STATEMENT: Pro Firefighter Bills Infringe on Local Sovereignty as with RhodeMap RI

STATEMENT
June 9, 2015

Pro Firefighter General Assembly Bills Would Interfere with Local Sovereignty
Center Criticizes Trend Towards Centralized Government

At least four bills introduced in the 2015 Rhode Island General Assembly that would bolster firefighter leverage in the collective bargaining process, two of which will be heard in committee today, would infringe on the sovereignty of municipal governments and further represents an unhealthy trend towards centralized government planning, according to the nonpartisan Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity.

Similar to the arguments against the one-size-fits all RhodeMap RI mandates are now required of every locality, the four bills (H6278/S0961 and H6473/S0533) represent a universal statewide mandate on cities and towns that would restrict management rights of local officials in dealing with increasingly costly public employee collective bargaining contracts.

“America was structured on the concept that local representative government is the best government. These local decisions must be left to local officials; our state legislators must resist the urge to interfere,” said Mike Stenhouse, CEO for the Center. “Every locality has a unique relationship with its employees, and it is not the place of the state government to mandate a single, centralized approach.”

The Center notes that the growing trend of federal and state governments seeking to interfere with or control local decisions, is a dangerous model that runs contrary to the principles of limited government. The most notable analogy is the recent RhodeMap RI plan which was centrally imposed upon cities and towns without any consent from the General Assembly.

With regard to the firefighter bills, the Center points to different paths that different municipalities are upon:

  • In Coventry, local voters and officials chose not to fund their highly costly fire district. After the state interfered in 2014, a state appointed overseer is now attempting to negotiate a more cost-effective arrangement.
  • In North Kingstown, local officials chose to alter the firefighter shift schedule, a right affirmed by the RI Supreme Court. The bills in question would block such action.
  • In Providence, Mayor Elorza is looking to change shift schedules in order to save taxpayer dollars. The bills in question would pre-empt the Mayor from implementing his plan.
  • In Tiverton, local officials voluntarily decided to include shift schedules as part of their firefighter collective bargaining agreement. The bills in question would tie the hands of municipal leaders.

“The Tiverton example demonstrates that a state mandate is not needed for certain issues to be collectively bargained,” commented Justin Katz, research director for the Center and Tiverton resident. “It should be up to each town, not state legislators, to determine when this tactic is appropriate and when it is not.”

Media Contact:
Mike Stenhouse, CEO
401.429.6115 | info@rifreedom.org

About the Center
The nonpartisan RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity is Rhode Island’s premiere free-enterprise think tank. The mission of the 501c3 nonprofit organization is to return government to the people by opposing special-interest politics and advancing proven free-market solutions that can transform lives by restoring economic competitiveness, increasing educational opportunities, and protecting individual freedoms.

MEDIA RELEASE: 2015 Legislative Scorecard Update: Overall GA Index falls to (-58)

Freedom Index “Live” Update

Overall Legislative Index Once Again Pointing in the Wrong Direction

Providence, RI — As 2015 bills receive floor votes, an updated interactive scorecard of legislator voting records can be viewed live online, published by the nonpartisan RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity. The near real-time RI Freedom Index – Live rates individual pieces of legislation, according to whether or not they preserve or infringe upon the freedoms of Rhode Islanders, then scores General Assembly legislators based on how they voted for each bill.

While not all 2015 bills have been evaluated, to date 155 bills have been rated as qualifying for the Freedom Index scorecard; 92 with a negative rating, 59 with a positive rating and 4 yet to be rated, with an aggregate negative rating of (-58) (down from (-29) last week), meaning once again, the General Assembly is on a path to do more harm than good when it comes to legislation that preserves the freedom and, therefore, the prosperity of our state’s residents.

Not a single Senator scored above (0) on the Freedom Index, in a chamber which has see many more full-floor votes than has the House, which has a number of Representatives tentatively with positive scores.

With the online tool, voters can monitor the scorecards – as votes occur – for all legislators, and can sort and filter by party, district, bill category, and legislator score. The tool also includes separate interactive district maps for the House and Senate.

For more information about current and prior year Freedom Index posts, please visit RIFreedom.org/FreedomIndex.
About the Center

The nonpartisan RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity is Rhode Island’s premiere free-enterprise think tank. The mission of the 501c3 nonprofit organization is to return government to the people by opposing special-interest politics and advancing proven free-market solutions that can transform lives by restoring economic competitiveness, increasing educational opportunities, and protecting individual freedoms.

STATEMENT: Two Reasons Why Trucker Toll Plan is Misguided

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 2, 2015
Trucking Toll Proposal Demonstrates Lack of Discipline;
Disguises Spending on non-Essential Projects
Spending Priorities Must be Set; Strip Out RhodeMap RI type Mass Transit Plans
It was a lack of fiscal discipline that allowed the Ocean State’s bridge and road conditions to become degraded in the first place, therefore renewed spending priorities must be a major part of the solution. This according to the Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity, nonpartisan public policy think tank.

The proposed trucker toll represents the typical status quo method of taking the easy approach of tapping some group to pay for costly government programs, instead of taking the more responsible path of prioritizing spending over other elements of the budget.

Also, as part of that discipline, the state should only spend money on essential repairs and upgrades, and not on new, non-essential mass transit projects that could cost billions in extra public funding.

“Clearly, something has to be done to ensure we have a safe infrastructure. And we must seek to find that money in our existing budget,” commented Mike Stenhouse, CEO for the Center. “Mass transit is not a pressing need. We urge legislative leaders to strip out all non-essential spending from this effort.”

Governor Raimondo has hinted, but provided few details, that some of her infrastructure program would include major mass transit programs, which arguably are not necessary. Heavy taxpayer investment in mass transit is one component of the unproven ‘sustainable development’ philosophy, which was the basis for the controversial RhodeMap RI plan. “Often, major mass transit programs turn into bloated government boondoggles; clearly something Rhode Islanders cannot afford right now,” concluded Stenhouse.

Media Contact:
Mike Stenhouse, CEO
About the Center
The nonpartisan RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity is Rhode Island’s premiere free-enterprise think tank. The mission of the 501c3 nonprofit organization is to return government to the people by opposing special-interest politics and advancing proven free-market solutions that can transform lives by restoring economic competitiveness, increasing educational opportunities, and protecting individual freedoms.

MEDIA RELEASE: 2015 Legislative Scorecard NOW LIVE

Freedom Index “Live” Rates Legislators as they Vote
Preliminary 2015 Ratings Indicate Legislative Track Once Again Sending
Ocean State in the Wrong Direction
 

An interactive scorecard of 2015 legislator voting records is now live online, announced today by the nonpartisan RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity. The new, near real-time RI Freedom Index – Live rates individual pieces of legislation, according to whether or not they preserve or infringe upon the freedoms of Rhode Islanders, then scores General Assembly legislators based on how they voted for each bill.

While not all 2015 bills have been evaluated, to date 103 bills have been rated as qualifying for the Freedom Index scorecard; 58 with a negative rating and 45 with a positive rating, with an aggregate negative rating of  (-29) … meaning once again, the General Assembly is on a path to do more harm than good when it comes to legislation that preserves the freedom and, therefore, the prosperity of our state’s residents.

To date, only 9 bills (7 Senate, 2 House) that qualify for the RI Freedom Index have received actual floor votes, apparently leading up to yet another stampede of end-of-session committee and full-chamber votes.

Based on initial votes and preliminary bill ratings:
  • Marc Cote (D, Woonsocket) earned the highest score in the Senate. He and Nicholas Kettle (R, Coventry) were the only Senators to receive positive scores. Cynthia Coyne (D, Barrington) was the lowest rated Senator.
  • Scores for Representatives will be highlighted when more Freedom Index bills receive floor votes in the House

With the online tool, voters can monitor the scorecards – as votes occur – for all legislators, and can sort and filter by party, district, bill category, and legislator score. The tool also includes separate interactive district maps for the House and Senate.
For more information about current and prior year Freedom Index posts, please visit RIFreedom.org/FreedomIndex.

About the Center
The nonpartisan RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity is Rhode Island’s premiere free-enterprise think tank. The mission of the 501c3 nonprofit organization is to return government to the people by opposing special-interest politics and advancing proven free-market solutions that can transform lives by restoring economic competitiveness, increasing educational opportunities, and protecting individual freedoms.

Rhode Island Employment Snapshot, April 2015: The Annual Wait for Realistic Numbers

[Click here for the printable one-page PDF of this post.]

In a news report that drifted into this author’s awareness, recently, an analyst explained Rhode Island’s employment boost in terms of seasonal changes. To the contrary, the numbers are supposed to be seasonally adjusted (to bring out underlying trends), and the pattern of this year looks a lot like the patter of last year. Rhode Island begins the first six months with an inexplicable jump in employment, which levels off or decreases and is followed by a substantial downward revision when the data for the year is in.

Therefore, as we assess the Ocean State’s 6.1% unemployment rate, as reported by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which is now out of the bottom 10 nationally and is not the last in New England, we should be aware that we’re likely just in the (largely unrealistic) annual upswing.

According to the BLS, in March, a net 2,846 Rhode Islanders gained employment, while 1,826 joined the labor force. Those two variables are the basis for the unemployment rate. The first chart below shows that this year represents the start of a rebound in a long decline… if the numbers are correct.

The second chart shows how far Rhode Island is behind its neighbors. (Note that this month’s iteration has a different axis to accommodate Massachusetts’s growth.) Both Connecticut and Massachusetts are now well above their labor force and employment rates as of January 2007, while Rhode Island isn’t even close. Indeed, beginning in April, Massachusetts now has better growth in employment than in labor force.

The final chart shows the importance of labor force. The blue line is the official unemployment rate; the red line is what the rate would be if residents weren’t giving up their quest for work. Unemployment would still be 9.5% in Rhode Island with the January 2007 size of the labor force.

RI-laborforceandemp-0107-0415

RIMACT-laborforceandemp-0415perc0107

RI-unemploymentrate-steadyLF-0107-0415