Montalbano on the Budget: Make it a more inclusionary process
Senate President Joseph Montalbano recently sat down with editorial board members from The
Times and The Call to discuss what’s on the table for the upcoming legislative session.
From Jim Baron’s story: This year, Montalbano says he hopes to have more people sitting around that table when the budget is being carved up, particularly Gov. Donald Carcieri and the state employee unions.
“The approach should be a collaborative one between the House and Senate and governor,” he asserts. “But under this administration up to this point, the governor has vetoed three of our first five budgets together and unlike the previous administration there is no dialogue or very little dialogue on the budget before he unveils it in February. It has to be more than he comes out with a plan and we take it apart and put it together this year.”