Pam Gencarella: Surprised, Bewildered, Shocked, Disappointed
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Were you feeling any of these when CVS announced its intention to expand in Massachusetts and open a new technology facility in Boston rather than RI?
Our elected officials had no reason to be. At the beginning of this year, the state’s House of Representatives held an economic workshop. CVS Senior VP, John Kennedy, told the audience that “people just weren’t thinking about RI” when it comes to locating a business. He explained all of the things a business considers - nothing that you wouldn't have concluded yourself - the cost of doing business in the state (specifically the total tax burden and the cost of energy); the education system that creates a workforce pool; transportation infrastructure, and the state’s fiscal stability.
So, in the last legislative session that adjourned this past June, what took place? The budget increased close to a billion dollars from two years ago, big green energy bills were passed that will add more costs for energy, education reform was gutted with the repeal of annual teacher evaluations and standardized testing requirements for graduation, transportation infrastructure funding was lacking and, yet again, a five year budget projection included $1 billion in deficits.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTWhat can one conclude but that elected officials did not take heed of the warning?
Now everyone is scrambling because National Grid submitted a request for a nearly 24% rate hike. The utility explained that it had to do with the price of natural gas. Something that they have no control over. But how’s this? You have not even begun to feel the impact of the 2010 legislation allowing the DeepWater Wind project, nor have you begun to feel the effect of the 3 pieces of green energy legislation passed in 2014. These pieces of legislation require additional costs for all of us, but mostly for National Grid. The only way to cover themselves, to pay for that, is through rate hikes. We wrote about this earlier in the year in not one, but two GoLocalProv articles.
And then, let’s turn to the so-called ‘economic development plan’ that Governor Chafee has released - RhodeMap RI. The plan was slated to simply be adopted by his Division of Planning last week. But because of serious backlash from citizens, from the RI Public Expenditure Council (RIPEC), from RI Center for Freedom and Prosperity, from a bipartisan group of state legislators and finally, from the Speaker of the House, under-the-radar adoption was thwarted, although not squashed. It was merely postponed until December 11th.
While we should all be up-in-arms about this plan, it sure appears that this is just a codification of policies that have already begun to be enacted. It’s the total vision Chafee has, the end game. The plan, which looks to completely change the way Rhode Islanders live, work and move from point A to B, is not an economic plan, but rather a plan to provide what someone has defined as social equity rather than allowing the free market and the freedom of choice to create an economic climate that entices businesses to grow and expand in the state. It’s not big government at every level, it’s government on steroids and that costs a lot of money. And it’s not just Chafee’s vision. Governor-elect Raimondo’s platform could have been lifted from RhodeMap RI - focus on affordable housing, green energy, more spending, more debt. If you have been following the legislation that passes the General Assembly and that is signed (or at least not vetoed) by Chafee and the former governors, this plan comes as no surprise. Presumably, CVS has been watching.
Not bewildered.
Although we can’t know the specific reasons CVS decided to expand in Massachusetts, can’t we infer that expanding in their home state was not even a consideration? Didn’t they basically come out and tell our leaders that earlier this year? It’s reasonable to think that CVS simply didn’t see that RI was moving in the right direction to create a climate in which businesses want to expand. And with the November elections that put people in office who support more of the same policies, is it any wonder?
No, it really is what might be expected in a state where business leaders, business organizations, and taxpayer groups are mostly ignored. For us here at OSTPA, we were not surprised, we were not bewildered, we were not shocked. We think the BIG SURPRISE is that anyone was surprised.
Pam Gencarella is a member of OSTPA, a taxpayer advocacy organization in Rhode Island.
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