State Bank Idea Is Back (As A Bill This Time)
Kim Kalunian writes that Rep. Charlene Lima has introduced legislation, at the request of Keven McKenna, to create a state-owned bank in Rhode Island – a movement that is gaining traction across the country. The bill states that the purpose of the bank would be “to protect the financial welfare and economic vitality of the [...]
Lima, MacBeth Suggest Not Paying 38 Studios Bonds
The House Finance Committee heard several bills yesterday concerning the operation of the RI Economic Development Corporation (EDC) in the wake of last years 38 Studios fiasco, including two bills that would prohibit the state or the EDC from making payments to the bondholders of the failed video game company. The bills, H5639 and H5888, [...]
Rhode Island Women Still Fighting For Equal Pay
When it comes to wages, there’s still a gender gap in Rhode Island. According to a new report from the Women’s Fund of RI, the median weekly income for a woman in Rhode Island in 2011 was $746, while men earned $917. The disparity happens in wage growth as well. Increase in median wage for [...]
ProJo Scapegoats Unions, Ignores Wall Street
It’s fine if the Providence Journal editorial board wants to espouse a right wing philosophy, even if such ideas are largely out of touch with the people of Rhode Island. It’s not okay for the Providence Journal to blame organized labor for their policy positions when unions have nothing to do with it. The latest [...]
Local Homeless Left Out Of Economic Recovery
While the real estate and stock markets are ticking up and unemployment is ticking down, there’s one group of Rhode Islanders who are being passed over by the alleged economic recovery: the homeless. The homeless population in Rhode Island has increased by more than 10 percent from 2011 to 2012, according to Dr. Eric Hirsch, [...]
Don Anderson: Let There Be Payday Loan Reform
Rev. Don Anderson, president of the Rhode Island Council of Churches, says there are religious reasons for supporting payday loan reform. “In every religious tradition, the concept of usury is addressed,” Anderson said, at an State House event last week to call attention to payday loan reform. Anderson, who is also an important advocate for [...]
Hodges Addresses Gender Inequality In Insurance
It’s hard to imagine that in the year 2013 women still have to deal with inequality in the workplace. Their wages are typically lower for the same level of education and expertise than their male counterparts, but this inequality does not stop at the pay check. Women also pay much higher premiums for their health [...]
Celebrate Rhode Island, Support Calamari Bill
Sometimes, a state legislator has an idea that brings a smile to my face. And sometimes, that idea is ruthlessly mocked. So I think it’s high time I said something about H5654; better known as the “Calamari Bill” which makes Rhode Island-style calamari (the kind with pickled hot peppers) our state appetizer (as well as [...]
2 Takes On Disability: Ken Block, ‘This American Life’
When the House Committee on Small Business takes up today it will hear from gubernatorial candidate-turned-foodstamp-fraud investigator Ken Block who will likely say something like, “Ultimately, our TDI program should resemble most other state’s plans in terms of cost and utilization.” as he tweeted last night. But a must-listen “This American Life” episode this weekend [...]
Voter ID Repeal Bill Hits House Judiciary Committee
Individual voter fraud. If I could reduce the font of those three words in proportion to the actual occurrences of said fraud, they would be imperceptible to the human eye, and yet, two years ago the General Assembly passed a voter ID law, which amounts to, as Steven Brown of the ACLU of Rhode Island put it, [...]
Marriage Equality To Get Senate Judiciary Hearing
On Thursday the Rhode Island Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on the same-sex marriage bill. This bill will not be passed out of the Judiciary Committee without thousands of volunteers helping to build support, so folks should begin arriving on Thursday at 10:00 a.m. to make their presence known throughout the [...]
Tanzi On Tax Equity: Will Help State Save Money
Conventional wisdom might say that those who are elected to represent the “working class” will support tax equity and those who are elected to represent the “job creators” won’t. Narragansett and South Kingstown might boast the state’s most eclectic mix of both and their representation in the House, progressive Democrat Teresa Tanzi, says she supports [...]
Rep. Cimini: State Budget Balanced On Backs Of Poor
Progressive Providence Rep. Maria Cimini, said the General Assembly is balancing the budget on the backs of the poor while the richest Rhode Islanders get a pass as the state struggles through a recession. “I think it is really crucial that everyone in our state is called upon to sacrifice when we are struggling,” she [...]
Sen. Pichardo: Tax Equity
Senator Juan Pichardo, a one-man Latino caucus in the state Senate, is the lead sponsor of the tax equity bill in the that chamber. He says it’s important for the rich to pay their fair share so that Rhode Island can improve its failing infrastructure and get people back to work. He represents Elmwood and [...]
Will ‘Moving the Needle’ Help Rhode Island?
So, yesterday was the day when Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed threw down 25 bills that she hopes will “improve Rhode Island’s business climate and its position on national business-friendliness surveys.” After years of bad decisions and then paralysis, the General Assembly now has a collection of bills to review that stem from the recommendations [...]
Tax Equity Would Mean More Revenue For RI
A bill that would raise $66 million in new revenue by increasing income taxes for the richest Rhode Islanders is now in the hands of the General Assembly. The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Maria Cimini and Senator Juan Pichardo, both of Providence, would increase the income tax rate on those who earn more than $250,000 [...]
Conservative Talking Points And Conspiracy Theories
In response to our post this morning about how increasing income taxes by 2 percent the tax rate for the richest 2 percent of Rhode Islanders, I got a couple responses on Twitter. One came from the RI Tea Party that I thought was particularly ridiculous, but I think it also speaks to a way [...]
Tax Equity Bill Would Mean $66 Million For State
The state could collect a much-needed $66 million in additional revenue by raising the income tax rate the richest 2 percent of residents pay by 2 percent. That’s the message tax equity advocates will announce at a press conference at the State House this afternoon. “We can’t keep going down this failed path,” said Kristina [...]
Do RI Corporations Really Need A Tax Break?
This week, both the House and Senate finance committees considered legislation that would reduce the corporate income tax from 9 percent to 7 percent over the next three years. The move, as always, is touted as a way to make Rhode Island’s business climate more competitive with our neighboring states’. While Rhode Island’s corporate tax [...]
Real Key To Fixing R.I.’s Business Climate
On Tuesday, amendments to the state’s tax code regarding the corporate income tax rate was reviewed by the Senate Committe on Finance. The amendments, straight from the desk of Gov. Lincoln Chafee, would lower the tax rate on corporate profits from 9 percent to 7 percent over the next three years. While the proponents of [...]
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