transparency COVID 19

Call for More Transparency re. Criteria to Transition Back to Work

Center Calls for Public Transparency re. Criteria for Transitioning Rhode Islanders Back to Work

Commending the Governor for planning to respond later today to calls to make publicly known the modeling data and tools her administration is utilizing to project how the corona-virus pandemic is expected to play out in the near future, the Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity is calling for further transparency. 

On Thursday morning, Mike Stenhouse, chief executive officer of the Center, called on the Governor to outline the specific process, data, and criteria she will use to determine how and when Ocean Staters can safely return to work. 

There are many issues and questions the public should be made aware. Further Ocean State employers need advance notice to be able to effectively plan for a safe reopening of their businesses. By transparently sharing her plans with the private sector, she can help build trust among the business community and enhance public confidence in her future actions.

Some of the questions that should be publicly answered are:

  • Will the Governor make these decisions unilaterally or in conjunction with the General Assembly?
  • What corona-virus metrics and benchmarks does the Governor plan to set … or will the decision be arbitrary?
  • What regulations and other restrictions will be put in place? Will these be imposed via executive or legislative action?

“I encourage the General Assembly to find a way to get back to work and help ensure that a reasonable and transparent get-back-to-work process is undertaken.”

The Center’s list of 20 policy ideas to ease the transition back-to-work can be viewed here.

Recovery for Rhode Island

10 More Rescue Policy Ideas To Aid Recovery From The COVID-19 Crisis

Lawmakers Can Help Pave the Way for Economic & Health Recovery

Elected officials do not have to sit helplessly by and rely on federal aid

Providence, RI – Suggesting multiple reforms that are being enacted in other states, the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity, the state’s premiere free-market research and advocacy organization, offers state lawmakers 10 more proactive policy ideas that can help Ocean State businesses and families survive the Covid-19 crisis, while also paving the way to economic and health security.

With the crushing impact on our state’s business community, and over 100,000 Rhode Islanders out of work and suffering anxiety about both their medical and financial well-being, the Center updated its prior Covid-19 Public Policy Solutions brief that provides lawmakers with positive legislative ideas that can help provide relief.

“By giving individuals and businesses a little more freedom and flexibility, state lawmakers can provide rescue legislation as counter-measures to the crisis,” suggested Mike Stenhouse, the Center’s CEO. “Our political class must not sit helplessly by and rely solely on federal aid. Other states are taking proactive action; our Ocean State must not fall further behind.”

While Rhode Island may benefit in many ways from various federal rescue packages, the Center recommends that state lawmakers must also do their part and focus on what they can control as well as to find a way to fulfill their legislative responsibilities for recovery during this crisis.

Adding to its #GovernmentDistancing initiative, the Center has added 10 new  “emergency” policy ideas to its original March 25 list, designed primarily to keep more Rhode Islanders at work and financially solvent and healthy in the coming recovery months. Included in the 10 new suggested measures are:

  • Allow businesses to fully expense capital investments to encourage recovering businesses to invest in machinery and equipment
  • Institute reciprocal licensing to make it easier for professionals licensed in other states to work in RI
  • Freeze all state and municipal taxes to ensure already distressed individuals and business are not further burdened
  • Temporarily suspend prevailing wage laws to decrease pressure on government budgets and lessen the need to increase taxes
  • Expand access to tele-medicine services

The full-list of 20 policy ideas and brief explanations can be viewed here.

One of the Center’s ideas was enacted last month, when the Governor ordered that alcoholic beverages could be sold by restaurants as part of take-out orders. Another idea of the Center, to temporarily suspend Internet sales taxes, was previously highlighted in a separate policy brief.

The Center expects to regularly add to its growing list of rescue policy ideas, many of which have been implemented legislatively or by executive order, or are being actively considered in other states.

Rhode Island Covid-19 Help

Rhode Island COVID-19 Crisis: 30 Public Policy Solutions to Restore Financial and Health Security

In these trying times, with over one-hundred thousand Rhode Islanders recently laid-off, and unemployment rates that could soon reach 30%, common-sense public state-based policy can help mitigate the destructive economic impact of the Rhode Island Covid-19 crisis … and can help restore a sense of normalcy and financial security.

See the list below for the Center’s policy suggestions.

In response to this health crisis that is impacting our lives in so many ways, our state government’s actions to shut down commerce across many industries is inevitably having a crushing impact on small businesses, jobs, and family budgets… creating anxiety and fears among our populace.

On top of the major disruptions to our daily lives, our individual and societal peace of mind has deteriorated, with many Rhode Islanders concerned not just about their health, but also worried about their financial well-being. 

However, leading national voices from across the political spectrum – The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Governor of New York, and the President of the United States – have raised awareness about the need to restore economic activity as part of our nation’s recovery from the coronavirus crisis. 

As the federal government considers various assistance programs, it is vital that Rhode Island’s political leaders also play a positive role in restoring prosperity. It is a historical fact that economic depressions kill people, too… we must not let our Ocean State’s circumstances come to that.

Governor Raimondo has asked the business community for more time and patience as our state’s health care system is strengthened, before the “temporary,” yet major, restrictions on the private sector are lifted. 

The public policy solutions recommended in this paper include a number of smaller, “temporary” solutions that can be implemented – beginning now, while the larger state mandates remain in place – and that should remain in place until our state’s economy is fully recovered.

While the governor asks for the public’s trust, state leaders, likewise, must place trust in the power of the American people – business innovation and individual consumerism, guided by the free-market system – to be the driving force in lifting Rhode Island out of this severe economic crisis.

Specifically, the General Assembly must find a way to convene and govern –  and to consider emergency rescue legislation that balances the need to address the state’s budget with the need to bolster the budgets of families and businesses.

Rhode Island COVID-19 Recovery by #GovernmentDistancing. To aid in Rhode Island’s economic survival and eventual recovery – and to restore confidence about our future among the populace – the Center suggests that there are many ways our state government can take important and symbolic actions in alleviating some of these concerns about our individual and overall financial security. 

The common-sense ‘crisis recovery’ policy ideas recommended in this paper are designed to free-up individuals and employers in the private sector to be able to speed back to the peak employment and income-levels that we saw before the COVID-19 crisis. These solutions are especially beneficial to a state economy that is suffering catastrophic job losses as we have seen in Rhode Island.

Many states across America are aggressively taking or considering similar steps, and Rhode Island must not lag behind. By temporarily suspending certain taxes and regulations that hold back economic growth, by practicing what we call “government distancing,” political leaders can separate unnecessary government burdens from those suffering the most distress … and help clear the way for rapid economic recovery.

In late March, our Center published 10 initial pro-active policy recommendations. The Center continues to add to its list of policies, and we’re now up to 30. The newest suggestions are in bold, and policies that have been implemented are italicized. Explanations of the policies follow the list.

Business operations

  • Eliminate any state or local inspections required before re-opening a business that was temporarily closed due to COVID-19.
  • Allow businesses to fully expense capital investments in machinery and equipment.
  • Extended deadlines for commerce-related licensing.
  • Temporarily extending the deadlines for businesses to remit collected sales taxes to the state.
  • Temporary suspension of the corporate minimum tax.

Consumer assistance

  • Repeal bans on single-use plastic bags.
  • Repeal the ban on flavored vaping products.
  • Temporarily suspending Internet sales taxes.
  • To allow alcoholic beverages to leave restaurants when sold with a food take-out order.

Regulatory reform & occupational licensing

  • Relax all state and local regulations, including zoning, that would interfere with the ability to operate businesses out of the home.
  • Institute temporary “reciprocal” occupational licensing.
  • Eliminate sales and hotel taxes on people who offer short-term rentals.

Labor

  • Implement a three-month moratorium on the deduction of government union dues, leaving more money in the pockets of state and local employees.
  • Temporarily suspend prevailing wage laws.
  • Temporarily reducing Rhode Island’s minimum wage to the federal level of $7.25 per hour (with a temporary increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

Civic

  • Develop a forum for public education, debate, and study of the state and federal constitutions and the response of our state and local governments to the COVID-19 crisis, perhaps as a precursor to a state Constitutional Convention.
  • Temporarily limit legal liability for volunteers and charitable organizations.

Budget

  • Implement a state Savings Reward Programs to reward state employees for saving taxpayer money through innovative or reengineered government processes.
  • Freeze all government hiring, even in cases of retirement and resignation, reallocating employees where they are most needed.
  • Eliminate all government positions that were vacant for at least six months prior to the COVID-19 shut-down.
  • Freeze all taxes, state and municipal, at current levels.

Infrastructure (Legacy and Future-Ready)

  • Adopt “dig once” and “one-touch make ready” policies. Implementing policies that increase cooperation between Internet service providers (ISPs) and state and local construction planners would enable the Ocean State to expand broadband communications more cheaply and quickly.

Education

  • Begin the process of comparing and analyzing districts’ effectiveness in implementing remote learning in (in and out of Rhode Island) for the development of best practices and other lessons learned.
  • Review state and local budgets to determine what money has been saved by closing school buildings and limiting services in order to create a fund to assist families with education-related expenditures.

Healthcare

  • Expand access to telemedicine services.
  • End surprise billing for patients.
  • Expanded scope-of-practice allowances.
  • Remove insurance laws that discourage the sale of short-term health insurance plans.
  • Waive regulation to allow medical professionals licensed in other states to practice in RI.
  • Repeal certificate of need laws.

Explanations

Already in Rhode Island, one of the Center’s early common-sense recommendations has been enacted:

  • To allow alcoholic beverages to leave restaurants when sold with a food take-out order. This will help many restaurants to maintain cash flow and better serve their customers.

For small businesses and their employees, it will be important to get as many people back to work at their normal shifts as soon as possible. However, the ramp-up to normal business conditions, and the associated revenues, may not be as fast the shut-down was. Therefore, as a short-term measure, the Center suggests:

  • Eliminate any state or local inspections required before re-opening a business that was temporarily closed due to COVID-19. Whether the inspection would have been due or overdue anyway or is related to the pandemic, Rhode Island needs its existing businesses to get up to speed, while adapting to new realities, as quickly as possible. Red tape does not make the cut.
  • Allow businesses to fully expense capital investments in machinery and equipment as they seek to rebuild, providing them with potentially critical 2020 tax relief.
  • Extended deadlines for commerce-related licensing by the Department of Business Regulation and other state agencies that have a hand in stringing red tape for businesses would help ensure existing small businesses remain legally operational.
  • Temporarily extending the deadlines for businesses to remit collected sales taxes to the state. This option would give many businesses additional near-term cash flow when it comes to compensating their employees, paying their rent, or covering other vital overhead expenses.
  • Temporary suspension of the corporate minimum tax, which imposes one more burden on individual looking to start a new business, or maintain their existing small business – for instance, as sole proprietors or limited partnerships – even if the businesses loses money.

Rhode Island consumers have been cooped up inside, often without their regular income. The state should help our families be as active as possible while giving businesses the benefit of their commerce:

  • Repeal bans on single-use plastic bags and other items. The COVID-19 virus and other germs can live on re-usable bags for many days, Rhode Island should repeal all state and municipal bans on single-use plastic bags, straws, and other items. (Maine, New York, and New Hampshire have taken action to roll back similar laws.)
  • Repeal the ban on flavored vaping products to restore choice to Rhode Island adults and to help this industry hire back the workers it was forced to lay-off in 2019.
  • Temporarily suspending Internet Sales Taxes. In March of 2029, the Center published a policy brief with a policy idea that would provide a financial incentive for Ocean Staters to work, shop, and eat at home as much as possible, as the government has either mandated or recommended. To encourage online commerce as a form of social-distancing, the Center recommended this policy. Consideration should be given as to whether this suspension should only apply to in-state purchases and deliveries.
  • To allow alcoholic beverages to leave restaurants when sold with a food take-out order. This will help many restaurants to maintain cash flow and better serve their customers.

Regulatory Reform & Occupational Licensing. For entrepreneurs or individuals looking to start a new career, or to engage in the “gig” economy, and to encourage them to re-enter the workforce as quickly as possible, it is vital that our Ocean State be a welcoming state in support of their desire to engage in meaningful work:

  • Relax all state and local regulations, including zoning, that would interfere with the ability to operate businesses out of the home. Even in the best of times, we are skeptical about the justification for imposing restrictions on people who are trying to advance our economy, improve our society, and support their families. In a time of economic crisis, our tolerance for restrictions should go way down.
  • Institute temporary “reciprocal” occupational licensing, so that licensed professionals in another state, who may be moving to our state to help with the crisis or to establish a new career, can immediately and legally work in their licensed field of expertise.
  • Eliminate sales and hotel taxes on people who offer short-term rentals, independently or through online services like AirBnB. This will encourage home-owners to develop new revenue streams for their households and will make our Ocean State a less expensive tourism destination for many during the vitally important upcoming summer season.

Labor Reforms. To decrease pressure on municipal and state budgets and to lessen the urge to increase taxes on Covid-19 devastated families and businesses:

  • Implement a three-month moratorium on the deduction of government union dues, leaving more money in the pockets of state and local employees. However important labor unions were in helping workers gain some of the benefit of economic booms in the last century, they represent another layer of bureaucracy in our economy. At the same time, the public sector has to share some of the burden of the oncoming recession. At a minimum, removing the government’s implicit subsidy of automatic dues deduction would allow state and local employees to make their own decisions about how their income can best be utilized during these unprecedented times.
  • Temporarily suspend prevailing wage laws that artificially drive up the cost of contracted services by state and local governments by requiring open-shop vendors to pay labor rates significantly higher than they normally would.
  • Temporarily reducing Rhode Island’s minimum wage to the federal level of $7.25 per hour. Our state’s hourly wage mandate of $10.50 is scheduled to rise to $11.50 on October 1st. By providing employers with more flexibility in hiring back their workforce, more Rhode Islanders can more quickly be put on the road to economic recovery. Consideration should be given to limiting this wage-suspension to apply only to newly created or revived positions.
    • Additionally, with government assuming further responsibility for aiding low-income families as we recover from this crises, the state should temporarily increase the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

The experience of the pandemic, and officials’ response to it, have put a spotlight on just how profound the decisions are that our society must make. Therefore, the state should encourage increased civic participation and development of voluntary civic organizations so neighbors can help their neighbors through these difficult times.

  • Develop a forum for public education, debate, and study of the state and federal constitutions and the response of our state and local governments to the COVID-19 crisis, perhaps as a precursor to a state Constitutional Convention. An educated population with a direct line for debate that will actually make a difference in how our state is governed will give Rhode Islanders an opportunity to determine the direction of their own state, articulating the assumptions under which our government was set up and determining which may no longer apply or have fallen by the wayside.
  • Temporarily limit legal liability for volunteers and charitable organizations that may wish to provide a helping hand during this crisis.

Regarding the 2021 budget process, and given the unpredictability of how quickly our state economy and government tax receipts will recover, it is vital that government live within its means, without placing additional burdens on an already distressed private sector. As New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, recently stated … his state government is not going to be able to deliver all of the services and programs it did before the crisis, and can only begin to do as actual government “receipts” dictate.

  • Implement a state Savings Reward Programs to reward state employees for saving taxpayer money through innovative or reengineered government processes. We know our state government is filled with smart, dedicated people, and they are in the best position to see how things can be changed for the better. Unfortunately, our system as it stands creates incentive to resist change, not advocate for it. This incentive structure must be reversed.
  • Freeze all government hiring, even in cases of retirement and resignation, reallocating employees where they are most needed. The governor has already prepared Rhode Islanders for difficult decisions in the coming months and years. One broad decision that can be made now is to reduce the size of the government that taxpayers must support.
  • Eliminate all government positions that were vacant for at least six months prior to the COVID-19 shut-down. If Rhode Island was getting along without certain government positions in good times, we cannot afford them during bad times. For those tasks that are more necessary in a crisis than they were before, existing personnel should be repurposed.
  • Freeze all taxes, state and municipal, at current levels to ensure that families and businesses, who have faced major income cut-backs of their own, are not forced to shoulder the burden of non-essential government spending.

For people to be able to get back to work and to create an economy that will be more resilient the next time there is a crisis, Rhode Island needs to improve its infrastructure, both in the old sense of roads and bridges and in the emerging sense of digital connectivity.

  • Adopt “dig once” and “one-touch make ready” policies. Implementing policies that increase cooperation between Internet service providers (ISPs) and state and local construction planners would enable the Ocean State to expand broadband communications more cheaply and quickly. The Ocean State has no resources to spare. As we spend money repairing and modernizing our roads, we cannot afford to miss the opportunity to advance the infrastructure of the future in a way that can adapt to changing technology.

With families’ learning the ins and outs of “distance learning,” our community has a new level of hands-on experience with education. We must take this opportunity to ensure that our struggling education system reforms to create an informed, job-ready, and resilient population.

  • Begin the process of comparing and analyzing districts’ effectiveness in implementing remote learning in (in and out of Rhode Island) for the development of best practices and other lessons learned. It is not to early to start gathering information from the districts and analyzing it to understand what has worked and what hasn’t.
  • Review state and local budgets to determine what money has been saved by closing school buildings and limiting services in order to create a fund to assist families with education-related expenditures. Our emergency response in education has, on the one hand, created a large network of school and administrative buildings that are not being operated for use and, on the other hand, shifted a substantial amount of the burden for education onto families, themselves. Our state should work to move resources from where they are not being used to where they can make the difference between keeping up and falling behind.

On the health insurance front, many people who have lost their jobs may also have lost their private health care coverage. Currently, Rhode Island’s onerous insurance regulations makes it impossible for provider to offer “short term” insurance plans, either forcing newly uninsured people into much more expensive government-improved plans, onto Medicaid, or to risk living without insurance (and subsequently being penalizing with a fee.)

To help individuals who may be in employment transition during this crisis, Rhode Island should:

  • Expand access to tele-medicine services by having RI file an 1135 waiver with the federal Center for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS) to allow Medicaid patients the same access to tele-health services as Medicare recipients
    • Repeal any existing regulations restricting access to tele-health services
  • End surprise billing for patients by enacting a Georgia-type reform that prohibits medical providers from using third-party collection agencies to collect medical debt that was not informed up-front to patients
  • Expand scope-of-practice allowances for nurses, pharmacists, medical technicians, medical students, and childcare providers … such that they can perform necessary medical testing or care in their field of expertise or for which they may have received training [FL]
  • Remove insurance laws that discourage the sale of short-term health insurance plans, so that patients can be offered lower-cost insurance options from a broader array of providers.

Other health related policy ideas include:

  • Waive regulation to allow medical professionals licensed in other states to be licensed to practice or conduct tele-health services in Rhode Island as was done in Missouri.
  • Repeal Certificate of Need laws that restrict healthcare providers from acquiring advanced technologies, such as medical imaging devices. Such protectionist-driven laws must not become a barrier to Rhode Islanders receiving the the quality care they deserve.
COVID-19

Public Policy and Civic Responses to the COVID-19 Crisis

Government-Distancing Can Help Keep Rhode Islanders Safe and Working During COVID-19 Crisis

To enhance the medical and economic health of Rhode Islanders dealing with the COVID-19 crisis, the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity recommends two initiatives: one by government and one by the private sector. During these trying times, we have a patriotic responsibility to mitigate the many negative consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.

Government-Distancing: Suspend Internet Sales Taxes. To further incentivize people to follow government mandates and guidelines — to work, eat, and shop at home — especially the most vulnerable, and while the COVID-19 virus is still among us, the Center recommends a temporary suspension of the state’s Internet sales tax.

Medical Benefit: To help prevent the physical spread of the COVID-19 virus, social-distancing has become the accepted model for citizens who interact with each other at home, at work, or in public. Similarly, to help prevent the economic malaise that is already spreading among small businesses and individuals, the Center calls for government-distancing to also be practiced, to remove government-imposed barriers that might prevent our people from practicing healthy social-distancing.

By suspending Internet sales taxes and separating itself from the shopping habits of Rhode Islanders, our government can create economic incentive to shop at home, which will lessen the frequency of the community spread of COVID-19. We all know that people will drive over state lines just to save sales tax dollars, so there is little question that people will also not drive away from their homes if it means saving money.

Individual Financial Benefit: A second benefit of suspending Internet sales taxes is that Rhode Islanders will be able to keep more of their hard-earned money. These savings could be very important to the many people who at this time are suffering a loss of income — due to a loss of jobs, loss of working hours, or even the loss of their businesses — partly owing to the government-mandated shut-downs and restrictions and partly to the social-distancing already being practiced.

Budgetary Factors: In a 2019 brief asking lawmakers to honor their commitment to reduce the sales tax rate when Internet sales taxes began, the Center estimated annual revenue of $57 million to be derived from online taxes. At less than $5 million per month, waiving the Internet sales tax for three months could easily be paid for by reducing $18 million in annual corporate welfare or cutting $14 million in unpopular legislative and community service grants gifted to political insiders yearly.

At the end of the legislative session last year, the state refused to reduce the sales tax rate to 6.5% as promised when Rhode Island started collecting Internet sales taxes, meaning these collections have been over and above what Rhode Islanders should have been paying.

Enhancing the Right to Earn. In addition to this one potentially important legislative initiative, the government can further distance itself from being a barrier to getting Rhode Islanders back to work by implementing some of the occupational-licensing reforms the Center recommended in its major 2018 report, The Right to Earn a Living.

Civic Responsibility. Small businesses are the lifeblood of our Ocean State economy, and many small business owners and employees are our neighbors or members of our families. For those who are able, it is the civic responsibility of each and every Rhode Islander to help keep our in-state businesses … and our state … economically healthy, while we sacrifice to keep ourselves medically healthy.

Purchase Gift Certificates and Take-Out Orders: For many small businesses, whose services have been shut down or severely curtailed by government mandates or lower demand from people voluntarily staying at home, short-term cash flow is vital to their survival, to be able to pay their employees, to pay their rent, to purchase the raw materials they need, or just to conduct necessary business operations.

Gift certificates, purchased by individuals and businesses who have the near-term financial capacity, can be a critical way to infuse much-needed cash into businesses today with 100% near-term net cash flow, while delivery of their goods and services, and the associated expenses, can be delayed into the future, when normal business conditions return. This simple activity by thousands of Rhode Islanders would mean cash IN now, with expenses OUT later, and extend the lives of many businesses and jobs in our state. Purchasing take-out orders from food and beverage and other establishments can also keep cash flowing into businesses during this critical period.

A Call to Chambers and Other Private Institutions: While individuals can engage in the above-recommended activities on their own, an even more positive impact can result if business groups and other civic organizations help promote these concepts. We encourage all public, private, and civic organizations to actively do their part in raising awareness about how their members might help small businesses in this way:

  • Local Chambers of Commerce
  • Statewide business associations
  • Churches and other charitable organizations
  • Rotary, K of C, Kiwanis, and other civic clubs
Rhode Island will weather the Coronavirus crisis. We must hold true to the core American values that were the basis for the founding of our nation.

CEO Mike Stenhouse: My Message Of Hope During This Coronavirus Crisis

During these times that “try men’s and women’s souls” and that are causing such upheaval in our lives, we are all left to wonder how we will cope. I pray for your health and for the safety of everyone in your family. 

May I also offer why I am personally hopeful and confident that America and Rhode Island will weather the Coronavirus crisis. In our hearts and minds, we must hold true to the core American values that were the basis for the founding of our nation and for its unprecedented prosperity … our true north. 

I have often publicly stated that the divisiveness we are currently experiencing in our country is fundamentally due to a growing lack of faith in our country and a lack of trust in God. But for those of us who do share these values, like you and me, I believe we can find great solace. 

I personally have great trust … because of America’s capitalistic society and the remarkable strength of our economy before the Coronavirus crisis … that despite any financial pain we are feeling now, and may feel for some time to come, that our economy will rebound very quickly and will minimize the long-term negative effects.

For me, my faith in knowing that millions of people of God have joined with me in praying for our world, has been highly comforting in believing that my family and loved ones will end up OK.

But we all know that many, many others will indeed suffer – health-wise and economically. That is why today I am encouraging you to be generous with other credible charitable organizations that offer direct assistance to those in need of medical and financial assistance. Americans are the most charitable people in the world, and it is this noble virtue that will help the most needy of our neighbors to weather the storm.

I ask you to join me in keeping the faith with our core values and in proactively seeking to help our sisters and brothers in distress.

RI Women For Freedom

Center Announces New Women’s Group to Counter Progressive-Left

RI Women For Freedom Logo

New Group Gives Voice to the Silent Majority of Ocean State Women
Learn more at RIWomenForFreedom.org

Providence, RI – The RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity today announced the launch of a new women’s initiative, designed to attract moderate and conservative women who do not feel that the state’s progressive-left groups speak for them.

The mission of the new group, RI Women for Freedom & Prosperity, is to empower and give voice to the silent majority of pro-liberty women in our state; to be heard and to effectively become involved our state’s political process and in society by providing them with the information, education & training, and motivation to confidently engage in civil public discourse and to become a trusted leader in the civic and business arenas.

“I have had so many women approach me over the years who appreciate the work of our Center, but still feel that an organized counter-balance to our state’s progressive women’s groups is needed,” commented Mike Stenhouse, the Center’s CEO. “So, we put together a great leadership team and a program that women will truly appreciate.”

Susan Wynn, RI Women For Freedom & Prosperity

RI Women for Freedom is currently accepting memberships at just $10 per year and is expected to soon engage in important issue debates and to announce its initial training and educational events. 

One focus of the new group is to provide the ‘other side’ of the debate in many of the important policy and societal issues that arise … by representing the views of mainstream women … and to do so in a bold, yet civil and respectful manner. 

The women’s group executive committee is headed by Susan Wynne, a long-time advocate in the state and former President of the RI Tea Party. “Our goal is to give voice to the silent majority of moderate and conservative women in our state as a common-sense contrast to the extreme-left views pushed up at the statehouse,” said Wynne.

From its RIWomenForFreedom.org website, the group has already enlisted a broad diversity of women supporters and members who do not view themselves as victims in need of special protections, as they are often portrayed by far-left women’s groups.

Legislation that placed a tax on the legal use of opioid perscriptions in Rhode Island has resulted in unintended consequences and should be repealed.

Center Calls for Repeal of Opioid Stewardship Act in Open Letter to Leadership

Letter Cites Unintended Consequences of Opioid Tax
Center’s Chairman Predicted Such in 2019 Opinion Piece

Providence, RI – As was predicted by the Center’s Chairman last year, the 2019 Opioid Stewardship Act, enacted legislation that placed a tax on the legal use of pain-killers, has resulted in unintended consequences that have disrupted supply chains and placed additional financial burdens on patients. 

Today, the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity sent an open-letter to General Assembly leadership, calling on them to repeal the Act. 

Cited in the letter from his 2019 Providence Journal opinion piece, Dr. Stephen Skoly, a maxillo-facial surgeon, with long experience in prescribing legal pain relief medications, wrote – “when developing policy, Rhode Island legislators need to acknowledge the importance of protecting the affordability and accessibility of necessary medications for our state’s patients and their families.” 

The Center believes the time is now to correct last year’s mistake.

occupation licensing

Center Submits Testimony on Omnibus Occupational Licensing Reform Bill

Written Testimony on Bill to Reduce Regulatory Burdens On Occupation Licensing Law
Commends Leadership from Department of Business Regulation

Providence, RI – Encouraged that reforms continue to move forward based on its 2018 report on the heavy burdens of “occupation licensing” laws in the state, the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity yesterday submitted written testimony to the House Committee on Small Business.  

The omnibus legislation, H7892, seeks to reduce occupation licensing burdens across multiple occupational areas, and in passing this bill, Rhode Island would join the increasing national trend – both at the state and federal level – to reduce roadblocks that may prohibit certain individuals from engaging in meaningful work. 

“I would like to commend the Department of Business Regulation, led by Elizabeth Tanner, for their leadership in crafting this legislation, which will help to improve our state’s poorly-ranked business climate,” commented Mike Stenhouse, the Center’s CEO. “There is much more we can do to make Rhode Island a more hospitable state to build a career.”

Last year, another recommendation from the Center’s Right To Earn report, common-sense legislation long-time supported by the Center, to remove onerous regulatory burdens for natural hair-braiders … was finally passed by the General Assembly and enacted into law. 

In the testimony, Stenhouse offered committee members to review the Center’s list of other occupational licensing reform solutions that can enhance Ocean Stater’s right to earn a living of their choice.

A PDF of this testimony, the Center’s report on licensing reform, and other related information can be found at RIFreedom.org/RightToEarn.