PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – The House of Representatives is expected to take up its $9.55 billion budget proposal Friday night, a plan that includes funding for school construction, legalizes sports betting and continues a phase-out of the state’s car tax.
If the House passes the bill, it will go to the Senate next week for approval.
The House budget kept many of the themes laid out by Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo in January. Both budgets would ask voters to authorize $250 million in bonds for the first phase of an ambitious school reconstruction plan, and both would legalize sports gambling in the state.
Democratic House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello has said lawmakers may add more detailed language about sports betting Friday.
The House rebuffed the governor’s proposal to increase the number of medical marijuana licenses the state grants. It also increased the fee the state’s three dispensaries pay to renew their licenses from $5,000 to $250,000.
A look at some of the budget’s key items:
SPORTS BETTING
The state is looking to become one of the first in the nation to get in on the new market for sports betting freed up by the Supreme Court earlier this year. The governor allotted $23.5 million in revenue from the new system in her January proposal.
The House budget keeps that revenue estimate and, according to the latest draft, authorizes the governor to come up with a contract to initiate sports gambling at two casinos in the state, subject to the General Assembly’s approval.
SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION
Raimondo has called for a “once-in-a-generation” investment in the state’s crumbling school system. Her $1 billion plan begins with asking voters in November to authorize $250 million in bonds for the first phase of financing.
The House plan also contains that request. Mattiello said at a recent budget briefing that he expected voters to pass that ballot measure overwhelmingly.
MEDICAID
State lawmakers were able to reach a deal with 59 nursing homes in the state regarding their Medicaid payments. The budget will include a 2.5 percent increase this year in exchange for the nursing homes dropping a lawsuit. Lawmakers estimated the increase costs about $9 million, with half of that money coming from the federal government.
The Superior Court had given the nursing homes a judgment that could have cost the state $24 million. Before they reached a deal, the budget had an 8.5 percent cut to the nursing homes.
MEDICAL MARIJUANA
The governor hoped to open up a new revenue stream and expand access to medical marijuana in the state by increasing the amount of licenses from three to 15 and letting cardholders from Massachusetts and Connecticut use the state’s dispensaries.
The House plan only includes the part of that plan that allows out-of-state cardholders to use the state’s dispensaries.
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press.
