House Budget Adopts 25% of Spotlight on $pending Recommendations

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But Leaves $168 Million of RI Taxpayer Dollars on the Table

 

The budget unveiled in the Rhode Island House Finance Committee, last week, showed a $13.3 million decrease in state spending, compared with the governor’s proposed budget.  Approximately $3.1 million of the reductions overlap with the Spotlight on $pending report that the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity released in March, after a review of the governor’s proposal.

Another $52.9 million in Spotlight on $pending suggestions were in the budget, but were either not counted as a line item or amounted to transfers to federal funds.

“The legislature clearly has different priorities than the Center, but the fact that some of our suggestions found their way into the budget shows how important it is to have alternative voices,” says Justin Katz, who is the research director for the free-market think tank and a coauthor of the Spotlight on $pending report.  At a State House press conference promoting Spotlight on $pending on April 2, Katz had told reporters that the Center hoped legislators would look to their analysis for ideas no matter what fiscal goals they were trying to reach.

Specific areas of agreement between the Center and the House were as follows (note that reductions are from the governor’s proposal, not from current spending):

  • A $1 million reduction in local funding for the State Council on the Arts.
  • Savings of $834,512 in “inmate population-related operating expenditures.”
  • Eliminating a $500,000 increase in workforce training programs.
  • Over $323,973 in savings by not adding new employees to a consolidated Diversity, Equity and Opportunity office.
  • Ending $159,585 in Public Utilities Commission personnel previously funded by the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), rather than absorbing them into state spending.
  • Saving $145,303 by running a new certificate of good conduct program for parolees with existing personnel.
  • A $100,000 reduction in payroll within the governor’s office.
  • Not adding a $75,000 per year Creative and Cultural Economy Coordinator to the state’s payroll.

The House also agreed with the $50 million in savings the Center recommended by not expanding the historic tax credit program as the governor wanted.  However, neither the governor nor the House included those costs or savings anywhere in the budget.

Another area of partial overlap came with the Unified Health Infrastructure Program (UHIP), which will make it easier to enroll people in multiple government programs when they apply for any one of them.  The Center expects this program, operated using the state’s health benefits exchange (HealthSource RI), to amplify the cost of social service programs and called for it to be ended.  Instead, the House budget managed to transfer $2.9 million in near-term spending on the project from general revenue to federal sources.

“It’s going to take more feedback from Rhode Islanders to change way the state government operates,” says Katz, who would prefer the savings to be used to reduce the state sales tax rate to 3%, creating over 13,000 private-sector jobs.  “Still, counting the tax credits and UHIP, the House budget includes 25% of the savings that we identified in Spotlight on $pending.”

The Spotlight on $pending report was produced in cooperation with the Taxpayers Protection Alliance and coauthored by Drew Johnson and Justin Katz.

Statement on 3% Sales Tax Hearings

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May 8, 2014 — OFFICIAL STATEMENT re. the May 7 House Finance Committee hearing on H8039 to lower the state sales tax to 3%. 

The Center’s testimony regarding a proposed sales tax cut to 3%, yesterday, appeared to generate interest from of a number of House Finance Committee members with the presentation of its “complete solution“, including a fiscal note about the anticipated dynamic revenue increases, which would lower the net impact on the state budget to as little as $47 million, in exchange for a potential increase in jobs of over 13,000. The Center then also showed how to find budget savings for this remainder (Spotlight on $pending report) without cutting any essential programs or services.

It appears that, legislatively, sales tax cuts are being considered along with corporate tax and estate tax cuts in 2014. While the Center supports all three reforms, research indicates that sales tax cuts will produce the largest economic boost and create significantly more jobs, at a lower cost per job, than any other tax reform.

The Center is puzzled by the position taken by the RI Hospitality Association, which testified against the 3% bill. It is almost certain that such reform would significantly increase consumer demand throughout the industry (diners, overnight guests, vendor services), perhaps as much as 20%, create more jobs, and lower the cost of conducting business for each of the Association’s member organizations. In 2012 RIHA actively mobilized support to stop a proposed 2% percentage-point increase in industry sales taxes, yet now is working against a sales tax cut of twice that size. The Center questions if RIHA members are aware of or support this position?

Testimony was also heard on bill to decrease the sales tax to 6% on a reduced number of industry sectors. Again, while a small step in the right direction, this reform would produce only one-sixth as many jobs, at just less than half the cost to the state budget, as compared with the 3% plan.

completesolution-explanation

Providence Journal article confirms that Center operates in a nonpartisan manner, and in full-compliance with federal law.

The “full” story about our Center

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The recent front-page Providence Journal story about our Center did not tell the whole story. You deserve to know. Click on …

[button url=”http://www.rifreedom.org/?p=10326″ target=”_self” size=”medium” style=”royalblue” ] See the full story here [/button]

Center Recommends Transfer of HealthSourceRI to Federal Government

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE; January 16, 2014                              

Providence, RI – Following the Governor’s Wednesday night address and after initial review of his 2015 budget, where it is obvious that state funds will soon be needed to continue operation of the state’s healthcare exchange, the Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity, a nonpartisan public policy think tank, today called on public officials to consider termination of the state’s operation of the HealthSourceRI exchange, and instead transfer its management to the federal government, which currently operates exchanges in dozens of other states.

The exchange was originally formed in Rhode Island by executive order by Governor Chafee as part of the implementation of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, which made federal funds available for its construction through the end of 2014. It is anticipated that subsequent operation of HealthSourceRI could cost Ocean Staters over $20 million per year.

“The exchange is a federal mandate, it is very expensive to operate, and it is clear that we cannot afford it once federal funds expire. Our own General Assembly rejected operation of the exchange in the first place, so how can we justify burdening Rhode Island taxpayers with footing the bill,” asked Mike Stenhouse, CEO for the Center, which plans to conduct further research into exploring the feasibility of executing this transfer.
 
The Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity, a nonpartisan public policy think tank, is the state’s leading free-enterprise advocacy organization. The Center works to make a profound, positive impact on the lives of every family and business in the state through the rigorous exchange of market-based ideas and reform solutions aimed at restoring economic competitiveness, educational opportunities and – ultimately – hope for a brighter future.

Media Release: Center Calls for Postponement of Child Care Unionization Election

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October 1, 2013

Providence, RI — Based on today’s U.S. Supreme Court announcement to hear a related Illinois case, the Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity is now calling on the State Labor Relations Board (SLRB) to cancel the planned election about whether or not upwards of 680 home child care providers should accept the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) as their exclusive union representative.

According to a press release this morning by the National Right To Work Legal Defense Foundation, the U.S. Supreme Court announced today that it is granting a writ of certiorari in a case that will decide whether Illinois home-care providers can be forced into union ranks against their will. The Harris-vs-Quinn case challenges a forced-unionism scheme enacted by Illinois Governors Rod Blagojevich and Pat Quinn on the grounds that it violates their rights to free expression and association by forcing them to subsidize union lobbying.

Earlier in the month, the Center called on the Rhode Island SLRB to merely delay the election until it publicly commented on and evaluated a ruling in mid-September from the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that granted an injunction to stop a similar planned election in Minnesota, pending action from the U.S. Supreme Court. Today’s announcement creates an even stronger argument to hold off on the election.

“Now, with the highest court in the land clearly recognizing that there may be an issue with forced unionization, the SLRB must postpone this election and avoid a potential legal morass until the United States Supreme Court makes its final ruling next year”, insisted Mike Stenhouse, CEO for the Center. “With area unions publicly stating that it is their plan to force unionization upon even more independent business owners and contractors in our state, it is even more important that the SLRB does not move forward with a process that my soon be ruled as unconstitutional.”

Earlier this month, the Center published a report highlighting concerns that unionization may cause for taxpayers, service providers, and other independent business owners.

Stenhouse discusses issue on WPRI-12 NewsMakers … 

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Center to Conduct “Child Care Union 101′ Seminars

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  – September 18, 2013

Providence, RI — The Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity announced today that it will conduct a series of “Child Care Union 101” seminars this coming Saturday for home child care providers, including a bi-lingual session.

To raise awareness among providers who will participate in an upcoming election about whether or not to accept the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) as their exclusive union representative, the Center has received funding to launch a public awareness campaign, with the goal of reaching as many of the 580 providers as possible, in order to provide them with important information before they vote.

The campaign, which kicked off with a post-card mailer this past weekend to providers, will also include social media and telephone outreach.

The private seminars for home child care providers will be conducted by Jennifer Parrish, a child care provider who for years has been organizing providers in Minnesota, and whose organization, the Coalition of Union Free Providers, is partnering with the Center to provide information about the impact that unionization may have on the family child care profession. According to Parrish, “when providers have access to this information, they overwhelmingly oppose unionization.”

The three “Child Care Union 101” Seminars to be held on Saturday September 21, are:

* 10:00AM – 12:00PM (Bi-lingual); Riverside Library 475 Bullocks Point Avenue, Riverside, RI

* 1:00PM – 3:00PM  Cranston Knights of Columbus Hall 1047 Park Avenue #3, Cranston, RI

* 3:30PM – 5:30PM North Providence Free Library 1810 Mineral Spring Avenue, North Providence, RI

Providers can RSVP at the Coalition’s website:  www.childcareunioninfo.com.

Earlier this week, the Center published a report introducing the concerns that unionization may cause for taxpayers, service providers, and other small business owners. The full report can be viewed here.

 

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Center Calls on Labor Relations Board to Revise Child Care Unionization Ballot Language

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View the official petition to SLRB here … 

The Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity is calling on the State Labor Relations Board to revise the proposed language on the ballot in the upcoming election that will determine whether or not upward of 580 private contractors – that provide child care services in their home to clients who receive state-subsidized assistance – will become unionized.

The Center recommends a simple revision that more clearly defines the reality of the the options that these childcare providers are being forced to consider. Per a recent report in the Providence Journal, the ballot question currently reads: ‘Do you desire to be represented for the purpose of collective bargaining by Service Employees International Union, District 1199, NE or by no provider representative.”

This language is devoid of the word ‘exclusively’, and, therefore, does not appropriately highlight an important provision that child care providers should be made aware of; that such representation would be exclusive to SEIU, and that by voting to unionize, providers will be forced to petition their state government through an involuntary association. As previously argued by the Center, this may be in violation of their constitutional right to freedom of association.

The Center recommends that the ballot language should be revised to read: ‘Do you desire to be represented for the purpose of collective bargaining exclusively by Service Employees International Union, District 1199, NE or by no provider representative.’

“Many providers, who today proudly call themselves independent business owners, free to make their own decisions about how best to operate their business, are concerned that, after the election, they may be involuntarily reduced to the status of unionized state employees, subject to the agenda of national and international unions, forced to pay dues, and forced to be represented exclusively by the state’s hand-picked monopoly union”, said Mike Stenhouse, CEO for the Center.

Following remarks this past weekend (@ 9:00 minute mark) on WPRI-12’s Executive Suite by AFL-CIO union boss, George Nee, the Center is also concerned that the child care unionization effort is a ‘Trojan Horse’ and just the first of of many planned steps of organized labor where other independent contractors and small business owners across the state will soon also be forced to unionize (e.g., child care centers, home health care providers, landlords), providing even more financial and political clout to unions, and creating a further drag on the state’s already stagnant job market and bloated budget.

Related Links:  Unionization of Child Care Providers May Be Unconstituional

School Choice Essay Contest Winners

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Read Tiffany’s essay here …  Read Bryan’s essay here …  Listen to Tiffany and Bryan on the Helen Glover Radio Show 920WHJJ-AM

Media Release: July 31, 2013

Providence, RI — In celebrating “Friedman Legacy Day 2013”, the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity will award prizes today to Tiffany Rezendes and Bryan Morillo, the top two essayists in a private essay contest it conducted with the youth-run empowerment organization, People United For Change, based in the Wiggins Village section of Providence.

Friedman Legacy Day is an annual celebration of the life and work of Milton Friedman, a Nobel Prize winning economist and one of the early pioneers of school choice in America. Today would have been Friedman’s 101st birthday.

Tiffany Rezendes and Bryan Morillo were announced as the top two essayist in the 2013 Milton Friedman Legacy Day Essay Contest celebration. Thanks to People United for Change for partnering with our Center.

Tiffany Rezendes and Bryan Morillo were announced as the top two essayist in the 2013 Milton Friedman Legacy Day Essay Contest celebration. Thanks to People United for Change for partnering with our Center.

Essayists were asked to write about how school choice has, or may have, made a difference in their lives or in someone they know. Both winners attended Providence district schools and each will receive an IPad donated by a Board member of the Center.

“A major assertion of Milton Friedman was echoed as a common theme in the personal essays we received; namely, that poor families are most affected by a lack of school choice,” said Mike Stenhouse, CEO of the Center. “He believed that residents of low-income neighborhoods, more than any other population, are disadvantaged as to the quality of schooling they can get for their children.”

Rezendes, 20, wrote about how one of her closest friends dropped out of high school due to a lack of a challenging curriculum in her Providence school, with no option to choose a school that was better suited to her interests, and how “she just gave up once she found out she wasn’t accepted into Classical because all her hopes of having a great education had to be lowered to settle for a below average school experience.”

Morillo, 17, discussed how lack of choice in schools “condemned the students of providence (sic) to an attitude of ‘sit at home and collect a check’ … ” because of a curriculum that left many “unprepared for the real world”, and “making it easy to simply go through the motions …”

People United for Change is a youth-run organization based at Wiggins Village in Providence, focused on empowering people to bring about positive and meaningful change, through unity, to the city of Providence and the state of Rhode Island.

Read Tiffany’s essay here …

Read Bryan’s essay here …

ABOUT the Contest

The School Choice Essay Contest asked students to write about how school choice could have positively affected their life, or someone close to them. Essays were scored from 1-10 in each of four categories: emotional appeal, realism, defense of school choice, and quality of writing. Each of the five judges read and scored each essay.

JUDGING PANEL

Dr. Angela Dills, PhD – Economics Professor, Providence College. Doctor Dills has championed school choice for several years through research and speaking.

Matthew Fabisch – Attorney, Stephen Hopkins Center for Civil Rights. Matt has worked extensively on the legality and principles surrounding school choice.

Creusa Michelazzo – Providence-based small business owner. Macremi specializes in PR, production, and community/business development.

Akash Chougule – Outreach Coordinator, RI Center for Freedom. Akash conducts the Center’s youth outreach to state and national liberty organizations.

Tyler Tassinari – Student, Arizona State University and Center Intern. Tyler is spending his summer doing school choice research for the Center.

Center Assembles Expert Panel for Sales Tax Hearing

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  May 13, 2013 

Providence, RI — Hailed as the largest tax cut and economic stimulus plan the state of Rhode Island has ever considered, an expert panel has been assembled by the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity to testify at Wednesday’s hearing of the “Sales Tax Repeal Act of 2013” (H-5365) in front of the RI House Finance Committee on May 15, at 1:00 pm in Room 35 at the RI State House.

The panel is comprised of: Scott Moody, the national economist who authored the original Zero.Zero Sales Tax report in 2012, which inspired the bill sponsored by Rep. Jan Mailik (D-67); Paul Bachman, from the Beacon Hill Institute, which developed the STAMP modeling program that produced the job and revenue projections used in the Zero.Zero reports; the Center’s CEO, Mike Stenhouse; and the Center’s research director, Justin Katz.

The updated 2013 Zero.Zero report showed that as little as $105 million in budget savings could put the Ocean State on the path towards 25,000 new jobs and a re-invigorated economy, if the state were to repeal its onerous sales and meals tax.

“This is the only game-changing reform idea out there for a state economy that desperately needs a game-changing idea”, said Stenhouse. “This is a reform that would immediately save money for every family and business, and that would attract out-of-state shoppers to our state. Because of the regressive nature of the sales tax – and eliminating it would help low-income families most – we are seeing support from across the political spectrum. We invite all members of the public to attend the hearing and see how this plan can put Rhode Islanders back to work.”

The Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity, a non-partisan public policy think tank, is the state’s leading free-enterprise advocacy organization. With a credo that freedom is indispensable to citizens’ well-being and prosperity, the Center’s mission is to stimulate a rigorous exchange of ideas with the goal of restoring competitiveness to Rhode Island through the advancement of market-based reform solutions.

Online Merger of The Ocean State Current and Anchor Rising

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Providence, RI — The Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity announced today that its online journalism and commentary wing, The Ocean State Current, will be merging the content of Anchor Rising into a single location on The Current’s existing website and URL.
The co-branded joint venture, launched today at OceanStateCurrent.com, will now also feature content from an experienced team of Anchor Rising contributors who set the standard for conservative blogging in Rhode Island, including Andrew Morse, Marc Comtois, Monique Chartier, and Patrick Laverty.

Founded in 2004, Anchor Rising is Rhode Island’s most prominent blog for conservative news and commentary about politics and public policy. Justin Katz, one of Anchor Rising’s founding members, and editor of The Ocean State Current, also serves as the Center’s research director. “Moving the state forward toward less-waning waters’ is arguably no longer sufficient at a time when the keel appears to be scraping the bottom of the bay. We’ve reached the point of dredging, and that requires greater focus and greater unity of purpose”, said Katz.
RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity CEO Mike Stenhouse says, “With this new quality content, we feel the Current-Anchor website is now the premiere online opinion area for advancing free-market, small government views in the entire state.We also intend to continue producing hard-hitting investigative journalism pieces as with the recent stories about excessive overtime payments to government workers.”

Anchor Rising’s deep archives will remain in their original locations on the Internet, and readers can access the original archive site through the arvhive link on the new, combined page.