PROVIDENCE – With the advent of the new calendar year, new provisions from the fiscal 2018 budget have taken effect.
The 2018 fiscal year budget included an increase to minimum wage from $9.60 an hour to $10.10 per hour that took effect Jan. 1. The minimum wage will also increase Jan. 1, 2019, from $10.10 to $10.50.
Rhode Island is now tied with Connecticut with the third-highest minimum wage in New England behind Massachusetts ($11) and Vermont ($10.50). Maine’s minimum wage is $10 for 2018, but will increase to $11 in 2019. New Hampshire’s minimum wage remained $7.25.
According to the budget, “Both Massachusetts and Connecticut have minimum wage changes tied to an inflationary adjustment. Vermont will begin to tie minimum wage changes to an inflationary adjustment in 2019, and Maine will do so beginning in 2021.”
Other changes to state laws and regulations included:
- Article 5 in the fiscal 2018 budget included a provision that transferred oversight responsibilities for health plan reviews, utilization reviews and other regulatory functions mandated by the federal Affordable Care Act from the R.I. Department of Health to the Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner.
- The Contractor’s Registration and Licensing Board is now required to file an annual report, beginning Jan. 15, listing the number of fines issued levied and collected each fiscal year.
- The new calendar year also brings about changes in state taxes (in addition to changes that the federal tax overhaul will bring to individuals and corporations). Late in 2017, the R.I. Division of Taxation released a reminder about new corporate due dates and amounts, a decrease in the unemployment insurance tax, a decrease in the temporary disability insurance tax, an increase in both the credit and threshold for the Estate Tax and an increase in the interest rate for overpayments.
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor.
