Education, health, pension spending up in $14 billion RI budget

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Rhode Island lawmakers on Friday night unveiled a nearly $14 billion proposed state budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year that boosts funding for education, health care and state pensions but leaves out a controversial bank tax cut.“This was not an easy budget to do,” House Speaker Joe Shekarchi told reporters at a briefing. He said the state is feeling the same “pain” from rising costs as average Rhode Island households, making it more expensive to provide services.The budget bill is a revised version of the tax-and-spending plan that Gov. Dan McKee put forward in January. It follows months of public hearings as well as private horse-trading between the House, the Senate and the governor’s office.The final budget plan is about $271 million bigger than McKee’s original proposal, as legislative leaders found money for a host of priorities that had gotten less or none at all in the governor’s plan. They were aided by revised financial projections that gave them mor...