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The theme for RI Pride‘s 2015 celebration, suggested by Anthony Maselli, Mr. Gay Rhode Island 2014, was “IndiVISIBLE.” I’ll let Maselli explain it in his own words:
“Each year we are inching closer to full legislative equality. But legislative equality does not equal acceptance and it does not equal security. With the constant attacks around women’s rights, Transgender rights, racial disparity, HIV criminalization, immigrant’s rights, income inequality, poverty and homelessness, we need to wake up to the fact that marriage equality, while important, is in some respects just the shiny object that the government is dangling in front of us while leading us off the edge of a cliff.
“This is not our end game. It never has been.
“The term IndiVISIBLE was meant in part as a shout-out to the SCOTUS case, because when one hears the word ‘IndiVISIBLE’ one typically thinks of the phrase that follows it, ‘with liberty and justice for all.’
“But the teem IndiVISIBLE was also suggested to remind that without equal attention paid to all these other issues that affect us, without a shift of focus beyond marriage rights and onto a broader queer convergence movement, we really have nothing.”
Josh Kilby
Maselli’s words were just the beginning. He then introduced Josh Kilby, who began his talk with “Happy pride, comrades!” Kilby talked about the gains made in recent years by the LGBTQ community in terms of military service (unless you are Trans) but pointed out that the community “fought this battle without questioning the utter devastation the U.S. Empire causes around the world.”
The new frontier of the Queer rights movement, said Kilby, is that, “We stand in unconditional solidarity with ‘Black Lives Matter,’ for unrestricted, free abortion on demand and without apology, for free access to Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis to anyone who feels they need it and without judgement, and most importantly, we do not tolerate racism, sexism, transphobia in our community at all.”
R. (Ronald) Lewis, poet and performer, then delivered a blistering broadside, that has to be heard to be experienced. Lewis goes after capitalism, which, “commodifies the unconquerable” and he goes after the sanitized history of the Stonewall Riot, pointing out that Stonewall is now a place that celebrates “Gay” liberation without mention of, as Rachel Simon says in her piece, “Sylvia Riviera and Marsha P. Johnson, two trans women of color who were the first to resist arrest on the fateful night.”
Anthony Maselli
When I first arrived at Pride, Anthony Maselli told me that I should be at the stage at 4:30, because he was part of a plan to “radicalize Pride.” It’s this next bit that stirred to crowd to wild cheers, and outraged protest. When Maselli said, “It’s time for us to dispel the bitter myth that we, (the queer community) are all men, all wealthy, and all white, because that is not the majority of who we are,” a man in the crowd shouted, without apparent irony, “That’s a lie! You don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“We are under attack,” said Maselli, “by the religious, cultural, economic and political right that targets LGBTQ people, women’s economic, reproductive and sexual freedoms, and is organized around a racalized notion of national culture. A religious freedom framework is being deployed to undermine all civil rights laws.”
Maselli asks, “Rhode Island has marriage, now where do we go from here?” and answers, “We are queering living wages, access to health care and transgender justice. Queering total immigration reform and ending incarceration. We are queering feminism, queering the way we talk about race, queering HIV activism, queering heteronormative ideas of marriage and couplehood, queerly engaging in radical protest, getting old queerly. We need to create a movement that says not only, ‘We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it’ but one that says “Join us, dream with us, dare with us, go for broke, and change the world.’
“What if IndiVISIBLE was more than just a word printed on a tee shirt, what if this was our queer vision for what we do next?”
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As far as plant species go, hemp and marijuana are pretty similar. They are cousins, if you will, in the cannabis family. But as far as products go, they are vastly different. Marijuana is consumable, and gives people a buzz not unlike alcohol. Hemp is indigestible, and used to make rope and fabric. There is a massive underground market for marijuana in Rhode Island, as everywhere in America. Hemp products are already legal but there is little market demand for them.
There are separate bills before the General Assembly that would legalize production of marijuana and hemp, which brings us to the only difference that matters on Smith Hill. Bill Murphy, a former House speaker and close personal friend of current Speaker Nick Mattiello, is a paid lobbyist for hemp, and not marijuana.
“I support the hemp legislation because it has potential to create a new industry, develop jobs and boost our economy,” Mattiello told RI Future. “This is not marijuana. The product is not used for illicit drug purposes.”
Indeed, last week the House passed the hemp bill but took no action on the marijuana bill. It was introduced by Rep. Cale Keable, a close ally of Mattiello’s, who told the Providence Journal he introduced the legislation, at the behest of Murphy, without first formulating an opinion on it. “Bill and I talked about the merits of hemp and the things it could be used for … He asked me if I would be willing to introduce this, and I said I would,” Keable told the Providence Journal. “I don’t really have an opinion on it. I don’t know if it’s a great bill, a good bill or a bad bill.”
With the Senate poised to consider the hemp bill this week, Jared Moffat, director of Regulate Rhode Island, a group that has lobbied hard for Rhode Island to become the first East Coast state to legalize marijuana, thinks the General Assembly is moving the wrong bill.
“They are on the right path, but they are using the wrong vehicle,” he told RI Future. “Meanwhile, the right one is sitting idle.”
The tax and regulate bill also allows for hemp farming, Moffat said. It “presents a more comprehensive and effective alternative to prohibition for Rhode Island. It is primed and ready to move forward,” he added. “The key to getting it running? Speaker Mattiello, who simply needs to call it for a vote.”
Moffat said legislators are doing wrong by Rhode Island’s economy ignoring the tax and regulate bill this session.
“Our leaders in Providence continue to stress the importance of focusing this session on economic development and job creation,” he said. “Regulating and taxing marijuana like alcohol would foster the growth of new businesses that would create countless new jobs and utilize the products and services of other local businesses. Passing the law this year would also allow Rhode Island to better position itself as a regional leader in this emerging market and more quickly begin raising tax revenue on the marijuana sales that take place every day in every city across our state.”
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Saturday’s Pride parade and festival marked almost two years since the legalization of same sex marriage in Rhode Island. There was an air of celebration, with live music, dancing, and plenty of displays from large corporate sponsors. However, activists from PrYSM (the Providence Youth and Student Movement), supported by DARE (Direct Action for Rights and Equality), marched in the parade to demand racial and immigration justice.
The history of Stonewall was alluded to throughout the event. But fifty feet in front of Bank of America’s procession, Ron Lewis and José Lamoso reclaimed Stonewall, centering the narrative around Sylvia Riviera and Marsha P. Johnson, two trans women of color who were the first to resist arrest on the fateful night.
Johnson and Riviera were the first to stand up against the police, and the first to be excluded from the Gay Rights movement when they were deemed unacceptable.
After Lewis and Lamoso finished speaking, PrYSM’s float showed how gender and race become criminalized, subjecting queer and trans immigrants and people of color to police violence and harassment.
#FreeNicoll is a movement aimed at securing the release of Nicoll Hernandez-Polanco, a trans woman from Guatemala who traveled to the United States seeking asylum. Ms. Hernandez-Polanco was detained in an all-male wing for six months between her arrival in October 2014 and her bonded release on April 22nd, 2015. As a result of this placement, she experienced abuse from her male guards, including offensive comments and gestures. Hernandez-Polanco has stated that she experienced multiple incidents of being groped by the prison staff. Her $3000 bond was gathered by a successful crowdfunding effort. Her asylum request was granted after she was released. However, Justice Department statistics show that less than six percent of the asylum applications received in Fiscal Year 2015 were granted.
The detention of Ms. Hernandez-Polanco illustrates major shortcomings with the State Department’s LGBT policies. Her asylum request was granted after six months of pressure from immigration and trans activists. However, the State Department has not issued any guidance specific to transgender asylum seekers. Five months prior to Ms. Hernandez-Polanco’s detention, the State Department issued a press release detailing its position on LGBT rights issues. However, the listed policy objectives were primarily limited to lobbying foreign governments to decriminalize same-sex conduct between consenting adults. This stated policy does not address the myriad of legal issues and governmental abuses that are specific to transgender people, including detention policies, access to medical care, and policies to change name and legal gender assignment. While the State Department had implemented a LGBT training program for personnel managing refugees and asylum seekers as of May 2014; this training program was only mandatory for new hires. It is not clear how many of the personnel in the Arizona office, where Hernandez-Polanco arrived, had received this training.
However, the US government’s lack of trans-specific guidelines and accountability affects many other government agencies. TSA screening policies require all passengers to submit to some form of security screening. Passengers can choose between the TSA’s Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) machines, which image the body electronically, or undergoing a pat-down examination. However, both of these present specific challenges to the transgender community. The TSA has upgraded the current inventory of AIT machines with automated threat detection software after years of lobbying by privacy advocates. Previous technology presented a TSA officer with explicit imagery of the passenger’s body, including breasts and genitalia. According to the TSA, the automated systems are capable of detecting specific threats (for example, an object shaped like a gun or a knife) and then overlaying this threat on a generic human outline. However, the system requires the operator to enter the sex of the passenger.
For some transgender people, this may result in genital and breast areas registering as “anomalies,” requiring invasive examination by a TSA officer. This can also be caused by body-shaping garments such as binders, which are commonly used in the trans community to reduce the size and appearance of breasts.
The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) has collected data on the experiences of transgender passengers as part of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey (NTDS). The survey showed almost 20% of transgender people have experienced harassment or disrespect associated with security or other check-in processes. The TSA has created a training program addressing trans issues. However, this program is intended for use only by individuals tasked with passenger support, not by the screening officers themselves.
Next, the float addressed the realities of police violence and profiling, as experienced by queer and trans people of color.
Throughout 2015, far too many youth of color have had their names become hashtags as they are the latest victims of police violence. Jessie Hernandez was a 16 year old queer Latina who was killed by a police officer. Over the last year, the LGBT community has publicly mourned the tragic suicides of those who were lost. Leelah Alcorn’s death was observed, though often the response was dominated by the non-trans majority in the LGBT world. However, it is necessary to acknowledge the tragedy of LGBT youth killed by police violence.
Police profiling is a major concern for trans women of color, who are profiled and subject to detainment as perceived sex workers. In Phoenix, Arizona, a campaign has been built around Monica Jones, a Black trans women who was arrested under Phoenix’s “manifesting prostitution” ordinance. Jones’ conviction was vacated in January 2015 when it was determined that she did not receive a fair trial. The ACLU and local activists have decried the ordinance, which criminalizes intent to sell sex. The ordinance defines “engaging passer-by in conversation” and “asking if someone is a police officer” as intent, even though there are many other contexts in which these actions could occur. In this case, the arrest is made at the discretion of the officer, and the officer’s prejudices.
Jones’ trial brought media attention to the profiling experienced by trans women of color. In this case, Jones was brought to trial. However, this suspicion of being a sex worker provides probable cause to question and temporarily detain trans women of color, and is hardly limited to Arizona.
PrYSM members distribute flags to build support for Providence’s proposed Community Safety Act.
DARE and PrYSM collaborated to draw attention to the Community Safety Act, a multi-faceted proposed law addressing community concerns about policing. The law contains provisions to ensure all police-citizen interactions are recorded, and that these recordings are available to the public. Having all stops documented would show whether or not Providence police were profiling trans women of color as sex workers. Furthermore, the law contains language to establish protocols during traffic stops, and define protocols for tracking individuals as part of a list of suspected gang members.
Finally, the march demanded accountability for the deaths and suffering of queer and transgender people of color.
“Rest in Power” demands action
Rest in Power is a call to mourning and a call to action. Before a death is mourned, many times the deceased must be reclaimed from a media bent on misgendering trans people, or engaging in character assassination against people of color killed by police.
The theme for the 2015 Pride march was “indiVISIBLE”. In the President’s welcome message, RI Pride President Kurt Bagley compared drew parallels between the efforts to advance LGBT equality with the uprisings in Ferguson, MO and Baltimore, MD. The appeal to justice is romantic, but these simplistic comparisons ignore the efforts of queer and trans activists of color. Pride, as an organization, is quick to appeal to Stonewall’s revolutionary nature, centered around resisting police brutality and profiling. Unfortunately, the LGBT community is quick to disavow the police violence experienced today by queer and trans people of color.
Boston’s 2015 Pride March was disrupted by a group called Boston Pride Resistance. A sit it was held, blocking the parade route for eleven minutes. The eleven minute duration was chosen to recognize the lives of the eleven trans women of color murdered, to date, in 2015. Using the hashtag #WickedPissed (a counterpart to #WickedProud), the group demanded greater inclusion of queer and trans people of color. Over a decade after Massachusetts legalized same sex marriage, the group drew attention to inequalities still experienced by LGBT people.
Ten years after Stonewall, activists such as Marsha P. Johnson recalled how the gay rights movement had become less radical. Even before Stonewall, early American gay rights groups such as the Mattachine Society were quick to adopt policies of assimilation. Across the country, middle-class, white gay people are awaiting a verdict in Obergefell v. Hodges, which is hoped to make marriage equality the law of the land. But for the queer and trans activists fighting against the criminalization of race, gender, and poverty, marriage equality is a victory for a different world. If Rhode Island’s LGBT community is to be truly “indiVISIBLE”, it must first acknowledge these struggles. If President Bagley is seeking the revolutionary spirit of Stonewall, 1969, he will find it in Providence, 2015, with direct action movements challenging over-policing and police violence almost fifty years later.
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Scratch that we can be a bit more specific here—This letter is for those who claim to love Black womanhood — our collective passion, histories, political work, bodies, and victories — but do not love Black women. This is for everyone and anyone whose rhetoric is stronger than their action.
We would love to open this with an epigraph — a portion of poetry from Lorde or Shakur—but I fear that would soften the coming words. This is not a message that will be sugar-coated. You should not feel good about yourself for showing up to this vigil or for reading this letter. This event is not your chance to practice abstract revolutionary theory. Black women in Providence are hurting, and we have been hurt and forgotten most remarkably by those who claim to be supporters and allies.
In the process of creating and planning this event to honor Black women’s lives who have been lost we ran into an all too common problem. Sitting and planning, we quickly found ourselves asking, “But where are the others?” There is no question that there will be an audience at the event itself, particularly in a community such as Providence where a political event is unlikely to have only a few in attendance. But, when people attend for the product but do not really assist in its creation, it is easy for this phenomenon to feel like another way various individuals and groups siphon off of the work and energies of Black women. What we create is good enough to be consumed, but what about us?
We could pin this scenario on the age old trope of the strong Black woman. Many people do not assume that Black women need help. They believe we’ve got this shit locked down. Or, they do not recognize our pain and our need for help and care. It is unlikely that these thoughts are in the forefront of any of our so-called allies’ minds. It is more likely that these thoughts are subconscious feelings that guide their (in)action. Conscious or subconscious, this belief that Black women are beyond help — perhaps the public assumes Black women are able to handle our suffering by ourselves or has decided that we just aren’t a priority in the grand scheme of liberation politics — is so incredibly violent and has the ability to cause irrevocable damage. To be surrounded by people who have the same general beliefs as us, who cry the same rallying cries of “Liberation” and “Revolution,” and yet are nowhere to be found when we need them, leaves us in an exhausting predicament. We are exhausted.
This is to everyone and anyone who has ever underestimated, overestimated, or simply did not care about the Black women who surround them, while highlighting, quoting, and screaming the words of the Black women revolutionaries they’ve chosen to mythologize. This habit of calling for liberation all the while leaving your Black sisters all around you absent of your care is not sustainable. This is not how we build a sustainable community. And please do not listen to these words and snap and cheer and think to yourself “Preach! And oh, I know they’re not talking about me, they couldn’t possibly be”. Because, we are. These words are for everyone. Take a step back and think. Really, think through your past and future actions think about your interpersonal engagements with Black people— particularly Black women! Really reflect on how you have treated us. Look for the inconsistencies. Look for where your words and your actions do not match up. Do better. Build with us. Truly build with us, not on our backs but alongside us.
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“Hope means struggle, and the struggle never truly leaves any of us.” – Rev. Cecil Williams, Glide Memorial Church
Glide Memorial is a wild celebration of life in San Francisco, at the intersection between the working class Tenderloin neighborhood, and the Mid Market world of shops, street cars, and high-end hotels.
Whatever you experience about wealth inequality in Rhode Island, hardly anywhere compares with the income gaps in the San Francisco Bay area. In one of, if not the, richest cities in America, hundreds of people tonight will sleep under highway bridges. People are lying on the street in drug induced dementia.
Glide is a church – a community – that has incubated dozens of non-profits, connects thousands of individuals, and has helped many heal and grow. Glide’s role is mediator and connector in a city that is often so strangely and starkly disparate and uneven. If every church in the US functioned like Glide, we would live in a different country.
The leaders who helped create the current version of Glide, Cecil Williams and Janice Mirikitani, intentionally have created a diverse community of doers, that attracts dozens of visitors every week.
Glide has been criticized for being too radical, too showy, untraditional, too establishment, over the top, disingenuous. Yet, day after day, people keep coming, people keep connecting, people keep growing, giving, laughing, together.
A Sunday celebration at Glide is disorienting – in a positive way.
The room is packed- hundreds of people. Some are very wealthy, some are very poor. The music is 70s soul and 60s gospel.
The choir has voices that tell stories- some of which, from the depths of their voice, you can tell they’ve been to hell, or at least its brink, and turned around, and kept fighting, kept growing and found a new way.
Gay and straight, from every ethnicity, this community gathers to sing – loudly – and clap – powerfully – and praise and inspire.
Radical inclusion is the style, ethos, and practice. For some humanists, Glide is a community and place of reflection and action. For some believers, Glide is a site of worship and action. Radical inclusion in service of justice is the ethos.
At the end of the celebration, this community – Black, White, Asian, Brown – holds hands, reaches up and sings “We Shall Overcome.”
At Glide, however, you do not sing “We shall overcome some day,” but, instead, “we shall overcome today.”
Today, not tomorrow, not in the beyond, but now.
As we’re reading about the cancers of racism, it’s worth holding up a reminder that even in this painful world – especially in this painful world – there are communities of people gathering and reaching to celebrate, support, and act for something healing, connecting, and better.
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All nurses see mental illness up close and personal. Even those trained to treat diabetes rather than delusions.
Mental illness is neither uncommon nor separate from physical illness. People with conditions like schizophrenia are not necessarily acting much different from the rest of us, especially if they are getting effective treatment. Whether we know it or not, all of us know people who are dealing with serious mental health challenges.
People who are truly disengaged from reality may do things that are self-injurious and have no gain or rationale that others can understand.
In my own urban neighborhood there are people who are driven to wander the streets in their own purgatory. A family member is lost to us, out of contact. Mental illness causes immense suffering and it’s a shame that it’s used as a slur or a joke. It’s a disgrace that so many influential voices are using a cowardly attack on the mentally ill to avoid admitting that we all have a social disease. Worse, they prefer to deny and spread it around rather than come clean and seek a cure.
Different cultures have different kinds of crazy. During the European witchcraft hysteria of the 1400’s a book was published that warned men about – a belief that got a lot of women killed. Insane by our standards, but not in that society. Is The Hammer of Witches really so different from The Turner Diaries, a book that inspired racist mass-murderer Timothy McVeigh?
Does mental illness explain a pattern of crime where the perpetrators dress up, shout slogans and for the most part target the same kinds of people repeatedly? Does it explain why so many violent men seem to believe they are part of a community of right-thinking patriots? Does it excuse our leaders for failing to demand that anyone who wants to own a lethal weapon owes the rest of us some accountability?
Mental illness may explain the derelict masturbating in public on a park bench, but it does not explain the serial rapist. The kind of premeditated violence driven by hateful ideas is not simply sick individuals and will not be solved by locking them up after the damage is done. There will only be more to replace them.
What is needed is a clear assessment of the cultural delusions that enable bigotry to hide in plain sight. As someone described the latest mass killer:
“I never heard him say anything, but just he had that kind of Southern pride, I guess some would say. Strong conservative beliefs,” he said. “He made a lot of racist jokes, but you don’t really take them seriously like that. You don’t really think of it like that.”
South Carolina still flies the Confederate flag at its Statehouse. The governor expresses her regrets with care not to offend her supporters invested in denial about racism and guns.
America is gun-crazy. Every child grows up watching hundreds of dramas where guns bring power and respect, the bad guys are eventually out-shot and other ways to resolve conflict are ignored or disparaged. They don’t see the damage, the wounds that don’t heal, the bereavement that is never outlived. Nurses see that but it’s not entertaining and there’s no happy ending.
Mass shootings boost gun sales. Fear is good for the industry.
A gun carries the magic power of every movie cowboy and TV hero. Having one demands a high level of responsibility and good judgment, or else the gun owner is no longer the ‘good man’ but a menace. In spite of this, any attempt to ‘well regulate’ our self-appointed militia is met with outrage. In the wake of many decades of political assassinations it’s an act of physical courage to stand up to the most extreme of the gun lobby.
Roof, 21, has told police that he “almost didn’t go through with it because everyone was so nice to him,” sources told NBC News.
And yet he decided he had to “go through with his mission.”
Why? Who gave him his mission? Who armed him? He had his problems but he was not some lost soul wandering aimlessly and hallucinating. He had a script and he was armed. The adults in his life enabled him to get a lethal weapon and no one thought his indoctrination into racism was a problem. When America is racist and gun crazy, how will we even know who is a threat? The problem is in plain sight but requires letting go of delusion.
Easier to blame mental illness and the disempowered people who struggle with it.
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More than 100 people gathered in India Point Park in Providence Friday evening for a Juneteenth vigil “to pay respects, mourn, honor, and acknowledge our fallen Black Cis and Trans Sisters who have lost their lives and freedom at the hands of the Police State.” Participants cast flowers into the Bay to remember the lives lost, and to honor their memories.
The event was described by organizers as a “vigil for the lives that are too often forgotten or pushed aside. The names who do not get chants, the faces who do not get to be transformed into posters, the people who are not chosen for Million Marches.”
Organizer Monay McNeil opened the space by reading a poem by Lucille Clifton.
Organizer Andrea Sterling delivered a powerful opening statement, saying, “We will acknowledge the ways in which society has deputized those even without badges to police Black bodies, Black women, and we’ll speak against that kind of police violence and terror as well.”
Organizer Helen McDonald shared thoughts about the recent shooting in Charleston, that took nine lives, including six Black women. “…attacking the black church is more than an attack on a physical space. It is an attack on a people, on a culture, on a history and on a legacy. Importantly, an attack on the Black church is an attack on Black women…”
Organizer Dania Sanchez then asked participants to speak the names of women who lost their lives to police violence. There were too many names spoken, and the list was of course not complete. Many those named were commemorated on the beautiful signs and posters brought by members of the Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM).
Participants were then invited to cast flowers into the water, to symbolize and commemorate the lives of Black women who have lost their lives to police violence.
The event closed out with a powerful open letter from all the organizers, Andrea, Dania, Helen and Monay, to “those who claim to love Black womanhood — our collective passion, histories, political work, bodies, and victories — but do not love Black women.”
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Over 100 UPS workers and supporters, represented by Teamsters Local 251, rallied outside the UPS Customer Center on 150 Plan Way in Warwick Friday morning. This was an informational picket; a show of solidarity against UPS management, who the Teamsters claim are not following the union contract in terms of the grievance process and worker termination. The workers are demanding respect and dignity on the job.
Matt Taibi, who worked for UPS for 14 years before becoming the Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 251, said, “We want someone not to get fired without just cause, without a hearing, without a meeting with a steward, without a meeting with a business agent. We have a problem with managers intimidating [and] harassing our members on the shop floor for standing up for their rights.”
The rally was not an action that called for “any work stoppage whatsoever, nor stopping of goods or services of any kind.” UPS workers were encouraged to participate before or after their shifts.
The Senate Lounge was standing room only before and during the hearing.
A Senate version of Governor Raimondo’s truck toll proposal, also known as Rhode Works, contains tax breaks for truckers.
The new version of the bill, sponsored by Sen. Dominick Ruggerio (D- District 4), and heard by the Finance Committee Thursday, includes $13.5 million in tax credits and rebates for truckers. They would receive tax credits on their registration fees, rebates on their gas and property taxes, as well as $3 million in grants for those who frequent TF Green Airport and Quonset Business Park.
RIDOT has also slightly reworked their funding formula for the proposal, asking for $500 million in revenue bonds, rather than $700 million. According to Director Peter Alviti, the difference would be bridged by refinancing some of the debt the Department already owes the state, which would give them another $120 million. Without that $80 million to complete the funding, Alviti said the Rhode Works program would be extended over a longer period of time, 30 years, to achieve the same goal. With this new schedule, RIDOT’s interest would increase, and they would eventually pay back $1 billion to the state. According to RIDOT, the total funding for the project would be over $4 billion.
The proposal is based on a serious need to repair Rhode Island’s bridge and road infrastructure, which is ranked 50th in the United States. During the hearing, Alviti stressed safety as one of the main reasons for Rhode Works’ existence.
“This is becoming a more frequent problem, and it will become more frequent in the days and weeks coming unless we do something now,” he said.
The program would also create 11,000 job years in the construction industry. RIDOT also anticipates $60 million each year in revenue from the proposed tolls, $38 million of which would be put towards fees owed to the state. Any other revenue from tolls would directly go towards the repair of bridges and roads. RIDOT plans to reconstruct 155 bridges using this money, as well as upkeep others that are currently in fair condition. The tolls would only charge tractor-trailers, costing them $.69 per mile in Rhode Island, while most other states in the northeast are $1 or more per mile.
“It’s understandable that there’s a certain amount of resistance to the changes we’re proposing. But it’s a fair cost,” Alviti said.
Jonathan Wormer, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, also gave testimony in support of Rhode Works, and explained how much these tolls will end up costing the trucking companies. There are 123 trucks that drive explicitly in Rhode Island all day, whose tolls would be capped at $60 for the whole day, costing the company just under $1.8 million. The 3,111 interstate trucks that come through the state would be capped at $30 per day, and cost $14.9 million. Such toll costs are only about two percent of what companies spend per year. Fuel is considerably more, at 39 percent.
These fees would be collected via EZ Pass, which many truckers that pass through the state already have. If they do not, RIDOT would also implement camera technology that would charge the owner of the license plate. Alviti stared during the hearing that they would not build any tollbooths that would hold up traffic. There are 17 possible locations that the department is looking to install these gantries.
Although most of this information has been revised from the previous bill, Christopher Maxwell, the President of the Rhode Island Trucking Association, said it’s still not ready to become law. “The debate and dialogue should continue, it should not end now. It should begin now that we have all the information,” he told Senate Finance members.
Maxwell believes that directly tolling tractor-trailers will violate the commerce clause in the United States Constitution, and discourage interstate commerce. He stated that no other state is exclusively tolling trucks.
“This does clearly put interstate commerce, and these carriers that you’re not giving breaks to, at a disadvantage,” he said. So much of a disadvantage, that Maxwell added that his association could provide legal proof that such a toll would violate the commerce clause.
“We want to be part of the solution, we are not part of this bill,” he added, citing that the association does have ideas on what RIDOT should do, but did not offer an explanation of what those ideas are at the hearing.
Local truckers came to speak out against the bill as well. Frank Nardone, one truck driver, explained that he avoids tolls in almost all of his routes, and Rhode Island would be no different.
“I don’t like to pay tolls, I don’t think they’re necessary,” Nardone said. According to Nardone, tolls are not the way to make money, especially because Rhode Island truckers already have to pay $388 for the road use tax.
“I think I’m being taxed enough,” he said.
Ed Alfredi owns a trucking company based in Smithfield, and in his testimony, said that Rhode Works makes it impossible to figure out exactly how much the tolls would cost his business.
“If I was to try and sit down, and see what this was going to cost me and my company, it’s very difficult, because there’s no facts,” he said. “It’s going to have an effect, and we should be able to have an exact figure of what these tolls are, where exactly they’re going to be.”
Time is of the essence for the governor’s proposal. While those opposed want more, those in support keep pressing forward, wanting to pass the legislation as quickly as possible. If their efforts fail, Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello has hinted at a special fall session in order to fully consider the bill.
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URI President Dr. David Dooley sat quietly as URI Part-Time Faculty United (URI PTFU) partnered with Rhode Island Jobs With Justice to carry signs and speak out at RI’s higher education board meeting Wednesday night against low wages, a lack of job security and a hostile work environment.
PTFU Executive Director Patricia Maguire said negotiations between URI and the part-time faculty have been dragging on for over 2 1/2 years. Rather than bargain in a fair and open way, URI negotiators simply say “we have nothing to offer you.”
Maguire said that her group has been reduced to “begging” for better wages and working conditions. “Any [school] president or the administration, that has received a substantial pay increase, did not have to walk around the university holding signs, asking for it. I’m not even sure they asked for it.”
Kenneth Jolicouer, with 35 years teaching experience in higher education and a host of honors to his credit, said that working conditions at URI have deteriorated markedly over the last few years.
“I had my part-time position taken away in September 2013, because according to administration, I worked too many hours,” said Jolicouer, “15 hours in a staff position plus teaching two classes. This is a position I have held since 1992. As a result my URI pay has been cut by close to 50 percent.”
During Jolicouer’s entire 4 1/2 minutes of speaking, he was ignored by board member Dr. Jim Purcell, commissioner of postsecondary education, who simply messaged with his cellphone the entire time. It was only when Dorothy Donnelly, another educator with years of experience, demanded his attention that Purcell began to feign interest. At the 2m 15s point in the video below, Donnelly asks Purcell for his seat, which he graciously gave up.
“We have about 25 people here supporting us. About half of those are part-time faculty,” said Donnelly, “That’s no surprise. I’m even amazed that they’re here. I thank them for their commitment and their courage, because they are all at will employees.”
“We have been in contract negations for almost three years now,” said Donnelly, “and we have not had contact negotiations since last December.” Donnelly need that these meetings are known for their repeated delays and stalling tactics on the part of URI negotiators.
“Part-time faculty continue to be ignored, exploited and disrespected,” said Patricia Maquire. URI doesn’t believe in the value of the education they are selling, says Maguire. Devaluing the educators devalues the education.
Also speaking was Peter Nightingale, a member of the physics department at URI and Fossil Free RI, there to express solidarity with the PTFU. Nightingale took some time to speak about URI’s lack of interest in divesting from fossil fuels.
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The House floor saw heated debate Wednesday as representatives discussed the implications of bill H6051, which would allow electronic voter registration. The action would make Rhode Island the 28th state to do so, following a trend that has saved other states money and time, as well as helped to clear voter rolls during elections. Supporters of the bill said that it would bring Rhode Island into the 21st century. Opponents were not as kind.
“I don’t want everyone to vote that’s not well informed on the issues,” said House Minority Whip Joseph Trillo (R- District 24). “So I don’t want to register everybody just because I want bodies to go into a voting booth and vote. You Democrats don’t care about that! You’ll take them by the thousands! As long as they can breathe, walk, take them into the voting booth!”
RI House of Representatives, post-session on 6/17/2015
“An uninformed voter is a manipulated voter,” he added.
Trillo’s concern, as did many others, stemmed from possible voter fraud using an electronic system. The legislation would operate using one’s existing driver’s license or state identification card, which already has their signature on it. Those eligible would be able to register because their signature would already be on file at the DMV, making it easier for them to be verified by the Secretary of State. Their local board of canvassers would then notify them that their registration has been confirmed.
Language in the bill that states that the Secretary of State’s office “may” verify a registrant sparked the debate. Many opponents believed that the Secretary’s office should be required to verify everyone who registers to vote, but those who supported the bill stated that not only is it an undue burden on administration, it is unnecessary because of the cross-referencing done by the board of canvassers. Representative Stephen Ucci (D- District 42), stated that the verification is normally only used to analyze voter trends that may be suspicious.
“You have to look into this in the totality of our voting system,” Ucci said. “Let’s join those other 20 something states that have done this, and get ourselves on the right path to getting people to vote.”
“A person is still required to have a state license or state ID, which you don’t need in person,” Representative Aaron Regunberg (D- District 4), who is the main sponsor of the bill, added. “The system has existed in dozens of states, registering millions of voters, and there has not been a recorded successful incident of fraud.”
Other key points in the debate included accessibility to registration, as well as modernizing Rhode Island’s system. Many spoke about how there are people who do not have the time to go to their town or city hall to register, because they are working during office hours. Going online to vote, rather than paying for an envelope and stamp to mail in registration, is free, making the process more accessible to low-income voters. Putting the process online and making it easier would, in their eyes, serve as an incentive to both register and vote.
Regunberg’s legislation also includes a provision that would enroll Rhode Island in agreements with other states that would allow them to reference data in order to update voter rolls, either registering people who have recently moved into the state, or expunging those who have moved or died.
The bill passed with overwhelming support, in a 63-10 vote. In an interview after the meeting, Regunberg said he was very excited that the legislation passed, especially because it will be one of many solutions to get people out and voting.
Photo courtesy of http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/
“There’s a whole bunch of things, I think this is one part of it that will absolutely, for a generation of people who are much more used to doing these things online, who don’t really use snail mail, who don’t really understand those more antiquated systems. I think it will make it more accessible. It makes it more convenient for everyone,” he said.
Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea, who helped to craft the bill, provided a statement about its passage as well:
“This legislation will make it easier for citizens to register to vote and update their voter information, and it will improve the accuracy and integrity of Rhode Island’s voter rolls. I thank Speaker Mattiello, the bill’s sponsors, Representatives Regunberg, Handy, Keable, Blazejewski, and Barros; and the entire House of Representatives for their support of this legislation.”
John Marion, the Executive Director of Common Cause RI, was also involved in the bill’s drafting process, and stated that this is a huge step forward for Rhode Island, not only in terms of modernization, but also in terms of system management, and accessibility. As far as systems management is concerned, the electronic process makes everyone’s jobs easier and more cost effective. In some states, the cost per voter has gone down to less than ten cents per registration. But to Marion, those benefits are only secondary.
“The real benefit is to the voters. This is going to allow people easier access to registration, and not just new registrants, but this has a lot to do with people who are moving and don’t want to change their registration,” he said. “Because this is not replacing the current paper based system, it’s a complement to that, it’s going to capture more people, ultimately.”
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Senate Finance beginning to discuss the FY16 budget
Much like its House counterpart, the Senate Finance Committee passed the FY16 budget bill unanimously with almost no discussion other than to speak on its merits.
“I would certainly characterize this budget as one that is not only ambitious, but one that makes a significant investment in areas that should have been invested in in the past,” Chairman Daniel DaPonte (D- District 14) said to begin the meeting. He added in a press release that the budget helps to put Rhode Island back on the right track economically.
“This is a budget that Rhode Island’s economy needs and through its passage will continue the economic stability and reform that delivers the message that Rhode Island’s economy is back and open for business.”
One of the short discussion points brought up during the meeting was whether or not the budget provided opportunities for youth.
“There have been some pockets that have been filled here, but I suggest that next year we consider providing more job opportunities for youth,” Senator Juan Pichardo (D- District 2) said.
DaPonte agreed with Pichardo, but also reminded the committee that there is no one specific way to keep youth working in the state.
“I think initiatives to focus on keeping young people here and getting them up and running are incorporated in the budget in a variety of different places and a variety of different ways,” he said. “I think the sum of all these parts is a statement to us not only wanting to keep these folks here, but increase the number of opportunities available.”
The night before, the House of Representatives was very kind to the bill as well, passing it through to the Senate after a swift three-hour session. Before its passage, many took the time to thank not only House Finance Committee Chairman Raymond Gallison (D- District 69), and Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, but the House Fiscal Advisory staff as well.
Other groups outside of the State House are also pleased with the budget. Planned Parenthood, which fought against the restrictive abortion insurance coverage in Article 18, said in a press release that they are pleased with the outcome of the bill.
“While we were disappointed the governor unnecessarily chose to widely expand the number of plans that do not cover abortion beyond federal minimum standards, the action by the General Assembly today ensures employers cannot unilaterally limit reproductive health care service coverage for their employers. This amendment will require employers and insurance carriers to clearly indicate when an employer is opting out of covering certain reproductive healthcare services, so that no one will be surprised by a lack of coverage for routine procedures.”
But, while many have championed the budget as a success story, there are still those that are dissatisfied. Common Cause Rhode Island, an advocacy and lobbyist group for transparent government, has expressed discontent with the budget’s provision for Governor Raimondo’s pension settlement.
“This extraordinary legislation, that will affect every Rhode Islander – and every Rhode Island state and municipal budget – for decades, should not be rolled into the annual budget as if it were just another article,” said executive director John Marion. “The budget debate that typically occurs in a single evening and includes debates on amendments concerning dozens of issues is not the place for this important legislation. It deserves special consideration so legislators, as much as they did in the special session in 2011, can take this up on the merits alone.”
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It appears society is playing a major part in molding people for incarceration. The government may not admit it, but every so often their actions reveal it.
Especially when schools are being shut down for lack of sufficient funds as more prisons are being developed. I assume it’s easier and cheaper to teach us a lesson than teaching us lessons. But for some reason school systems are beginning to duplicate the prison system, rather than the other way around.
A person with multiple drug charges, for instance, would get sent to jail repeatedly. When a more successful punishment might be a treatment facility to seek help.
As a student, something similar happened to me. I was involved in a fight, and the administration decided it was easier to expel me, not what anyone would confuse with a straight A student, instead of trying to figure out why the fight happened. “Bullying” was not a term I was familiar with back then, but I was confronting my bully and I had to pay the price for it.
We are taught since we are young to speak our minds, to practice our freedom of speech, yet we are then punished for saying something they don’t like. We are penalized for defending ourselves, but we are taught to fight back if threatened, since the day we learn how to walk.
And to run to the cops if you are in danger. How about if the person harassing you is the one sworn to protect you? What can you do if the man wearing a badge is making your life difficult just because he can? Or because of your skin color, and the only wrong you have done is live in poverty? Can you imagine how confusing this is for a kid?
When putting together the pieces of a puzzle, it is easier to throw it away than to keep trying. But then the puzzle doesn’t get put back together. And yet that is exactly what society does to people who they don’t understand, or who depart from what it regards as acceptable.
This post is published as part of the Prison Op/Ed Project, an occasional series authored by CCRI sociology students who are incarcerated at the Rhode Island Adult Correctional Institute. Read more here:
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Jared Moffat, director of Regulate RI, a group advocating legislation to tax and regulate marihuana like alcohol, delivered nearly 500 postcards from constituents within Speaker Nicholas Mattiello‘s district in favor of the legislation to the Speaker’s office on Wednesday.
“We hope the House Speaker and Senate President will agree with the majority of voters that it’s time to start regulating and taxing marijuana like alcohol in Rhode Island,” said Moffat. “At the very least, they should allow a vote on the bill before the session ends.”
According to Regulate RI’s press release, “S 510/H 5777, the ‘Marijuana Regulation, Control, and Taxation Act,’ would allow adults 21 and older to possess up to one ounce of marijuana and grow one mature marijuana plant in an enclosed, locked space. It would create a tightly regulated system of licensed marijuana retail stores, cultivation facilities, and testing facilities and direct the Department of Business Regulation to create rules regulating security, labeling, and health and safety requirements. It would also establish wholesale excise taxes at the point of transfer from the cultivation facility to a retail store, as well as a special sales tax on retail sales to consumers.”
“Regulating and taxing marijuana in Rhode Island would give our state’s economy a much-needed boost,” Moffat said, “It would generate revenue, foster new businesses, and create jobs. S 510/H 5777 should be included as part of the General Assembly’s initiatives to rebuild Rhode Island’s economy.It’s hard to imagine why the legislature would end the session without voting on a widely supported proposal that is intended to bolster the economy and improve public safety.”
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Language added to the Rhode Island 2016 budget by Representative Raymond Gallison before passage somewhat balanced the last minute addition of extreme anti-abortion language submitted by Governor Gina Raimondo.
The new language added to article 18 reads:
(e) Health plans that offer a plan variation that excludes coverage for abortion services as 31 defined in 45 CFR 156.280(d)(i) for a religious exemption variation in the small group market 32 shall treat such a plan as a separate plan offering with a corresponding rate.
Except for religious Employers (as defined in Section 6033(a)(3)(A)(i) of the Internal Revenue Code), employers selecting a plan under this religious exemption subsection may not designate it as the single plan for employees, but shall offer their employees full-choice of small employer plans on the exchange, using the employer-selected plan as the base plan for coverage. The employer is not responsible for payment that exceeds that designated for the employer-selected plan.
An employer who elects a religious exemption variation shall provide written notice to prospective enrollees prior to enrollment that the plan excludes coverage for abortion services as defined in 45 CFR 156.280(d)(1). The carrier must include notice that the plan excludes coverage for abortion services as part of the Summary of benefits and Coverage required by 42 U.S.C. 300g-15.
Arthur Corvese
Signs of a behind the scenes compromise were apparent based on the odd assortment of representatives who rose to second the amendment, including Rep Edie Ajello, well known for her advocacy of reproductive rights, and Rep Arthur Corvese, well known for publicly and repeatedly referring to legalized abortion as a “culture of death.”
What does the new language mean? At bottom, any non-religious employer, as defined by the IRS, that elects to not include abortion coverage in their employee health plan, must allow employees to opt out of the company plan, and select any other plan, paying any additional costs out of pocket.
Rhode Island is now the first state to build language into the law that protects those who want a health care plan that provides abortion coverage.
Under Federal law, employees must be notified when their plan covers abortion. It does not require, as Rhode Island will under this new language, that employees be notified when they do not have abortion coverage. The language passed last night mandates that employees be told that the chosen plan does not cover abortion before they enroll, and that the lack of abortion coverage is confirmed after enrollment.
Ultimately, the notification requirement is similar to language concerning religious employers who choose not to cover contraception coverage as part of their health plans otherwise mandated by state or federal law.
There is a problem for employees inherent in this language. If my employer doesn’t want to cover abortion due to religious objections, and I decide to opt out of the plan chosen by my company, my employer will know of my objection, and may act in a discriminatory way against me because of my beliefs. I shouldn’t have to worry about job security or job advancement because of my decisions regarding reproductive health care for my family and me. Medical coverage, including reproductive services, are a private matter. How can that privacy be maintained under this provision?
Lobbyist Healey
Before the passage of the budget, Barth Bracy, executive director of RI Right to Life told me that he and Bernard Healey, State House lobbyist for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, were present to track the progress of the anti-abortion language the Governor inserted. Bracy told me that the language was the result of an agreement made in the wake of Doe v. Burwell, in which an anonymous man sued the state because there were no plans on the exchange that did not cover abortion.
ProJo reporter Richard Salit confirmed this when he wrote that “The lawsuit brought against Rhode Island was withdrawn in May when a Christian legal group said it had been assured that Rhode Island would begin offering multiple plans for abortion foes in 2016. According to HealthSource RI, the state Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner has required that in 2016 insurers offer a choice for abortion foes in every “metal” level (bronze, silver, gold and platinum) that they offer traditional health plans.”
This does not answer the question as to why Rhode Island did not simply require the addition of one plan to not cover abortion, as is required by federal law by 2017. It also does not answer why the amendment came from Governor Raimondo’s office, instead of being introduced as a bill that could be debated and publicly commented on. Had this democratic and open process been followed, the end result may have been more satisfying to all parties.
Despite this large concession to abortion foes, they were still unhappy with the newly added language. A source confided to me that Bracy, Healey and Representative John DeSimone were railing against the compromise language during last minute negotiations.
This makes me wonder if the RI Right to Life and the Providence Roman Catholic Diocese will begin looking for a non-religious employer to bring a Hobby Lobby like lawsuit against HealthSource RI under the state level RFRA (Religious Freedom Restoration Act.) There is little difference between Rhode Island’s RFRA and the federal version the Supreme Court based their Hobby Lobby decision on.
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In what everyone thought would be a firestorm of debate, the RI House of Representatives unanimously passed the $8.7 billion FY 2016 budget with little to no discussion about many of the articles, including the much contested Medicaid cuts and pension settlement, as well as Governor Raimondo’s so called “job tools.” According to a House spokesperson, this is the fastest that the budget has gone through in nearly three decades.
The only budget articles that were seriously debated on the floor were numbers 11, which concerned taxes and revenues; and 18, which provided the funding to HealthSource RI, Rhode Island’s Affordable Care Act state exchange. There were two article introductions during the debate, one concerning the funding for the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA), and one simply to renumber the articles in the bill after its introduction. Representative Patricia Morgan (R-District 26), was going to introduce an article to fund bridge repairs, but recognized that she did not have the support to pass it.
Although discussion was sparse on the floor, Rep. Morgan was one of the few members who continually sparked debate, particularly over article 11, which had the longest discussion out of all of the sections voted upon. Amendments had already been proposed to the article, but had been struck down. Morgan proposed two amendments herself, the first of which would promote lean government standards for the state, and according to her, dramatically decrease costs for running state government.
“Many states at this point, have already started lean government initiatives, and it has given them a lot of fruit,” she said. “There are incredible efficiencies that have resulted from lean government.
Morgan planned to pay for the new service by taking $500,000 from the Newport Grand Casino and putting it towards creating a lean government initiative, which Governor Raimondo has already stated she supports. Her reasoning? That the casino was not in dire need of the funds.
“Last year, the new owner proposed $40 million for remodeling,” Morgan said. “If he has $40 million for that, I guess he can give up $500,000.”
The amendment saw staunch opposition, especially because, according to several representatives, 60 percent of the casino’s money goes directly back into the state.
“Just because Newport Grand may be part of corporate America, we are here to help businesses thrive in our economy,” Representative Dennis Canario (D-District 71) said.
“To take $500,000 out of Newport Grand would jeopardize the integrity of that business,” House Majority Leader John DeSimone (D-District 5), argued.
Although Morgan’s first amendment failed 71-4, she brought up another amendment immediately after that tried to use the same funds from Newport Grand to pay for a 38 Studios investigation.
“The people of this state deserve to know how it happened, why it happened, who did it, and try to keep it from ever happening again,” Morgan said.
Her second amendment did not even get the chance to go up for debate, as it was ruled not germane to the discussion. The ruling was met with cheers from other representatives.
Article 18 funded HealthSource RI, which has been hotly contested over the past few days due to restrictive abortion coverage language. However, Finance Committee Chairman Representative Raymond Gallison (D- District 69) introduced an amendment that would curb such restrictions, and allow access for those who require abortions even if their insurance plan has cited religious exemptions from covering them.
Surprisingly, the amendment passed with no discussion, but the article itself saw debate due to King V. Burwell, the current Supreme Court case determining whether or not states should receive tax subsidies from having their own healthcare exchanges. While some representatives thought that keeping the exchange would make Rhode Island less business friendly, it was upheld in the vote.
What is more striking than what was debated, though, is what was not. Cornerstone legislation in the bill went by without so much as a peep from representatives. Medicaid cuts, the pension settlement, Raimondo’s jobs initiative, professional licensing, all day kindergarten, school construction, and even appropriations of funds from FY 15 are just some of the examples of what saw next to no discussion. Even Gallison’s surprise article that raised RIPTA fares for the elderly and low income to $1, up from no cost at all, saw little debate.
After only three short hours, the budget was unanimously passed, with daylight still shining down on the State House.
“The House of Representatives is very committed to working together on behalf of the citizens of the state of Rhode Island,” Speaker Mattiello said of the speedy voting process. “That the House has worked very collaboratively with the Governor and the Senate President, and that there’s a focus on jobs and the economy. When we put out a pro-jobs budget, pro-economy budget, the members rallied around it and responded appropriately.”
Mattiello also did not rule out the option of a special fall session to handle Governor Raimondo’s proposed toll tax. It is actually very likely, he said.
As for Rep. Morgan, she believes that she was one of the only members of the House who actively stood up for what they believe in on the floor tonight.
“I’ll fight for the people of Rhode Island all day long. I’ll fight for better government in our state,” she said after the meeting. “But, I can’t do it alone. The people need to send me more support.”
“I don’t know why they didn’t speak up,” Morgan added. “There were things that should have been said. There was debate that should have gone on. There are things that are objectionable. I have no idea why people didn’t stand up and fight for the things that they believe in.”
But, even without the support for her amendments, Morgan still voted in favor of the budget because it was, for the most part, in line with her beliefs.
“I voted for the budget because there were a lot of really good Republican proposals in it, that I think will help Rhode Island, and I didn’t want to see them not get support.”
The bill will go to the Senate floor for hearing on Wednesday, where if approved, will become the official FY 16 budget for Rhode Island.
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Ahead of his court appearance on charges that his upscale deli Gourmet Heaven, located in downtown Providence, owes nearly $150,000 in unpaid wages, activist groups Fuerza Laboral, RI Jobs With Justice, and Restaurants Opportunities Center United of RI(ROC RI) held a press conference calling on owner Chung Cho to pay up.
“We want Mr. Cho to respond to us and pay us what he owes,” said Roberto Quinilla, a former employee of Gourmet Heaven who is seeking over $32,000 in unpaid wages. “A group of us went to Mr. Cho’s house this weekend to try to track him down, and demand what he owes us, because we’ve been waiting too long, and we need an answer now.”
Cho has denied all charges, according to the organizers of the press conference, despite being found guilty in Connecticut of 43 charges of employment law violations, and being ordered to pay roughly $150,000 in a settlement with workers at stores in New Haven, CT, now closed.
Mike Araujo, Policy Organizer with the ROC RI, and co-chair of RI Jobs With Justice, said, “We must pass stronger penalties for employers who steal workers’ wages, and raise the tipped minimum wage—a mere $2.89—so workers don’t have to make ends meat by kowtowing to the whims of the customers whose tips pay the vast majority of their salary.”
In a statement, Senator Donna Nesslebush said, “Workers are the engine and backbone of our economy, our families and our society. We need to treat them well which means we must rout out wage theft wherever we see it, wherever we find it. Too often, workers are abused in the shadows of industry for the greed and aggrandizement of unscrupulous employers/owners. We need to shine the light of day on these shadows by strengthening our laws to better protect and honor workers, and this means increasing the penalties for wage theft and increasing the minimum wage.”
Jesse Strecker of RI Jobs With Justice said that he did not expect anything to be decided in court today, as proceedings were just beginning, but he was optimistic that the case would be decided in the worker’s favor.
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Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea and congressmen David Cicilline and Jim Langevin listen to voting rights activist Jane Koster.
The right to vote is a key proponent in what makes the American government work. But, for many Americans, there are barriers to the expression of that right. U.S. Congressman David Cicilline (D-RI), has just introduced the Automatic Voter Registration Act (H.R. 2694), a bill that would help to break down many of those barriers, and make it easier for citizens across the country to place their ballot.
“Our democracy was founded on the principle that every citizen has the right to participate, and make their voices heard on election day,” Cicilline said in a press conference on Monday. “The right to vote is an essential part of making government work for the people it is intended to serve, but today, the right to vote is under attack by some who want to throw up new road blocks to voter participation.”
Those who are affected the most by voter suppression activities are low income and minority households. According to a Think Progress report, young people, African Americans, and Hispanics all have lower registration rates than the rest of the population. In Rhode Island, there are roughly 249,000 eligible voters who have information records at the Department of Motor Vehicles, but are not registered to vote, according to the Office of the Secretary of State.
Watch the press conference, video courtesy of Steve Ahlquist:
Cicilline’s act follows precedents set by state legislatures, most notably Oregon, and brings it to the national level. Rather than having to opt into being registered to vote, everyone will be automatically registered to vote when they turn 18 and will have a 21-day period in which they can opt out of being registered. Cicilline wants to change the current system because it makes the entry point for voting more accessible to everyone, and to make sure that more voices are heard in elections.
“It’s a significant improvement over the current system, which requires eligible voters to opt in, by registering before they’re allowed to vote. My bill reverses that presumption, and shifts the burden from the individual to the state, meaning that unless someone explicitly opts out of registering to vote, they will have the opportunity to participate on Election Day,” Cicilline said.
U.S. Congressman Jim Langevin (D-RI), Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea, and the Rhode Island chapter of the League of Women Voters Jane Koster all showed support for Cicilline’s bill. Gorbea brought the discussion down to the local level, speaking on why this bill would assist Rhode Islanders.
“As secretary of state, I am working hard to make sure all Rhode Islanders are engaged and empowered,” she said. “The way we do that is by making sure we make it easier for people to participate.”
Gorbea says the bill takes advantage of existing systems within the state, as well as technology that is readily available. Older systems and technologies, she said, keep Rhode Islanders from engaging in their civic duty far more often than it should. Gorbea is also trying to get two bills through the legislature that would provide quick and easy online voter registration as well as provide early voting opportunities, and clean up existing voter rolls.
“If we’re serious about turning our state around and creating opportunities for all Rhode Islanders, we have to ensuring that more Rhode Islanders are engaged and empowered,” she said.
“When something happens at the national level, and then you’re able to implement it, it quells the concerns of a lot of people. Why are we going to do this differently from somewhere else? We have to do this at the national level and at the local level, absolutely,” Gorbea added.
Although the demographics on the 249,000 Rhode Islanders who are eligible to vote but are not registered are not yet available, Langevin gave his own reasons as to why opting into voter registration could actually be keeping these people from actively registering.
“What I’ve found in my experience over the years, as to why people aren’t registered to vote, can fall into one of several categories. Two of the most pervasive, especially for a young person, is that one, they don’t know how to get registered to vote,” he said. “The other is that a family or an individual experienced some sort of major life change- change in job, change in neighborhood, moving to a new area, moving out of state. They come in and they’ve taken care of all the other things, and it may fall through the cracks.”
To that effect, Koster added that on average, an American moves 12 times within their lifetime, especially out of state. By making it easier to vote, states could make it easier to connect to those who are moving around often, and still give them the opportunity to participate. According to Gorbea, this would greatly reduce the “undue burden,” that is currently being thrust upon American citizens.
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A meeting of the Rhode Island Hospitality Association (RIHA) at the restaurant Not Your Average Joe’s in Warwick means that RIHA President Bob Bacon, owner of the Gregg’s Restaurant chain, can no longer claim that, “Thirty-five years plus in the industry, I’ve never encountered [tip and wage theft].”
Not Your Average Joe’s in Massachusetts was found to have failed to pay employees hundreds of thousands of dollars across 15 restaurants in 2012 by the United States Department of Labor. Not Your Average Joe’s owed workers over half a million dollars.
Bacon, speaking before the RI House Committee on Labor, added, “I’m not naive enough to say that it doesn’t exist. I can tell you that it doesn’t exist on the level that’s being portrayed here tonight. I can say that without any reservation.”
This is belied by a statement from George A. Rioux, the Labor Department’s district director in Boston, whose investigation found such theft and fraud at 34 Boston area restaurants. “We were surprised by the results,” said Rioux, “This is substantial. We’re not getting the change in behavior we want. Companies are paying back wages and agreeing to compliance, and it’s not enough to finally wake up and see that we’re serious.”
Bacon was speaking against House Bill 5363 that, if passed, would make it easier for workers to take action to recover money lost through wage theft, a multibillion dollar crime in the United States. Bacon suggested that the restaurant industry was fully capable of policing themselves.
…if one of these people that says they have all these problems, if they want to come to us, I’ve offered for three years in a row to do the following: First, we’ll keep the employees name confidential. Second, we’ll meet with the employer and we’ll bring the complaint to their attention, third, we’ll work to educate that employer on the U.S. Department of Labor’s rules and regulations on the matter, and fourth, probably most important, in the event that an employer chooses to stay out of compliance with an issue, we would assist the employee in going through the appropriate channels to get the situation rectified.”
It is the height of absurdity to believe that the same organization that feels it is proper to hold meetings in restaurants that have been found to have engaged in wage theft can be counted on to deal fairly with employees claiming wage theft or other forms of worker abuse.
RIHA communications director Monika Nair did not respond to an inquiry regarding the purpose of the meeting at Not Your Average Joe’s in Warwick, but the timing of the event, ahead of a final, two week flurry of legislative activity in the General Assembly, seems more than coincidental.
Shortly after sending my inquiry to Nair, Sarah Bratko, manager of governmental affairs for RIHA, started following me on Twitter. A second inquiry to Bratko has also gone unanswered as of this writing.
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The theme for RI Pride‘s 2015 celebration, suggested by Anthony Maselli, Mr. Gay Rhode Island 2014, was “IndiVISIBLE.” I’ll let Maselli explain it in his own words:
Over 100 UPS workers and supporters, represented by 
Ahead of his court appearance on charges that his upscale deli Gourmet Heaven, located in downtown Providence, owes nearly $150,000 in unpaid wages, activist groups 
A meeting of the Rhode Island Hospitality Association (RIHA) at the restaurant Not Your Average Joe’s in Warwick means that RIHA President Bob Bacon, owner of the Gregg’s Restaurant chain, can no longer 
RIHA communications director