PROVIDENCE — General Assembly leaders are backing off a controversial rule change 24 hours before it was set to be reviewed by a House committee.

The provision could have limited some lawmakers’ ability to influence the state budget process by reducing the time that rank-and-file legislators can access the House version of the spending plan before voting on it — a sensitive issue as state leaders grapple with a budget deficit projected at $384 million for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

House Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox withdrew the proposal to reduce the time period from seven to five calendar days — one of a series of changes included in a 20-page bill introduced last week — after consulting with House Finance Committee Chairman Steven M. Costantino yesterday afternoon.

Fox said the plan was “well-intentioned,” but that the realities of Rhode Island’s part-time legislature suggested it wasn’t a good idea. Many lawmakers focus on State House affairs only when the Assembly is in session — Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

“At first glance, five days would seem an appropriate amount of time,” Fox said. “However, when you consider that the budget could pass in Finance Committee on a Friday, you would lose two days over the weekend, and there would not be enough time for members to draft amendments to the budget.”

While the Assembly will spend the coming months debating the governor’s proposed budget, the House Finance Committee ultimately produces a revised spending plan in June that must be approved by both chambers of the Assembly.

Generally, lawmakers who are not members of the Finance Committee — along with the general public — don’t learn of the Finance Committee’s specific plan until it is released. Each year, rank-and-file lawmakers scramble to study the massive document over the subsequent seven days and generally propose dozens of changes later debated during a marathon budget vote by the full House.

Although Fox withdrew one provision, the rule changes scheduled for House Rules Committee review following this afternoon’s House session will contain several proposals opposed by House Republicans. They include limiting debate on budget-related votes and blocking members from introducing budget-related proposals already heard by a House committee, without the written permission of the Finance Committee chairman.

“That’s going to cut off essentially all minority budget amendments,” said Rep. John J. Loughlin, R-Tiverton. “That was one of the biggest ways we had of getting our issues out.”

speoples@projo.com