Rhode Island Employment Snapshot, October 2015: Two Losses Don’t Make a Gain

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

For yet another month, Rhode Island’s unemployment rate dropped, from 5.4% in September, to 5.3% in September, according to data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). And for yet another month, that positive outcome resulted from two negative results. Employment actually dropped by 630 people, but 1,636 Rhode Islanders gave up looking. Meanwhile, jobs based in the state increased by a mere 100 after a sizable drop the month before.

The first chart shows that October’s results represent a turnaround in Rhode Island’s employment fortunes. (Although the likelihood remains that the year’s early increases will be revised away.) The trend of large early gains which are revised downward substnatially has been established for several years, now.

RI-laborforceandemp-0107-1015

Every state in New England lost employment, in October, so the columns in the second chart are smaller for both Massachusetts and Connecticut, this month, but Rhode Island remains the only Southern New England state well below its employment and labor force as of January 2007.

RIMACT-laborforceandemp-1015perc0107

The third chart is the most illustrative of the skepticism that readers should have when watching the unemployment rate, the red line shows what Rhode Island’s unemployment rate would have been if the labor force had not shrunk since January 2007. As of October, the unemployment rate would actually be going back up, having never dipped below 8%. For October, the unemployment rate would be 8.2%.

RI-unemploymentrate-steadyLF-0107-1015

Rhode Island Report Card, 2015: Policy Culture Not Advancing Social Justice & Fairness

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[button url=”https://rifreedom.org/wp-content/uploads/RICFP-RIReportCard-2015.pdf” target=”_blank” size=”medium” style=”royalblue” ]2015 Report Card[/button] [button url=”https://rifreedom.org/wp-content/uploads/RICFP-RIReportCard-2015-wnotes.pdf” target=”_blank” size=”medium” style=”royalblue” ]2015 Report Card (with citations)[/button] [button url=”https://rifreedom.org/wp-content/uploads/RICFP-RIReportCard-2015-brief.pdf” target=”_blank” size=”medium” style=”royalblue” ]4-year & New England comparison[/button]

Go to Report Card home page

When the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity began compiling its annual Competitiveness Report Card for Rhode Island in 2012, the idea was to show how we, as a state, were doing, compared with our New England neighbors and the country as a whole. That first year, the report card showed five Fs and five Ds. Now, in its fourth iteration, with various changes of methodology and some new categories, the total isn’t much better, with two Fs, eight Ds, and one C, as shown in the following chart.

RICFP-RIReportCard-majorcategories-2015

Looking at the subcategories that result in those grades shows some minor shifting from F to Ds, but the overall picture has not improved substantially in a way that indicates changing prospects. See the following chart.

RICFP-RIReportCard-subcategories-2012-2015

These results put RI at the back of the New England pack as shown in the table below (organized by overall grade point average, from left to right).

RIReportcard-NEStateComparisons-2015

Putting those results alongside the Center’s experience dealing with state government on a variety of issues, over the years, the metaphor of a graded report card seems to miss the mark in an important way: These grades are not how we are doing; they are a reflection of what insiders, cronies, and special interests are doing to us.

While Rhode Island government is failing the people of Rhode Island, the lackadaisical attitude about improving the state’s performance suggests that it is not failing everybody. The insiders and special interests are benefiting from these results, and they have tremendous incentive to keep them going.

Although it would go too far to say that they want Rhode Island to fail and Rhode Islanders to suffer, the people doing this to the Ocean State clearly don’t consider success and opportunity for others to be a priority. Any good that can be done for the people of Rhode Island is hindered by the one overriding requirement that those within the system must continue to get theirs first.

Rhode Island Employment Snapshot, September 2015: Growth Stops in Employment and Jobs

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

 

Once again, Rhode Island’s unemployment rate dropped, from 5.7% in August, to 5.4% in September, according to data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). That was, however, a silver lining built on an entirely dark cloud. Employment actually dropped by 521 people, but 1,860 Rhode Islanders gave up looking. At the same time, the number of jobs based in the state fell by 1,800 — for a total drop of 3,700 from July.

The first chart below shows that this dip follows a long increase in employment and labor force. However, the number of jobs based in the state has been relatively stagnant, suggesting that the employment numbers will be revised downward at the end of the year. Employment data is based on a phone survey that the BLS conducts in each state and heavily adjusts according to benchmarks and assumptions about seasonal changes.

In the second chart, both Massachusetts and Connecticut are down from last month’s results. Still, Rhode Island alone remains well below its employment and labor force as of January 2007.

The third chart is the most illustrative of the skepticism that readers should have when watching the unemployment rate. The red line shows what the curve would have been if the labor force had not shrunk since January 2007. In that case, the unemployment rate would still be 8.1% and would have begun edging back up, in September.

RI-laborforceandemp-0107-0915

RIMACT-laborforceandemp-0915perc0107

RI-unemploymentrate-steadyLF-0107-0915

P3 PayGo Model for RhodeWorks

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[button url=”https://rifreedom.org/wp-content/uploads/RICFP-P3-PayGo-101515.pdf” target=”https://rifreedom.org/wp-content/uploads/RICFP-P3-PayGo-101515.pdf” size=”medium” style=”royalblue” ]Click for full “P3 PayGo Model” report[/button]

Beginning this spring, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo proposed a controversial RhodeWorks program to implement a toll system for commercial trucks as the foundation for a massive revenue bond that would not require voter approval. RhodeWorks is the governor’s strategy for repairing and maintaining a statewide road and bridge system that is undeniably in poor condition.

Despite a report from an insider government vendor, many are concerned that the governor’s plan would place yet another tax on Rhode Islanders — in the guise of highway tolls — putting unnecessary downward pressure on an already depressed state economy and placing taxpayers and drivers at further risk for inevitable cost overruns.

More recently, to address this concern, a Republican Policy Group (RPG) of state lawmakers has proposed a pay-as-you-go (PayGo) alternative that would find an annual sum of money derived from cuts and reform to existing state expenditures in order to fund the annual cost.

The mission of the Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity is to advance market-based solutions for the Ocean State through a rigorous exchange of ideas, as well as to provide alternative perspectives in the debate about important public policy issues. We agree with the priority on infrastructure established by the governor and the RPG’s directive to fund and build a sustainable repair and maintenance program within the state’s already high tax and fee regime. However, with Rhode Island’s infrastructure in such bad condition, a large up-front investment of money may be unavoidable.

The Center proposes an out-of-the-box concept for “delivery” of this massive public works project utilizing a proven model utilized in many other states for similar projects.  Lawmakers should conduct the detailed due diligence necessary to properly consider a public-private-partnership (P3) delivery model, with a pay-as-you-go (PayGo) funding foundation.

All combined this approach would fund much needed infrastructure upgrades largely from existing general revenue, yet would offload the debt, risk, and delivery of the project to a private sector partner.

The P3 PayGo model would preclude the need for tolling and would  provide substantial benefits for Rhode Island taxpayers and drivers by:

  • Removing the risk of taxpayers’ or ratepayers’ bearing the burden of likely cost overruns
  • Requiring no major new revenue streams, such as tolls, taxes, or fees
  • Removing project management from the RI Department of Transportation (RIDOT), which has recently come under intense public criticism for ongoing internal inefficiencies
  • Delivering bridge and road repairs in a more timely manner
  • Potentially saving hundreds of millions of dollars in overall project costs

Compiling this paper, the Center found the potential cost savings of a P3 PayGo project to be massive, reducing project costs by nearly half and potentially reducing annual costs to nearly one-third of the proposed spending. However, the primary goals of this proposal are to allow an upfront infusion of money without the need for tolls or other new revenue or long-term general obligation debt and to mitigate the risk associated with a project of this size. We therefore consider cost savings to be a secondary benefit, with the expectation that the numbers will become clearer as the public debate proceeds. At the very least, it is clear that, like the state’s bloated budget, P3 PayGo has plenty of slack to make the proposal feasible.

Important note: The term “public private partnership” is often used to describe government subsidies arbitrarily handed out to private ventures, such as 38 Studios. The P3 described in this paper is very different, with delivery of a vital public works project farmed out to a private sector partner in order to achieve market-based efficiencies and risk management not usually available to the government.

[button url=”https://rifreedom.org/wp-content/uploads/RICFP-P3-PayGo-101515.pdf” target=”https://rifreedom.org/wp-content/uploads/RICFP-P3-PayGo-101515.pdf” size=”medium” style=”royalblue” ]Click for full “P3 PayGo Model” report[/button]

STATEMENT: UHIP Cost Overruns Just the Beginning of ‘Dependency Portal’ Costs

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STATEMENT
September 10, 2015

UHIP Cost Overruns Just the Beginning
“Dependency Portal” will dramatically drive up social service costs.
New “uninsured” figures misleading.

Providence, RI — Chalk up another accurate projection based on research by the nonpartisan Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity.

The near quarter of a billion dollars in ballooning cost over-runs recently projected by the RI Department of Health, is just the tip of the iceberg, according to the Center, which for years has been warning about the unsustainable costs associated with the Unified Health Infrastructure Project (UHIP).

With a similar net cost to Rhode Islanders as the 38 Studios debacle and the initial 38 Stadium proposal, the UHIP project is yet another example of government inefficiency and special interest spending, which will consume upwards of $77 million in state taxpayer dollars as well as hundreds of millions from federal taxpayers. The now $364 million boondoggle was initially budgeted to be $135 million.

Dependency-Portal-take-2But the final cost of UHIP could end up dwarfing these figures for Rhode Islanders, notwithstanding additional annual operational costs. A major goal of UHIP is to ensure that the state provides as much social service aid to as many people as possible. Nicknamed the “Dependency Portal” by the Center in 2012, UHIP will proactively promote people’s eligibility for a wide array of public assistance programs, based on the financial and personal information they submit to the state when applying for a healthcare exchange subsidy or for Medicaid.

“It is one thing to upgrade informational systems; it is an entirely different issue when those upgrades are used as a strategic tool to encourage people to become dependent on government assistance, and driving up costs for taxpayers,” warned Mike Stenhouse, CEO for the Center. “It is not the proper role for government to discourage a productive and self-sufficient lifestyle.”

Following the state’s aggressive implementation of the President’s Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, by erecting a costly exchange and by expanding Medicaid, Rhode Island taxpayers are already suffering from a $50 million or so increased annual burden for previously eligible Medicaid participants, not to mention an even higher Medicaid bill for the state is expected once the federal government ends its 100% subsidy for newly eligible participants.

Most costly, once UHIP’s “dependency portal” function kicks in, it is anyone’s guess as to how much higher other social service programs will rise in cost each year, such as welfare, SNAP, TANF, housing and childcare assistance, etc …

While the Center recognizes that it may be beyond point-of-no-return with the UHIP project, the Center encourages legislative leaders to closely monitor and prohibit strategic use of UHIP to dramatically expand Rhode Island’s social services network, as opposed to what should be its goal to improve the state’s administration of that same network.

In a related development, with regard to the latest drop in uninsured rates touted by the DOH, given that the vast majority of the newly insured have signed up for Medicaid and did not purchased private insurance via the state’s health insurance exchange. While some believe these Medicaid increases are a major step towards a single-payer, socialized healthcare industry, the Center believes the new figures do not represent a major success for the exchange and do not justify that RI taxpayers should continue to fund its highly expensive annual operations .

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 research and advocacy organization. The mission of the 501-C-3 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, July 2015: RI the Gem of the Southern New England Economy

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

 

With another drop in unemployment, to 5.8%, July was another banner month for the Rhode Island economy, according to data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). That showing was on the strength of a 1,299 gain in the workforce from revised numbers for June and a 2,086 increase in employment.

As the first chart below shows, 2015 has brought an unabated boom in employiment, in Rhode Island — at least according to these statistics. Employment data is based on a phone survey that the BLS conducts in each state and heavily adjusts according to benchmarks and assumptions about seasonal changes.

The second chart shows that Rhode Island remains well below its employment and labor force as of January 2007 and that this is unique in Southern New England. Comparing this chart to last month’s
iteration, however, would show that Massachusetts and Connecticut are headed in the other direction. If one believes the numbers, Massachusetts lost more than 21,000 employed residents, while Connecticut lost nearly 2,000.

How Rhode Island is moving in the other direction isn’t immediately clear.

The third chart illustrates the significance of the size of the labor force. The red line shows what the curve would have been if the labor force had not shrunk since January 2007, and it ends in a conspicuous cliff. In June, unemployment would still have been 8.2%. Even that represents a huge drop, over the course of this year so far, from 11.0% in December.

RI-laborforceandemp-0107-0715

RIMACT-laborforceandemp-0715perc0107

RI-unemploymentrate-steadyLF-0107-0715

PolitiFact RI Should be Condemned for Ruling on Center’s HPV Statement

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Commentary

PolitiFact RI Should be Sentenced to Journalistic Death

Once again twists truth to support pre-determined ruling

The RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity calls on the Providence Journal to issue a death sentence to its PolitFact RI kangaroo court.

Time after time, in defending the status quo, the so-called “Truth-o-meter” has used tortuously twisted logic and intellectually dishonest rationale as evidence to support  what are obviously pre-determined, biased rulings.

In challenging the corrupt, status quo politics in RI, our Center recently issued the following statement about the burgeoning HPV vaccine mandate debate:

“Rhode Island will become just the second state to mandate the vaccine … and the only state to do so by regulatory fiat, without public debate, and without consideration from the elected representatives of the people.”

In ruling that our Center’s statement was only “Half True”, PolitiFact-RI not only continued its pattern of seeking to find fault with accurate and honest statements, but one of Politifact’s twisted arguments was that a “requirement” is not a “mandate”. In its zeal to condemn our Center, it may not have been clear to the prosecutor-judge-and-jury-all-in-one writers that, PolitiFact’s ruling contradicted its own newspaper headlines.

On July 29, the day before the Center released its statement, the Providence Journal ran this headline at the very top of its front page:  “Rhode Island to mandate HPV vaccine for 7th graders.” The article itself used the word “mandatory” five times.

Further, in reaching its farcical ruling, PolitiFact purposely attempted to deceive our Center. In its initial inquiry to the Center, PolitFact asked:

“We are asking you to provide evidence to support this statement. There are two elements. First, that Rhode Island is the only state to mandate the vaccine. And second, that no other state has mandated the vaccine in the particular way that you describe.”

As the reader can also see in the entire email thread below, there are three important deceptions to point out:

  1. Politifact itself misrepresented the facts in question, as we never claimed that RI was the “only” state to mandate the vaccine. Nice try.
  2. PolitiFact refused to clarify which aspect of our statement they were challenging, despite repeated requests from our end
  3. Similarly, as has also been their pattern, PolitiFact utilized a bait-and-switch tactic; seemingly inquiring about one aspect of the statement, when, in practice, they base their ruling on a contrived interpretation of some other, more obscure aspect (ie, is this a mandate?)

Pointing out other under-handed tactics, Justin Katz further wrote in a related post in The Ocean State Current:

The brief summary under the “Truth-o-meter” reading “Half True” on PolitiFact RI’s main page emphasizes: “Pretty flexible for a despot.”  That’s a reference to the most weaselly part of Mark Reynolds’s quote-unquote analysis, which reads as follows:

[CEO Mike] Stenhouse labels the policies in Virginia and Rhode Island as mandates. But Jason L. Schwartz, an assistant professor at the Yale University School of Public Health, says you can’t call policies with such liberal exemptions mandates. At best, this is an example of the frequent PolitiFact tactic of finding somebody whose opinion the writer prefers and treating that as the authoritative fact.

One wonders, though, what rating PolitiFact RI would give its own newspaper.

As for the PolitiFact rating, there are three relevant premises:

Rhode Island is only the second state to require the HPV vaccine for students. Even PolitiFact admits this is true.

The requirement is a mandate. This is so true that the supposedly objective journalists at PolitiFact RI’s home paper ran it in the most prominent spot on the paper.

The mandate was implemented without public debate.  PolitiFact’s evidence of “public debate”  is that the professional activists at the ACLU managed to send in a written objection and post about it on Facebook.  Well, then.

The fact that PolitiFact considers the awareness of the ACLU to be “public debate” — as opposed to hearings and a floor debate by the public’s elected representatives — is one of two highly disturbing aspects of Reynolds’s essay.  The other is the latitude that it gives to government officials to adjust the truth to suit their needs.  Days after the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity helped drum up actual public debate and concern about the HPV mandate, the Dept. of Health came forward to assert that the exemptions are so broad that its mandates should really be considered something more like suggestions.

The Providence Journal should end this fraudulent, government-propaganda feature.  It distorts public awareness and undermines the political process.

Finally, PolitiFact refused to publish the official statement our Center provided in response to its inquiry:

“The Center stands by its statement. In mishandling the plainly presented content of our research in PolitiFact’s original inquiry to us, combined with PolitiFact’s past pattern of twisting the obvious intent of straightforward statements, the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity has lost faith in PolitiFact’s mission to “find the truth” and will no longer participate in a process, where one organization plays prosecutor, judge, and jury in often reaching intellectually dishonest rulings.

The vital components of our statement have been validated by the Providence Journal’s own reporting and in your own emails to us. The Center further invites PolitiFact readers to conduct their own independent online search on the National Conference of State Legislatures website.”

PolitiFact has become PolitFarce. The people of Rhode Island deserve an honest debate about major public policy issues, where each side has a forum to openly present their respective points of view. When the resources of  a powerful organization like the Providence Journal are used to serve as self-proclaimed judge, yet consistently, and likely purposely, corrupts what should be a helpful fact-finding process, it’s time for PolitiFact RI to be sentenced to journalistic death.

THE ENTIRE EMAIL THREAD
—— Original Message ——
From: “Mike Stenhouse”
To: “Reynolds, Mark” <mreynold@providencejournal.com>
Cc: “Justin Katz” <jkatz@oceanstatecurrent.com>
Sent: 8/13/2015 7:34:08 AM
Subject: Re[6]: PolitiFact/Providence Journal
Mark – thank your for your responses, however Politifact’s mishandling of our simple statement, combined with the changing nature of your questions to us, has generated serious concern by our Center about PolitiFact’s capacity to conduct a fair investigation. Below is the only statement our Center will make on this matter, and we ask you to publish it – in full – as our official response to your inquiry:
“The Center stands by its statement. In mishandling the plainly presented content of our research in PolitiFact’s original inquiry to us, combined with PolitiFact’s past pattern of twisting the obvious intent of straightforward statements, the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity has lost faith in PolitiFact’s mission to “find the truth” and will no longer participate in a process, where one organization plays prosecutor, judge, and jury in often reaching intellectually dishonest rulings.
The vital components of our statement have been validated by the Providence Journal’s own reporting and in your own emails to us. The Center further invites PolitiFact readers to conduct their own independent online search on the National Conference of State Legislatures website.”
Mike Stenhouse
CEO
—— Original Message ——
From: “Reynolds, Mark” <mreynold@providencejournal.com>
To: “Mike Stenhouse”
Sent: 8/12/2015 4:22:30 PM
Subject: Re: Re[4]: PolitiFact/Providence Journal
Hi Mike,
The statement we are reviewing and using for the PolitiFact item is the entire statement we sent originally including the part about Virginia.
It’s the following: “Rhode Island will become just the second state to mandate the vaccine … and the only state to do so by regulatory fiat, without public debate, and without consideration from the elected representatives of the people.”
–MR
On Wed, Aug 12, 2015 at 2:16 PM, Mike Stenhouse wrote:
Hi Mark – appreciate the clarification, but you’ve also raised some new questions. May I ask a question in response?
Will Politifact include the aspects of my original statement that you have since determined to be true as part of your ruling, or is Politifact now focused on the “fiat” and “public debate” aspects as the entire basis to make your ruling?
Regards,
Mike Stenhouse
CEO
—— Original Message ——
From: “Reynolds, Mark” <mreynold@providencejournal.com>
To: “Mike Stenhouse”
Sent: 8/12/2015 12:11:48 PM
Subject: Re: Re[2]: PolitiFact/Providence Journal
Dear Mr. Stenhouse,
Wanted to get back to you on my recent outreach and hopefully provide greater clarity than before about where I am at in this process.
As you recall, I saw two elements, or halves, of the statement.
The first part was: “Rhode Island will become just the second state to mandate the vaccine.” I’ve determined that this part of the statement looks like it’s true. The only other state was Virginia. Also, Virginia enacted legislation for requiring the vaccine. It appears Virginia has some opt out provisions. Some say this raises questions about whether the vaccine is really mandated if students can opt out. Do you have any thoughts about that?
So the second part of the statement was: ” … and the only state to do so by regulatory fiat, without public debate, and without consideration from the elected representatives of the people.”
I now have some information on this. It’s clear that Rhode Island did not enact legislation as Virginia did. I’m told that the director of the Department of Health, Michael Fine, adopted a regulation that actually took effect on July 1, 2014.
This regulation called for requiring all students entering seventh grade to have at least one dose of the HPV vaccine “beginning Aug. 1, 2015.” Also, the Department of Health did have a public hearing on Jan. 16, 2014, prior to the adoption of the new regulation.
I am curious about your use of the word “fiat.” Why did you choose that particular word?  I’m hoping you find this note helpful. Respectfully,
Mark Reynolds
On Fri, Jul 31, 2015 at 2:18 PM, Mike Stenhouse wrote:
Again Mark, sorry, but I’m still not clear what you’re looking for. You state you are interested in only 2 elements, yet there are 3 elements in the statement you cite, including “without public debate, and without consideration from the elected representatives of the people.”
Are you asking us to respond to just 2 or all 3 components?
Enjoy your weekend,
Mike Stenhouse
CEO
—— Original Message ——
From: “Reynolds, Mark” <mreynold@providencejournal.com>
To: “Mike Stenhouse”
Sent: 7/30/2015 6:56:44 PM
Subject: Re: PolitiFact/Providence Journal
Dear Mr. Stenhouse,
My apologies for misstating that and my thanks for an opportunity to restate it. The first element is that Rhode Island would be just the second state to mandate the vaccine. To clarify the related question I ask, how do you know that only one state so far has mandated the vaccine?
Let me also be clear that I am formally asking you to provide evidence to support both elements of the statement I’ve referred to, including the second element, which is that Rhode Island, as you put it, would be “the only state to do so(mandate the vaccine) by regulatory fiat, without public debate, and without consideration from the elected representatives of the people.”
Respectfully,
Mark Reynolds
On Thu, Jul 30, 2015 at 6:25 PM, Mike Stenhouse wrote:
Mark – thank you for your inquiry, however the premise of your question is incorrect:
Among the two elements you suggest, you wrote: “First, that Rhode Island is the only state to mandate the vaccine.” This is not what we stated and is a flat-out inaccurate characterization of our statement. Please clarify your inquiry.
I m copying our research director, Justin Katz, so he can monitor your inquiry.
Thank you,
Mike Stenhouse
CEO
—— Original Message ——
From: “Reynolds, Mark” <mreynold@providencejournal.com>
To: Mike Stenhouse
Sent: 7/30/2015 5:33:15 PM
Subject: PolitiFact/Providence Journal
To; Mike Stenhouse, CEO,  RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity
From: Mark Reynolds, Staff Writer, The Providence Journal/PolitiFact.com
July 30, 2015
Dear Mr. Stenhouse,
My name is Mark Reynolds. I’m a longtime reporter for The Providence Journal assigned to PolitiFact.com, the fact-checking organization.
We recently noticed this statement on the web-site for the Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity:
“Rhode Island will become just the second state to mandate the vaccine … and the only state to do so by regulatory fiat, without public debate, and without consideration from the elected representatives of the people.”
We are asking you to provide evidence to support this statement. There are two elements. First, that Rhode Island is the only state to mandate the vaccine. And second, that no other state has mandated the vaccine in the particular way that you describe.
This is your opportunity to back up both elements of the statement with evidence such as documents or whatever you based these observations on.
Also, it seems obvious to ask this sequence of questions: The first element of the statement reflects a knowledge that all but two states have not mandated the vaccine. How do you know this? Did you check this in each of the other states. If so, what did you base your determinations on?
Feel free to telephone me at (401) 277-7490 with any questions about this communication.
Respectfully,
Mark Reynolds

Employee Freedom Week 2015

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Did you know it is National Employee Freedom Week? National Employee Freedom Week (NEFW) is a nationwide campaign to let employees know that they have the freedom to opt-out of their union. We want every employee to make the decision about union representation that’s best for him or her. In the Ocean State, the special interests have dominated our state’s public policy culture leading to Rhode Island’s poor national rankings. The time has come to change the status quo in the Ocean State.

RhodeIsland_2015

Polling has found that 1 in 3 of Rhode Island union households don’t know that they can opt-out of union membership and stop paying at least a portion of their union dues without losing their job or any other penalty.

From poor service to union leaders being prosecuted for embezzling millions of their dues dollars, many union members are tired of funding organizations that don’t meet their needs.  

You can learn more about NEFW here!

“NO” HPV MANDATE PRESS CONFERENCE & RALLY – Tonight – NEW 1-PAGER

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 17, 2015

Multiple Speakers to Address Numerous Concerns Over Mandate
RI ACLU Statement; RI DOH Backing Away from School Exclusion Penalty
Center Publishes New 1-Page Summary Sheet

Cumberland, RI – A large crowd is anticipated to attend a press conference and protest rally – calling on Governor Raimondo to halt the State’s mandate of the controversial HPV vaccine for all 7th graders – that will be held this evening at the

Cumberland public library by the nonpartisan Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity, in association with Rhode Islanders Against Mandated HPV Vaccinations, a parents group which has attracted over 2300 members in the past two weeks.

NO HPV VACCINE MANDATEAmong those expected to speak at the event are concerned parents, physicians, legal experts, and families that claim to have suffered adverse side-effects from the vaccine. Numerous concerns about the mandate will be covered by the speakers ranging from public health policy, parental rights, medical research and side-effects, government transparency, and ethics, to constitutional questions. These concerns have been summarized in an HPV one-pager published today by the Center.

Further, with IndependentRI.com reporting that the Department Of Health has backtracked on enforcing the school exclusion penalty, the Center also calls on the DOH to officially recommend ending its controversial mandate, which was implemented without rigorous public debate and without direct legislative oversight.

“A mandate is useless if there is no longer any penalty or enforcement mechanism,” commented Mike Stenhouse, CEO for the Center. “Let’s end the charade and end this unpopular mandate once and for all.” In a statement to the Center, the RI -ACLU argues that the school exclusion penalty is “extremely severe” and “unfitting and disproportionate.”

The event will be held prior to the last of five pre-scheduled public forums orchestrated by the RI Department of Health.

The Center strongly recommends that any parent uncomfortable with this vaccine for their children should claim a ‘religious medical exemption’, which can be executed via a simple form that can be downloaded from the health.ri.gov website.

The Center’s home page for the HPV issue is RIFreedom.org/HPV.
The parents group website is VaccineChoiceRI.com.

WHAT: Press Conference & Protest Rally Against Mandated HPV Vaccine

WHEN: Monday, August 17; 5:40 pm rally; 6:10 pm press conference

WHERE: Cumberland Public Library, back entrance by Hayden Meeting Center; 1464 Diamond Hill Road, Cumberland, RI 02864

WHO: In addition to Stenhouse from the Center, statements are expected to be made at the event by:
Shawna Lawton and Aimee Gardiner; parent advocates from RIers Against Mandated HPV Vaccine
Dr. Mark Brady and Dr. Christopher Black; physicians
Justin Price; House of Representatives, RI-D39
Giovanni Cicione; lawyer for Stephen Hopkins Center for Civil Rights

Media Contacts:
Mike Stenhouse, CEO, RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity
401.429.6115 | info@rifreedom.org

Shawna Lawton: RIers Against Mandated HPV Vaccinations
401.339.9226 | sllawton40@gmail.com

About the Center
The nonpartisan RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity is Rhode Island’s premiere free-enterprise research and advocacy organization. The mission of the 501-C-3 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 ACLU Offers Statement on HPV

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ACLU Statement on HPV:

“The ACLU of Rhode Island recognizes the Department of Health’s legitimate interest in promoting the HPV vaccine for both boys and girls. We also appreciate that there are some illnesses that warrant imposition of mandatory vaccinations in order to protect children attending school. However, excluding middle and high school students from school for being unvaccinated against HPV strikes us as an unfitting and disproportionate remedy.

Exclusion from school is an extremely severe penalty that should be used only when truly necessary, and not as a stick to promote more generalized public health goals.  We believe the state’s efforts would be much better spent on educating parents and students on the importance of the HPV vaccine rather than using a punitive approach that deprives children of a public education. Rhode Island’s record, prior to implementation of this mandate, of leading the nation in HPV vaccination rates supports this notion.

Encouraging preventive measures to protect children’s health is extremely important, but so is a child’s right to an education. In light of the concerns that have been expressed regarding the requirement, we encourage the Department of Health to formally clarify that school districts should not exclude children from school solely because they do not receive the HPV vaccine, and that the law’s “religious” exemption broadly encompasses objections of conscience as well.”

Hillary Davis
Policy Associate
ACLU of Rhode Island
128 Dorrance Street, Suite 220
Providence, RI 02903
P – (401) 831-7171
F – (401) 831-7175
www.riaclu.org