House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi this week praised the legislature for closing the book on a 2025 session that addressed some of the state’s most critical needs –incentivizing health care providers to remain in the state, supporting development of affordable housing, boosting funding to public transportation, increasing local aid to education and passing a ban on the manufacturing and sale of assault rifles.

“We met the critical needs of our state, and we also did a lot of (other) really good things that were good for our communities,” Shekarchi said Monday when he came to the Beacon Communications office to sit down with the editorial staff.

The robust legislative session concluded last week with a roughly $14.3-billion budget for the 2026 fiscal year which began Tuesday, July 1. It looks like the budget will take effect without the signature of Gov. Dan McKee, who says he will not endorse the spending plan that increased his budget proposal for FY 2026 and made some significant changes.

This will mark the first time since 2010 – during the tenure of former Gov. Don Carcieri – that a budget has passed into law without the signature of the state’s chief executive officer. Shekarchi had little to say about McKee’s stance, saying it was up to the governor to explain his reasoning and that he (Shekarchi) was “not really surprised.”

Instead, Shekarchi, a Democrat from Warwick, focused on all that the new budget accomplishes, stressing that its key initiatives help people, particularly people in need.

“When I’m talking about increased [reimbursements] for hospitals, I’m talking about the patients,” he said, adding that his focus is always on individuals affected by the state’s larger systems.

Noting that the state faces a critical shortage of primary care doctors and needs to better support health care overall, Shekarchi said that one of the key accomplishments of the new budget is that it boosts Medicaid reimbursements to doctors, hospitals and nursing homes. According to Shekarchi, the budget allocates more than $40 million to Medicaid rate increases for primary care providers, plus it added $38 million to the governor’s proposal for hospital Medicaid reimbursement rates and direct funding. It also boosted the amount that nursing homes will be reimbursed by $12 million.

“These changes go into effect tomorrow,” Shekarchi said Monday, adding that, for too long, Rhode Island has lagged other states in what it allows for reimbursement rates for Medicaid patients. As a result, he said, many doctors have chosen to practice elsewhere, and many Rhode Islanders (including himself) have been left searching for available primary care doctors.

Shekarchi said the General Assembly acted after working with medical professionals and listening to “intense stories” from constituents who are struggling to find doctors and health care in Rhode Island.

“The work of Speaker Shekarchi (and the Legislature) was critical,” said Stacy Paterno, executive vice president of the Rhode Island Medical Society. “This will be truly impactful.”

Other key accomplishments that Shekarchi highlighted from this year’s legislative session include:

• Increasing the amount McKee proposed to bolster state aid to education by $16.5 million, bringing the total increase in aid to $59 million more than last year. Much of the aid is intended to assist the programs for multi-language learners and special-education students.
• Approving a ban on the “manufacture, purchase, sale or transfer” of assault-style weapons, effective July 1, 2026. Shekarchi said the act required a bipartisan effort and even though some people have expressed concern that it leaves time for people to stockpile the weapons, it was “either this or have nothing at all.”)
• Restructuring the state Coastal Resources Management Council by reducing the board from 10 members to seven and stipulating that they must have expertise in environmental matters.

More than 2,500 bills and resolutions were introduced between the House and the Senate this year and, reportedly, about 300 passed (excluding formalities such as congratulations and condolences.)

Shekarchi said that people who want to dig deep into the legislative actions will find initiatives, large and small, that cut across a wide swath of quality-of-life issues for Rhode Islanders. They range from stricter penalties for violators of animal cruelty laws to a new “PURPLE Alert’ system to help find missing adults with disabilities.”

He credited his fellow legislators for their hard work this session. “We in the General Assembly respond to what our rank-and-file members bring us, and they respond to what their communities bring us,” Shekarchi said. “So, this budget was vastly different from the governor’s because it met the moment when it comes to the needs of Rhode Islanders.”

Although there has been speculation as to whether Shekarchi will run for governor, he remained noncommittal. “Not at the moment,” he said when asked if he had any future plans he would share. “But I like to keep every door open.”