Government Subsidized Houses
Longevity bonuses cut, sales tax expanded
-->PROVIDENCE — State lawmakers looking to close a $302 million budget deficit approved a plan late Friday that would apply the sales tax, for the first time, to some downloaded computer software, as well as non-prescription drugs, and sightseeing tours in the Ocean State.
Over the objections of some human-service advocates, they saved $670,000 in state general revenue by increasing the amount that many families enrolled in RIte Care and RIte Share, the state’s subsidized health insurance programs, will have to pay toward their health coverage. About 16,000 children and adults would be affected.
They approved a plan proposed by Governor Chafee to bring the state’s unemployment trust fund, which was depleted during the recession, back to solvency by raising taxes on certain businesses and changing benefits for future unemployed workers.
And, after a bitter hourlong debate, they voted to eliminate future longevity bonuses for state workers, a move that some Democratic state lawmakers decried as an affront to labor unions’ hard-fought rights.
Rep. Roberto DaSilva, D-East Providence, who fought to save the bonus for unionized state workers, likened the budget proposal to measures pushed earlier this year by Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker that stripped unions in that state of key collective-bargaining rights.
“I can’t believe I have to get up here and defend this. It sickens me,” DaSilva, a Pawtucket police officer, said. “In the end, we are Democrats. We are not Tea Party members. We’re not Republicans.”
But as the debate stretched into the night, the House of Representatives, which is overwhelmingly Democratic, still had not completed the state’s tax and spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1. As of about 11 p.m., lawmakers had approved about 20 of 25 budget articles.
Once approved by the 75-member House, the budget plan must then go to the Senate, which was expected to schedule a Finance Committee vote for Monday and a full Senate vote for Wednesday.
The fiercest debate of the day revolved around a labor-backed amendment to preserve state workers’ so-called longevity bonuses.
The House Finance Committee’s $7.7-billion budget proposed ending longevity pay for state employees (including union and non-union), effective July 1 or upon the expiration of any current contract.
Government Subsidized Houses - News
Some Democrats were expected to propose restoring state funding for housing. The House Finance Committee budget defunded the Neighborhood Opportunities Program, which subsidizes housing for low-income and homeless people. Instead, the committee budget
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It now must pass the House before going to the President for signature. The amendment was offered by Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., and it was identical to the Ethanol Subsidy and Tariff Repeal Act, which was introduced by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla.,
But Corbett, a Republican, enjoys GOP control of the House and Senate. The budget plan would cut spending about 3 percent from this year's $28 billion budget. Corbett and GOP legislative leaders have looked through state government for cuts that would
House passes $7.7 billion state budget early Saturday morning ...
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- After a marathon legislative session that stretched more than nine hours, the state House of Representatives passed at 1:35 a.m. on Saturday morning a $7.7 billion state budget that adds new items to the state sales tax, eliminates an automatic pay increase for state workers, and asks voters in 2012 whether to turn Twin River into a full-fledged casino.
The budget, approved on a vote of 60 to 9, now heads to the state Senate for approval.
House Finance Committee Chairman Helio Melo, D-East Providence, said the plan puts Rhode Island on sounder financial footing, reducing the state's long term deficits by more than half over Governor Chafee's budget.
"With this budget, Rhode Island is heading in the right direction," Melo declared shortly before 1 a.m. on Saturday morning, as the chamber was poised to make one of its final votes on the tax and spending plan.
Republicans, by far the minority in the chamber, acknowledged that there were "good things" in the budget such as giving cities and town greater flexibility to reduce spending.
"There has been a lot of rhetoric out there that this budget is a joke. It is not a joke," said House Minority Leader Brian C. Newberry. "The thing that we did in this budget is we rejected Governor Chafee's tax plan."
The North Smithfield Republican still voted against the plan, along with eight others, because he believed the state did not have to raise taxes at all to close a deficit that exceeded $300 million. ----
The House budget subjects to the sales tax, for the first time, computer software such as Norton Anti-Virus or Turbo Tax, as well as over-the-counter drugs, and sightseeing tours.
It increases the amount that many families enrolled in RIte Care and RIte Share, the state's subsidized health insurance programs, will have to pay toward their health coverage, saving more than $600,000.
It includes Governor Chafee's plan to bring the state's unemployment trust fund, which was depleted during the recession, back to solvency by raising taxes on certain businesses and changing benefits for future unemployed workers.
And it eliminates future longevity bonuses for state workers, a move that some Democratic state lawmakers decried as an affront to labor unions' hard-fought rights.
Rep. Roberto DaSilva, D-East Providence, who fought to save the bonus for unionized state workers, likened the budget proposal to measures pushed earlier this year by Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker that stripped unions in that state of key collective bargaining rights.
Government Subsidized Houses - Bookshelf
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Subsidized housing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Subsidized housing or social housing is government supported ... Some co-ops are subsidized housing because they get government funding to support a rent ...
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Subsidized Housing
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Subsidized housing: Definition from Answers.com
Apartments, nursing homes, or single-family dwellings that receive a government subsidy. See SECTION 8 HOUSING, FHA SECTION 235, 236
Government Subsidized Housing Rules | eHow.com
Government Subsidized Housing Rules. One of primary means by which the U.S. government provides basic housing needs of disadvantaged families is through ...