car taxes.
It’s still not clear if Raimondo’s plan to provide two years of free college tuition will be included.
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1:20 p.m.
The fate of Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo’s plan to provide two years of free tuition at state colleges is up in the air as legislative leaders prepare to unveil a new state budget proposal.
A roughly $9 billion spending plan for the upcoming budget year is scheduled to be introduced Thursday night in the House Finance Committee.
Details of what’s included in the budget haven’t yet been released. Once unveiled, the proposal could face a Thursday night committee vote that would move it to the full House of Representatives next week.
House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello has been negotiating with the governor and state Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, all Democrats, over their competing priorities and how to balance a higher-than-expected budget shortfall for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
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12:25 a.m.
Leaders of the Rhode Island House of Representatives are preparing to unveil a new state budget proposal.
A revised budget plan is scheduled to be introduced Thursday in the House Finance Committee.
Details of the roughly $9 billion spending plan haven’t yet been released. Once unveiled, the proposal could face a Thursday night committee vote that would move it to the full House of Representatives a week later. If approved by the House next week, it would then move to the state Senate.
House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello has been negotiating with Gov. Gina Raimondo and state Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, all Democrats, over their competing priorities and how to balance a higher-than-expected budget shortfall for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
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