Jobs & Opportunity Index (JOI), December 2019: Signs of Growth Foretell a Revision

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The final report for 2019 of the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity’s Jobs & Opportunity Index (JOI) found Rhode Island still with its overall ranking of 47th in the country. Data for all 12 datapoints of the index except federal taxes were updated for this iteration, and the only negatives, compared with September, were a slight increase in marginally attached workers and a more-significant increase in state and local taxes.

Click for full PDF including national table

Employment and labor force were up about 0.7% and 0.6%, respectively, since the first-reported numbers for September, and RI-based jobs increased 0.5%. With the national economy continuing to improve, Medicaid enrollment fell 3.2%, while TANF (cash welfare) rolls shrank by 24.0%. SNAP enrollment was down 0.3%. The Ocean State had 16.5% fewer residents who counted as long-term unemployed and 7.8% fewer who were working only part time because more work was not available. However, the number counting as marginally attached increased 2.1%.

When it comes to money, personal income was up a modest 0.3% on an annualized basis, which amounted to $161 million more income. However, state and local taxation increased 1.4%, or $50 million, resulting not only from the increased income, but also increases in taxation after recent legislative sessions.

The first chart shows RI remaining last in New England on JOI, at 47th. New Hampshire held the 1st spot, nationally. Maine improved its standing two spots, to 17th, while Vermont continued to slip, to 21st. Massachusetts moved up a step to 36th, and Connecticut advanced to 37th. The second chart shows the gaps between RI and New England and the United States on JOI, and the third chart shows the gaps in the official unemployment rate.

Results for the three underlying JOI factors were:

  • Job Outlook Factor (optimism that adequate work is available): RI advanced five spots, to 27th.
  • Freedom Factor (the level of work against reliance on welfare programs): RI remained 41st.
  • Prosperity Factor (the financial motivation of income versus taxes): RI remained 47th.

Click here for the corresponding employment post on the Ocean State Current.

Click for full PDF including national table

Virginia Valentine: TCI Compact Crumbling as Virginia Gives Love, Says No to New Gas Taxes

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Virginia Gives Some Valentine’s Day Love to Old Dominion Motorists

Providence, RI – Families and businesses in the state of Virginia were given a dose of Valentine’s Day love this week, when political leaders announced that the state would not join the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) compact this year, saving Old Dominion motorists from paying up to 17 cents more per gallon of gas.

Additionally, because of the work of the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity and its partners in the #NoTCItax regional coalition to raise awareness in their respective states, New Hampshire had previously withdrawn from the compact, while the governors of Connecticut, Maine, and Vermont have also expressed opposition to new carbon taxes. In Rhode Island, the Speaker of the House, Nicholas Mattiello, along with 24 other lawmakers, have publicly stated their opposition to the TCI Gas Tax cap-and-trade system. In Massachusetts, lawmakers are reported as considering less intrusive alternatives.

And now in Virginia, its Secretary of Natural Resources, Matt Strickler, is on record saying his state won’t even consider joining TCI for at least another year. Yet despite the crumbling support from northeast states, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondodoes not appear ready to give up on this unpopular scheme. 

“The Governor will instigate a major political and legal fight if she attempts to impose a major new gas tax by bypassing the General Assembly by taking unauthorized executive action,” said Mike Stenhouse, the Center’s CEO. “Ocean State families and businesses should not be punished for driving their personal cars and business vehicles.”

In December, the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity joined 17 other free-market organizations in sending an open letter to Governor Raimondo and Ocean State lawmakers asking them to reject this TCI gas tax scheme. In January, the entire group met in Boston.

Last month, the Center published a TCI Question & Answer document on the proposed TCI gas tax. The TCI Q&A, the TCI Open Letter, the TCI Gas Tax policy brief, and other related information can be found at RIFreedom.org/NoTCITax.

Center’s Work with Regional Coalition Has Backed TCI Proponents Into a Corner

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Center Participates In Regional Meeting Involving 10 States to  Oppose the Transportation & Climate Initiative (TCI)

Providence, RI – It is not by accident that the proposed Transportation & Climate Initiative (TCI) is losing support among many of the states it has targeted … to the point where some proponents are considering a Plan-B.

Last week, the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity’s CEO, Mike Stenhouse, traveled to Boston to meet with other organizations from east coast states who oppose TCI, a regional compact targeting 12 states and Washington DC that seeks to impose a 5 to 17 cent per gallon tax on gasoline and diesel fuel, with the intent of forcing Rhode Island to drive less often and into more costly and less convenient electric vehicles and public transportation options.

Because of the work of the #NoTCItaxcoalition to raise awareness in their respective states, New Hampshire has already withdrawn from the compact, while the governors of Connecticut, Maine, and Vermont have also expressed opposition to new carbon taxes. In Rhode Island, the Speaker of the House, Nicholas Mattiello, has publicly stated that he is opposed to the TCI Gas Tax. In Massachusetts, lawmakers are reported as considering less intrusive alternatives.

Alongside our New England colleagues from the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, Ethan Allen Institute, Maine Heritage Policy Center, Yankee Institute, Americans for Prosperity New Hampshire, and Maine Policy – as well as a number of organizations in other northeast states – Stenhouse participated in a downtown Boston press conference where each organization  had the opportunity to outline why TCI is a bad idea for their state and why we believe it will ultimately fail. 

Check out the Boston Herald’s coverage of the press conference here.

At the event, covered by about 8 members of the Massachusetts media, Stenhouse stated that Rhode Islanders should not be purposefully punished for for driving their personal autos or business vehicles in the normal course of their lives.

In December, the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity joined 17 other free-market organizations in sending an open letter to Governor Raimondo and Ocean State lawmakers asking them to reject this TCI gas tax scheme.

Last week, the Center published a TCI Question & Answer document the proposed TCI gas tax. The TCI Q&A, the TCI Open Letter, the TCI Gas Tax policy brief, and other related information can be found at RIFreedom.org/NoTCITax.

Rhode Island Transportation cost could be going up.

Ahead of State of the State Address, Center Publishes TCI Gas Tax Q&A

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What Every Rhode Islander Should Know About the Transportation & Climate Initiative (TCI)

Providence, RI – With Governor Raimondo expected to address climate change in her annual “State of the State Address” this evening, the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity today published a Question & Answer document about the carbon tax “cap and trade” regional compact she is advancing – the Transportation & Climate Initiative (TCI).

With four of the six New England state Governors publicly stating major concerns about TCI, if not outright rejection, and with Speaker Mattiello also expressing opposition, Governor Raimondo remains stubbornly committed to a scheme developed by radical environmentalists that purposefully seeks to make gasoline so expensive that Rhode Island motorists will be forced to drive less often.

CLICK HERE FOR The Q & A

Titled, ‘What Rhode Islanders Should Know About the TCI Gas Tax’, the Q&A document answers commonly asked questions about the objectives of TCI, how it works, and how it will impact Ocean State families and businesses. Initial details of the regional Transportation & Climate Initiative gas tax plan were released in December.

“The Governor may try to sugar-coat TCI in her address this evening, but Rhode Islanders should not be fooled; this is a crushing new tax on the budgets of families and businesses,” said the Center’s CEO, Mike Stenhouse. “Hard-working Rhode Islanders should not be purposefully punished for driving their kids to school, going to work, visiting family, going shopping, or delivering goods and services.”

With opposition mounting among state lawmakers, it is unclear if Governor Raimondo, who says TCI is necessary to “save our planet”, may seek to unilaterally impose the TCI gas tax on Ocean State motorists and truckers, or if she will seek legislative approval. The final TCI plan is expected in the early spring of 2020, when executive or legislative action could initiate.

The Center, part of a 12-state #NoTICtax coalition that will meet this Friday in Boston, signed an Open TCI Letter in December along with partners from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Virginia, Vermont, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Maine, Delaware, New York, New Jersey, and Washington, DC.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

The Center’s policy brief released last month, the TCI Tax, lays out the ‘diabolical’ goals of TCI, a green-new-deal type program whose goal is to make gasoline so expensive that it will “go away”. Like all far-left contrivances to reduce carbon-gas emissions, the TCI gas tax will harm economic growth and will take money out of the pockets of residents, while failing to meet its stated environmental goals. The policy brief discusses in detail the many reasons why our Rhode Island should not join the TCI compact, including:

  • In Rhode Island, with its already dismal business climate and exodus of people to lower-cost states, families and businesses cannot afford a significant new gas tax
  • The failure of a similar regional scheme on electricity, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, has driven up consumer costs; has resulted in no added greenhouse gas reductions; and has caused economic harm. There is every reason to believe TCI will also produce a negative cost vs. benefit result. 
  • The Governor should not try to bypass the Constitutional authority of the General Assembly by unilaterally seeking to impose this new gas tax
  • Rhode Island could gain a significant competitive advantage in the region by refusing to sign-on to the TCI tax scheme by being able to offer lower-priced gasoline products
  • There are many less disruptive and more efficient ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
  • State and national legal challenges may result, along a number of potential Constitutional angle

The TCI Q&A, the TCI Open Letter, the TCI Gas Tax policy brief, and other related information can be found at RIFreedom.org/NoTCITax.

Center Signs Coalition Letter to Oppose Regional TCI Gas Tax

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18 Regional Advocacy Groups Issue Open Coalition Letter Opposing TCI Regional Gas Tax Plan

Providence, RI – The RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity today joins with a dozen-and-a-half other pro-freedom groups in northeast states to co-sign a regional coalition “open letter” that opposes the regional carbon tax “cap and trade” compact that will significantly raise gas prices at the pump, known as the Transportation & Climate Initiative (TCI). 

The TCI Open Letter discusses how the TCI gas tax is “the equivalent of a sin tax – a penalty for engaging in bad behavior” (driving), as defined by radical environmentalists.

“Hard-working Rhode Islanders should not be purposefully punished for driving their kids to school, going to work, visiting family, going shopping, or delivering goods and services,” said the Center’s CEO, Mike Stenhouse. “We are proud to stand with our coalition partners in opposing this stealth tax on gas. Our coalition letter points out how the TCI Gas Tax will especially harm low-income and rural families.”

Initial details of the regional TCI gas tax plan, openly supported by Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo and being considered in 11 other New England and mid-Atlantic states, are expected to be released later today; however the TCI framework has been previously made public. The TCI gasoline tax scheme will be similar to the regional electricity tax cap-and-trade compact already in existence, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), in which Rhode Island has been a member since 2007.

It is unclear if Governor Raimondo will seek to unilaterally impose the TCI gas tax on Ocean State motorists and truckers, or if she will seek legislative approval. The final TCI plan is expected in the early spring of 2020, when executive or legislative action will take place. 

In addition to Rhode Island, the Open TCI Letter was co-signed by #NoTCITax regional and national coalition partners from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Virginia, Vermont, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Maine, Delaware, New York, New Jersey, and Washington, DC. 

The Center’s policy brief released earlier this month – The TCI Tax – details the ‘diabolical’ goals of the Transportation & Climate Initiative (TCI), a green-new-deal type program whose goal is to make gasoline so expensive that it will “go away”. Like all far-left contrivances to reduce carbon-gas emissions, including RGGI, the TCI gas tax will harm economic growth and will take money out of the pockets of residents, while failing to meet its stated environmental goals.

The policy brief discusses in detail the many reasons why our state should not join the TCI compact, including:

  • In Rhode Island, with its already dismal business climate and exodus of people to lower-cost states, families and businesses cannot afford a significant new gas tax
  • The failure of a similar regional scheme on electricity, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, has driven up consumer costs; has resulted in no added greenhouse gas reductions; and has caused economic harm. There is every reason to believe TCI will also produce a negative cost vs. benefit result. 
  • The Governor should not try to bypass the Constitutional authority of the General Assembly by unilaterally seeking to impose this new gas tax
  • Rhode Island could gain a significant competitive advantage in the region by refusing to sign-on to the TCI tax scheme by being able to offer lower-priced gasoline products
  • There are many less disruptive and more efficient ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
  • State and national legal challenges may result, along a number of potential Constitutional angle

The TCI Open Letter, the TCI Gas Tax policy brief, and other related information can be found at RIFreedom.org/NoTCITax. #NoTCITax 


The prices for gasoline could soon rise dramatically for your family through a new stealth carbon-tax scheme – the TCI Gas Tax.

POLICY BRIEF: Why Raimondo Administration Should Not Impose New TCI Gas Tax

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The Stealth TCI Gas Tax

Why the Governor Should Not Sign-on to the Transportation & Climate Initiative

Click Here For The Policy Brief

Providence, RI – If the Raimondo administration gets its way and coerces the General Assembly to sign-on to a new carbon-tax regional compact, a scheme devised by climate alarmists, Rhode Island motorists are about to see a major tax increase at the gas pump. 

A new policy brief released today – The TCI Tax –  by the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity details the ‘diabolical’ goals of the Transportation & Climate Initiative (TCI), a green-new-deal type program that will necessarily increase the price of regular and diesel fuel. 

Like all far-left contrivances to reduce carbon-gas emissions, and like the Regional Greeenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) that preceded it, the TCI gas tax will harm economic growth and will take money out of the pockets of residents, while failing to meet its stated goals.

The Center’s policy brief discusses in detail the many reasons why our state should not join the TCI compact, including:

  • In Rhode Island, with its already dismal business climate and exodus of people to lower-cost states, families and businesses cannot afford a significant new gas tax
  • The failure of a similar regional scheme on electricity, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, has driven up consumer costs; has resulted in no added greenhouse gas reductions; and has caused economic harm. There is every reason to believe TCI will also produce a negative cost vs. benefit result. 
  • The Governor should not try to bypass the Constitutional authority of the General Assembly by unilaterally seeking to impose this new gas tax
  • Rhode Island could gain a significant competitive advantage in the region by refusing to sign-on to the TCI tax scheme by being able to offer lower-priced gasoline products
  • There are many less disruptive and more efficient ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
  • State and national legal challenges may result, along a number of potential Constitutional angles

“We are already suffering through a great Ocean State Exodus because of the worst business climate in the nation,” said the Center’s CEO, Mike Stenhouse. “The Governor cannot unilaterally force motorists to pay higher gasoline taxes if there is zero resulting environmental benefit?”

Additional related information can be found on the Center’s home-TCI-page at RIFreedom.org/NoTCITax. #NOTCITAX

Stenhouse to speak at Roger Williams Univ. class; will promote 1st Amendment Institute

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RWU Professor Practices Intellectual Diversity-
University Supporter Floats Concept for Free-Speech Institute

Providence, RI – The CEO of the conservative think-tank, the Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity, Mike Stenhouse, will speak at a Roger Williams Universitypolitical-science class this afternoon, taught by Professor June Speakman, as part of her long-time effort to provide alternative views on various political topics. 

“I commend the professor for encouraging civil discourse by presenting her class with a diversity of philosophical and intellectual viewpoints,” said Stenhouse. “I also commend DeWolf Fulton, who has a dream of forming a 1st-Amendment Institute on the campus, to further promote civil free-speech. If successful, his bold idea could set a new national trend.”

Fulton, whose family provided the land for the Fulton Campus at Roger Williams University, has recently been working to build support for a 1st-Amendment Institute that he hopes will be erected on recently acquired land by the university. 

Speakman, a member of the faculty of Roger Williams’ Department of Politics, is also the House Representative for the towns of Warren and Bristol in the Rhode Island General Assembly. 

Stenhouse will address the topic of interest groups in American politics at Speakman’s political-science class of approximately 30 students. Fulton is expected to monitor the class.

Given the recent history of uncivil political discourse in our state and across our country, especially on college campuses, the Center applauds both Prof. Speakman and Mr. Fulton for advancing the concept of open, honest, and rigorous discussion on the important issues of our time … which happens to be a core objective of our Center.

As part of its new strategic litigation initiative, the Center announced a lawsuit against an unconstitutional donor disclosure law.

Center and Robert Flanders Partner with Illinois Group to Bring Lawsuit Against Unconstitutional State Campaign Finance Law

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Lawsuit Seeks to Protect Free Speech & Citizen Privacy

Center’s Board Member, Robert Flanders, to Serve as Local Counsel for lawsuit

Watch this NBC-10 TV STORY

Providence, RI – As part of its new strategic litigation initiative, the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity announced today that it has partnered with the Liberty Justice Center (LJC) to bring a lawsuit against an unconstitutional donor disclosure law in the Ocean State. 

The lawsuit challenges a Rhode Island law, R.I.G.L. § 17-25.3-1, which requires information about donors who support nonpartisan, issue advocacy organizations to be disclosed to the government when the group engages in issue-advocacy during certain time periods. Issue-advocacy is a private and protected First Amendment right, regardless of when that money is spent. This invasive and unconstitutional law exposes citizens to possible retaliation and harassment for simply exercising their free speech rights. 

Press release from the Liberty Justice Center
Click here for the complaint
New York Times story on Donor Privacy

Press release from the Liberty Justice Center
Click here for the complaint
New York Times story on Donor Privacy

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are The Gaspee Project, a 501(c)4 nonpartisan advocacy organization in Rhode Island, and the Illinois Opportunity Project, a 501(c)4 social-welfare organization. The Gaspee Project et al. v. Mederos, was filed yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island. Robert Flanders, former Associate Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court and a board member of the Center, will serve as local counsel for the Liberty Justice Center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public-interest litigation organization.

“The constitutional rights of Rhode Islanders have been under constant and serious threat for decades,” said the Center’s CEO, Mike Stenhouse. “Rather than support open and free debate, this law shuts it down. It rigs the system to discourage organized issue-advocacy and chills free speech.”

In May of 2019 the Center added former Justice Flanders to its Board of Directors, specifically to build an internal legal capacity and to coordinate with national legal organizations that bring lawsuits across the country to challenge unconstitutional state laws and regulations. Flanders was the GOP candidate in Rhode Island’s 2018 U.S. Senate race.

“One way to better inform the voting public about issues facing our communities is to ask the courts to remove laws that inhibit a full and informed debate,” added Flanders. “We should restore full 1st-Amendment rights and encourage everyone to share their ideas and perspectives without fear of retaliation or harassment.”

Similar disclosure requirements in other states have faced considerable scrutiny. As a result of challenge brought by the Liberty Justice Center in New Jersey, the state is currently blocked from enforcing the measures.

In 2014, a different Rhode Island campaign finance law that limited donor rights was successfully challenged by the state-based Stephen Hopkins Center for Civil Rights. 

About Liberty Justice Center: The Liberty Justice Center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public-interest litigation center that was founded to fight against political privilege. The most notable example of the Liberty Justice Center’s success in this arena is its 2018 U.S. Supreme Court victory in Janus v. AFSCME. Beyond its work in the Janus case, the Liberty Justice Center’s team of talented, liberty-minded attorneys are also fighting to protect economic liberty, private property rights, free speech and other fundamental rights. The Liberty Justice Center pursues its goals through strategic, precedent-setting litigation to revitalize constitutional restraints on government power and protections for individual rights. Learn more about the Liberty Justice Center at LibertyJusticeCenter.org.

Rhode Island still held its overall ranking of 47th in the country on the September 2019 third quater Jobs & Opportunity Index.

Jobs & Opportunity Index (JOI), September 2019: Hanging on While the Country Advances

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As the third quarter of 2019 came to a close, Rhode Island still held its overall ranking of 47th in the country on the Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity’s Jobs & Opportunity Index (JOI) but was basically tied with 48th place Louisiana. Data for all 12 datapoints of the index except federal taxes were updated for this iteration, and RI benefited by the fact that it was finally able to report data for SNAP (foodstamps), which it had not done for two-and-a-half years thanks to the UHIP debacle.

Click for full PDF including national table

Compared with June, RI improved on most measures. Employment and labor force were up about 0.6% since the first-reported numbers for June, with RI-based jobs increasing a more-modest 0.3%. Correspondingly, Medicaid enrollment fell 0.8%, while TANF (cash welfare) rolls shrank by 8.0%. SNAP enrollment was down 4.0%, although that is from the number as reported ever since February 2017. The Ocean State had 2.3% fewer residents who counted as long-term unemployed and 3.8% fewer who were working only part time because more work was not available. However, the number counting as marginally attached increased 23.7%.

The picture is also mixed when it comes to money. Personal income was up 3.9% on an annualized basis, which amounted to $1.8 billion more income. However, state and local taxation increased 10.5%, or $349 million, resulting not only from the increased income, but also expansive changes to tax policy.

The first chart shows RI remaining last in New England on JOI, at 47th for September 2019. New Hampshire returned to 1st nationally. Vermont and Maine slipped, to 14th and 19th, respectively. Massachusetts remained 37th. However, Connecticut advanced to 38th.

Rhode Island still held its overall ranking of 47th in the country on the September 2019 third quater Jobs & Opportunity Index.

The second chart shows the gaps between RI and New England and the United States on JOI for September 2019, and the third chart shows the gaps in the official unemployment rate.

Rhode Island still held its overall ranking of 47th in the country on the September 2019 third quater Jobs & Opportunity Index.
Rhode Island still held its overall ranking of 47th in the country on the September 2019 third quater Jobs & Opportunity Index.

Results for the three underlying Jobs & Opportunity Index factors were:

  • Job Outlook Factor (optimism that adequate work is available): RI fell three spots, to 32nd.
  • Freedom Factor (the level of work against reliance on welfare programs): RI advanced two, to 41st.
  • Prosperity Factor (the financial motivation of income versus taxes): RI remained 47th.

Click here for the corresponding employment post on the Ocean State Current.

Click for full PDF including national table

Center Announces Pillar of Freedom Award Honorees for its annual Freedom Banquet, Keynoted by Sean Spicer

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Senator Elaine Morgan and Rep. Sherry Roberts to be Honored

2019 Freedom Banquet to be keynoted by Sean Spicer

Providence, RI – The RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity is pleased to announce that Senator Elaine Morgan and Representative Sherry Roberts have been named as the co-honorees of its prestigious 2019 Middendorf Pillar of Freedom Award at its sold-out October 25 Ocean State Freedom Banquet. 

The award is named after Ambassador J. William Middendorf, Rhode Island’s greatest living defender of freedom. Past winners are Robert and Warren Galkin (2017) and Dr. Daniel Harrop (2018). 

The Middendorf Pillar of Freedom Award is based upon the nominee’s record of achievement in one or more of the following areas : 1) Entrepreneurial or free-market business leadership, 2) Civic engagement, 3) Record of philanthropic giving or charitable organization volunteerism, or 4) Legislative voting history on preserving individual and constitutional freedoms.

In winning from the legislative category, Representative Roberts was the #1-ranked and highest-scoring member in the entire 113-person General Assembly on the Center’s 2019 Freedom Index and Legislator Scorecard while in 2018, Roberts was the highest-scoring member of the RI House of Representatives. In 2018 Senator Morgan was the #1-ranked and highest-scoring member in the full General Assembly while in 2019, Morgan was the highest scoring member of the RI Senate.

Also, Sean Spicer, the Rhode Island native and former White House Press Secretary, will be the keynote speaker at the Center’s 3rd annual banquet, a fundraising luncheon for the Center. The event is expected to draw over 200 people and has become the largest annual gathering of conservatives in the Ocean State. 

Spicer, who is currently performing on the hit realty-TV series, Dancing With The Stars, will discuss his experiences as Communications Director for the Trump Administration in its turbulent first year. All attendees will receive an autographed copy of Spicer’s book, The Briefing. 

The private event is not open to the media.