Raimondo Signs First Budget: Recognizes Leadership of Mattiello, Paiva Weed

Press Release

Governor Gina M. Raimondo, joined by House Speaker Nicholas A. Mattiello and Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed, today signed the Fiscal Year 2016 State Budget. This robust jobs plan begins the process of putting people back to work by rebuilding our schools, attracting and growing companies in Rhode Island, and making it easier and less expensive to do business here.

The budget also includes important reforms -- it provides retirement security by approving pension reform and improves Medicaid by strengthening the quality and coordination of care, while achieving significant savings.

"Every hardworking family deserves the chance to make it in Rhode Island," said Raimondo. "From the start, the Speaker, the Senate President, and I agreed that our number-one priority had to be jumpstarting our economy and helping people get back to work. We have a lot more work to do, but I am proud of our partnership and I believe we're in the early stages of a great comeback for Rhode Island."

"This is a budget that is pro-business and pro-jobs that will move our state forward," said Mattiello. "We also wanted to make sure the new Commerce Department has the tools needed to attract and grow businesses with the proper incentives. This budget is the result of collaboration between the Governor and the Senate. It is a budget that has something for everyone, including retirees and low-income families."

"This is a budget that invests in Rhode Island's future," said Paiva Weed. "It fully funds the education aid formula and increases funding for higher education, while investing in full day kindergarten and establishing a school building authority to fix Rhode Island's crumbling schools. It provides more cost effective delivery of Medicaid, while improving care and patient outcomes. The budget invests in economic development through a package of incentives designed to get our economy moving. At the same time, it assists the most vulnerable in our society, and helps working families through programs like the earned income tax credit and child care subsidies for those participating in job training. I applaud the Governor's leadership in the development of this budget."

"We continued to move Rhode Island on an economic path for job growth and to enable businesses to grow," said House Finance Committee Chairman Raymond E. Gallison, Jr. "We concurred with many of the Governor's initiatives for economic development with some additional controls to monitor their effectiveness. We supported her structural changes to modernize the Medicaid program, while also assisting hospitals and nursing homes."

"This budget is an investment in the jobs and economic development that our state's residents and businesses desperately need and deserve," said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Daniel Da Ponte. "We're strengthening the business community by eliminating a sales tax on energy, reducing the minimum corporate tax and instituting a number of economic development initiatives; reforming Medicaid to make it more cost-effective; and doing away with the tax on Social Security benefits for many retired Rhode Islanders. It's a budget that builds upon the progress we've been making moving our economy toward prosperity. The message in this budget is that Rhode Island is open for business."