"General Assembly is Clearly Tacking Left" -- RI House GOP Leader Filippi on Legislative Priorities

"General Assembly is Clearly Tacking Left" -- RI House GOP Leader Filippi on Legislative Priorities

Rhode Island House Minority Leader Blake Filippi says his biggest priority of the 2021 General Assembly continues to be the proposed IGT-Twin River 20-year contract extension with the state.

In a wide-ranging interview with GoLocal, Filippi also talked about hot-button issues including charter school expansion, nursing home worker pay, and more

Top Focus

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

"It's no longer [just] about IGT," said Filippi, who had fought against a number of provisions when IGT and Twin River were at odds over a contract extension -- before teaming up. 

'When you read the legislation it authorizes a 14-year extension of the existing Twin River host contract — which provides for 28% of net terminal income from the machines and 84% of the table games going to Twin River," said Filippi. "For years we were just talking about IGT — and that contract — and that was only 9 1/2% of net VLT (video lottery terminal) income."

"Toward the end of this new legislation, it now seeks to extend Twin River's take. We’re talking hundreds of millions of dollars," said Filippi. "This has dramatically morphed from an extension of IGT’s agreement —and 1000 jobs -- to the extension of the Twin River agreement, which guarantees 30 jobs."

This week, Speaker of the House Joseph Shekarchi expressed concerns in an interview with GoLocal with the proposed contract -- and said that more hearings will be forthcoming. 

Marijuana, Nursing Homes, Charters Schools -- and Taxing Sugary Drinks

Regarding calls to increase pay for nursing home workers, Filippi said he is "sympathetic to both sides of the argument."

"It’s a tough situation. There are nursing homes that say they will have to close up shop if they have to pay more," said Filippi. "I think there is still a ton of reimbursing that the state owes [nursing homes]. You can’t just look at the issue in a vacuum. You can’t deal with just one side of the ledger — and not the other. These are essential workers. This isn’t just raising pay in a restaurant."

On the education front, Filippi said the House GOP caucus is "totally opposed" to the current effort by some Democrats to stop the expansion of thousands of charter school seats, previously approved by the RI Board of Education. 

"It's the one beacon of hope," said Filippi. "Frankly we should be expanding [charter schools]. Kids in failing school districts should be able to get out."

"Our schools' issue is really important," said Filippi, of the GOP's proposal -- above and beyond charter schools -- to give children in failing school districts the option to go to other school districts. 

"We’re losing generations right now," he said. 

Filippi also spoke about firearms, marijuana -- and the current effort by some Democratic legislators to tax sugary beverages to provide reduced-price healthy food options to low-income families.

"Marijuana [legalization] needs to happen, but it’s how it happens," said Filippi. "We want to have it decentralized — we don’t want just a few insiders running the show. We think it should be handled like how package stores operated. Right now, out-of-state money is circling like vultures. It’s should be small business Rhode Islanders."

Shekarchi told GoLocal this week he is not sure marijuana legalization -- currently in Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee's FY22 budget proposal -- "is even going to happen."

"Firearms are another [big issue]," said Filippi. "A lot of the bills are outrageous and don’t deal with any of the problems we have. We have the second-lowest gun crime rate in the country, but yet people are freaking out."

"Most of the crimes are handguns in urban gang settings. Law-abiding Rhode Islanders should not have their rights infringed upon because of the actions of other people — we don’t do collective punishment in this country," he said. 

Finally, Filippi spoke to the GOP's opposition to the sugary drink tax. 

"That’s ridiculous — where do we stop? Do we go after butter, people who don’t eat organic? Their argument is you get less consumption of something quote-unquote bad if you tax it — but these are the same people who want to increase the income tax," he said. 

"Are we opening the door to taxing dietary choices?  I’m going to point out a lot of things. Including the food we eat every night at the General Assembly -- the chocolate chip cookies, should those be taxed?" he quipped.

"Clearly [the Assembly] is tacking left," said Filippi. "How hard left we go is the question.  I think the door is open and people need to get involved. Maybe they didn’t feel they had to before. It’s quite obvious the progressives have all hands are on deck."

Editor's Note: A previous version stated Twin River guaranteed 100 jobs in the current contract; Filippi corrected to indicate it is 30. 

Updated April 28, 2021 12:36 PM