K. Joseph Shekarchi and Christopher R. Brzeziewski
The Speaker of the House is K. Joseph Shekarchi, a Democrat from Warwick District 23. The House Majority Leader is Christopher R. Blzejewski, a Democrat from Providence District 2.
Around the dinner table in every community, people are talking about rising prices and diminishing access to services. Whether it’s at the grocery store or the doctor’s office, rising rents or the increased cost of child care, rising costs affect every Rhode Island family. The state budget recently passed by the Rhode Island House of Representatives addresses rising costs and puts the issue at the forefront. From education and housing to health and human services, the budget makes critical investments to help families, children and seniors lower costs and get the services they need and deserve.
First, the budget takes aim at the housing crisis, providing new funding to build more affordable housing and lower housing costs for homeowners and renters. A housing crisis that has been in the works for decades won’t be solved overnight, but it can be solved. We asked voters to approve $120 million in additional funding to increase construction of affordable housing and increase assistance for people experiencing homelessness. This powerful investment to lower housing costs is the largest affordable housing bond in Rhode Island history and is designed to build on legislation passed over the past three years to increase housing construction and affordability. By increasing the construction of affordable housing in our state, we can lower housing costs for everyone.
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Second, this budget accelerates our efforts to increase Medicaid reimbursement rates for services to care for our most vulnerable neighbors. We allocate more than $200 million from all sources to fully fund Medicaid and other provider increases for behavioral health, children’s services, and home- and community-based services. These investments will strengthen care for seniors, children, and people with disabilities while raising wages for workers who deliver these essential services. Increasing Medicaid reimbursement rates will stabilize our network of health and human service providers, ensuring these services are available and affordable when people need them, while also ensuring that care workers are paid a fair wage.
Third, the budget strengthens support for quality education, from early childhood through primary, secondary and postsecondary education. It fully restores core education funding to Rhode Island public schools, adding $71 million to support student learning. It also strengthens funding for multilingual learners as part of the education funding formula. It expands state support for early childhood education, child care services and preschool. It directs additional state resources to vocational and technical education and provides meals to eligible students during the school year and through the summer. To support workforce development, we asked voters to continue funding tuition-free college education at CCRI and RIC, and to approve funding to build URI’s Biomedical Sciences Facility and RIC’s Cybersecurity Center. Through these investments, we extend our commitment to providing Rhode Islanders with free or low-cost educational opportunities at all stages of learning.
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Fourth, the budget allocates additional resources to help seniors affected by rising costs. It provides tax relief to seniors who rely on retirement income, increasing the exemption to $50,000 for qualified single filers and $100,000 for qualified joint filers. It also lifts the suspension of annual cost-of-living adjustments for state pension plan retirees who retired before 2012 and accelerates the timeline for reinstating COLAs for other state retirees. It fully funds Medicaid fee increases for home care and other services that help seniors age with dignity in their communities and remain in their own homes if they choose, and it also increases support for services provided in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
In addition to addressing rising costs, the state budget passed by the House includes many targeted investments to improve the quality of life for Rhode Islanders, including increased funding for public transportation, an arts bond to support ground-breaking projects, and a green bond to help preserve open space, forests and farmland. These quality of life investments, combined with a firm commitment to budget priorities focused on supporting families, children and seniors, will help make Rhode Island a great place to live for everyone.
