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6/13/2025
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Op-Ed: In a tough year, the House’s budget gives Rhode Islanders what they need
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By Rep. Julie A. Casimiro
Thank goodness for Speaker Shekarchi and the House Finance Committee. In January, they were given a budget proposal from the governor that was severely lacking in what this state and its residents need. It also included large funding gaps and sloppy accounting.
In particular, the budget’s lack of accountability and oversight over the state’s departments was distressing to say the least, and was emblematic of an aversion to accountability to the public that we have seen time and time again with this administration.
All too often, the governor’s playbook is to waste the taxpayers’ money by throwing countless dollars at a problem without any reflection or analysis of why the problem is occurring or why his administration is failing Rhode Islanders on a daily basis.
A perfect example of this troubling behavior is RIPTA. Now don’t get me wrong, RIPTA truly is an essential service for the people of Rhode Island. Many of our residents rely on RIPTA daily to get them to work, doctor’s appointments, the grocery store and school. Without it, so many people would be stranded without any form of transportation, which makes it puzzling why the governor’s budget proposal shortchanged this vital organization so badly in his budget.
With that being said, there is also no doubt that RIPTA has been mismanaged and the governor’s budget proposal and leadership once again completely ignore this ugly fact. Which is why I am so thankful that not only is the House budget going to provide much-needed support for RIPTA, but also, a crucial efficiency study of RIPTA’s operations will be required as well.
It’s the only way for RIPTA to become the sustainable public service that our state needs and we have Speaker Shekarchi and the Finance Committee to thank for this common-sense budget provision.
It’s such a good idea that I believe many more of our state’s troubled departments need the same treatment for the sake of all Rhode Islanders. The Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS), the Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals (BHDDH), and the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) all need efficiency studies to determine why Rhode Islanders pay so much to these departments for, at best, sub-par services.
In my own experience as a member of the House Oversight Committee, and only due to pointed recent questioning of BHDDH staff, the department quietly clawed back $600,000 of incorrect infrastructure grant payments that should have never been made. This is just one occurrence of significant mismanagement, but I would be shocked if this was a one-time event.
Rhode Islanders aren’t stupid and they know that our state is not being run the way it should be, especially for the amount of money we pay in taxes and fees. There are many more indiscretions like this, such as the Washington Bridge, that were buried in the governor’s budget proposal and in his daily duties as chief executive. But thankfully, we have people like Speaker Shekarchi cleaning up the administration’s mistakes and bringing accountability back to the residents.
Rep. Julie A. Casimiro, a Democrat, represents District 31 in North Kingstown and Exeter. She is the chairwoman of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Children and Families.
For more information, contact:
Andrew Caruolo, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401)222-6124
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