State senators push to change how the budget is enacted

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Most state senators are supporting a proposal to change how the Rhode Island budget is enacted.

Democratic Sen. Ryan William Pearson introduced a bill to provide for a budget reconciliation process between the House and Senate.

Currently, the House adopts a budget and sends it to the Senate. Any changes by the Senate go back to the full House for consideration. There isn’t a conference committee to work out differences.

Pearson wants each chamber to produce a budget. A committee would negotiate. He says that would reconcile the concerns and interests of both chambers.

House Finance Committee Chairman Marvin Abney, a Democrat, says the current budget process is open and transparent, and this is a power play by the Senate.

Of the state’s 36 senators, 34 support the proposal.