Bills opposed by OSTPA are highlighted in red.
Senate Housing and Municipal Government, Chairman Juan Pichardo
Room 310, Rise (approximately 4:30 pm)
S 882 – Imposes a moratorium on new, comprehensive permit applications by for-profit developers for low income housing.
S 908 – Requires that affordable housing built off-site must pay a fee-in-lieu of on-site construction.
Bills supported by OSTPA are highlighted in green. Bills opposed by OSTPA are highlighted in red.
House Finance Committee, Chairman Helio Melo
Room 35, 1:00 pm (prior to the floor session)
H 5250 – Requires the state to return a portion of the cities and towns’ sales taxes collected if the state budget surplus exceeds $20 million.
H 5365 – Repeals the RI state sales tax – 0.0%.
House Labor Committee, Chairwoman Anastasia Williams
Room 201, Rise (approximately 4:30 pm)
H 6061 – Part of Fox’s economic package – Requires a report on changing unemployment laws as it relates to seasonal employees.
H 6062 – Part of Fox’s economic package. Changes child labor laws as it relates to manufacturing and allows apprenticeship/training in that same field.
Senate Education Committee, Chairwoman Hanna Gallo
Room 212, Rise (approximately 4:30 pm)
S 116 – Allows use of longer school days utilizing less than 180 days.
Senate Finance Committee, Chairman Daniel DaPonte
Room 211, 2:00 pm (prior to the floor session)
S 127 – Reinstates residential renewable energy system tax credit.
S 132 – Reduces healthcare costs by billing Medicaid for eligible inpatient and professional services.
S 134 – Establishes healthcare act in order to reduce costs of correctional healthcare.
S 252 – Amends estate tax law to allow a credit against tax of up to $99,600 in order to maintain exemption up to threshold even when the threshold is met.
Rhode Island has seen its fair share of financial boondoggles. The lesson learned from our track record is that “public/private partnership” means that when the free market believes it’s a bad financial deal, Rhode Island leaders answer by sticking taxpayers with the risk – and the bill, when it doesn’t work out. 38 Studios is just one, obvious example….Last year OSTPA wrote an abbreviated list of those boondoggles: the airport train station, with continued declining passengers at TF Green, the North Kingstown train station with an empty parking lot, the improved access road to Quonset Point, on which no one travels, and state tax credit giveaways, with no financial analysis to determine what, if any, benefit the state has realized from those incentives….
Spending $40 million in RI taxpayer dollars on this private/public partnership represents the crony capitalism our residents are used to – the lobbyists for the project are Speaker Fox’s former campaign manager, Nicholas Hemond, and Providence Mayor Taveras’ ‘Special Advisor’, Zachary Darrow – on another “if we build it, they will come” scheme. How many times will RI taxpayers accept this ridiculous concept? If the privately owned former Industrial National Bank building had so much promise then why are the private investors unwilling to fully sink their own capital into development without taxpayer dollars? Do they lack the confidence to answer the obvious questions? Who will actually rent those condos? Who is going to frequent those shops and restaurants? Who will occupy the offices on the lower floors? And how quickly will this happen?
Supposedly, none of Rhode Island’s legislators knew about the 38 Studios deal when they voted on the increase in EDC bond limits. Well, no one will be able to claim they don’t know about the historic tax credits for the Superman Building, whether it appears before them as separate legislation or part of the annual budget. If Representatives and Senators pass a budget that includes implied tax credits for the Superman Building, they will be voting to use your money on an investment that the private shareholders don’t even have enough confidence in.
The General Assembly should not even consider these tax credits in this session. Stop allowing our elected officials to play the emotional card of “the building is an icon” in RI to justify a public investment that will not return a profit to taxpayers. Speaker Fox recently and wistfully remarked about the historic and architectural significance of the Superman building. Some of us agree with that observation. He went on to suggest that he isn’t sure that we could afford to spend taxpayers’ money to save it. But, here it comes! Keep your eye on the shell game!
Read the entire article by OSTPA’s Lisa Blais at GoLocalProv.
Bills supported by OSTPA are highlighted in green.
House Finance Committee, Chairman Helio Melo
Room 35, 1:00 pm (prior to the floor session)
H 5930 – Makes fire districts subject to the maximum tax levy, which they should have been all along.
House Finance Committee, Chairman Helio Melo
Room 35, Rise (approximately 4:30)
H 6064 – The Capital Expansion Manufacturing Jobs Credit allows companies that make major capital investments to be paid back a portion through credits on new jobs.
H 6066 – External reporting and accountability requires the Office of Management and Budget to inventory reports required across agencies and include a status in the annual budget. Also requires the Office of Revenue Analysis’ Unified Economic Development Report to include a cost/benefit analysis.
House Judiciary Committee, Chairwoman Edith Ajello
Room House Lounge, Rise (approximately 4:30)
H 5207 – Joint Committee of the Repealer of business regulations. Note: The Senate has already passed Senator Lynch’s version, S 682aa
Bills supported by OSTPA are highlighted in green. Bills opposed by OSTPA are highlighted in red.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman McCaffrey
Room 313, Rise (approximately 4:30)
S 768 – Provides drivers’ licenses to illegal aliens.
House Judiciary Committee Chairwoman Ajello
House Lounge, Rise (approximately 4:30)
H 5670 – Prohibits release of individual public school teacher evaluations to the public. (Note: Senator Gallo’s version, S 767, will be voted in the full Senate on the same day.)
H 5059 – Makes converting Food stamps into cash a felony.
Senate Health and Human Services Committee Chairman Miller
Senate Lounge, Rise (approximately 4:30)
S 833 – Creates a program integrity division within the office of Health and Human Services to help prevent, detect, and prosecute Medicaid and public assistance fraud.
There are also multiple bills being heard as part of the House Economic Development Package in the House Finance Committee in room 35 at the rise, but OSTPA needs to be convinced that this more than just the rearranging the deck chairs phase of economic development.
Bill opposed by OSTPA is highlighted in red.
Senate Judiciary Committee, Chairman Michael McCaffrey
Room 313, Rise (approximately 4:30)
S 46 – Big Brother bill – allows video cameras to follow you around the state.
Bills supported by OSTPA are highlighted in green. Bills opposed by OSTPA are highlighted in red.
House Finance Committee, Chairman Helio Melo
Room 35, Rise (approximately 4:30 pm)
H 5302 – Provides incentives for job creation.
House Labor Committee, Chairman Anastasia Williams
Room 201, Rise (approximately 4:30)
H 5399 – Allows for state contracts to ignore bidding procedures.
