Pam Gencarella: Where Does Raimondo’s Vision Put Us in Five Years?
Thursday, February 19, 2015
There’s No Doubt We’re a Great State, But Statistics Don’t Lie.
There are numerous statistics that tell the story about RI’s economy, whether it’s our ranking as a business friendly state or the level or our taxes, or the cost of doing business, but there is none more compelling than the job recovery statistic. By March of 2013, our neighbor, Massachusetts, had regained every one of the jobs they lost in the great recession of 2008. At the same time, RI had only regained 22% of the jobs we lost. Today, that discrepancy still exists. Massachusetts has nearly doubled the number of jobs lost while RI still hasn’t even reached the pre-recession levels. According to gallup.com, “RI and Connecticut tie for compiling the worst collective job creation scores since 2008 and are the only states to have ranked in the bottom ten each year.”
Systemic Change Is Needed.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTWith that in mind, maybe this could be the administration that does things differently when it comes to developing a Five Year Budget that fits a vision for improving RI’s economy (but first, be sure to denounce and dismantle that ‘Regional Plan for Sustainable Development’, laughably referred to as an economic element of the State Guide Plan). Rather than growing the budget by leaps and bounds every year, wouldn’t it be great if Governor Raimondo looked at specific systems that are known to require a serious overhaul? While she has said that she doesn’t believe you can cut your way to recovery, report after report have delineated examples of fraud, waste and abuse in our welfare systems, including the Medicaid system. The Washington Examiner lists RI as one of the states spending the largest portion of their budget on welfare programs. Like many other states that decided expanding Medicaid was the answer, RI’s Medicaid expansion produced unanticipated cost overruns. It’s time to get serious about routing out the fraud, waste and abuse.
Then there is the cost of illegal immigration. Of course this is a political hot potato but it is the elephant in the room that no one is talking about. Rhode Islanders for Immigration Law Enforcement (RIILE) and other national organizations have pegged the cost at about $300 million in the state of RI. Governor Raimondo and Speaker Mattiello need to take a serious look at the system and enforce the immigration law. RI simply cannot afford to put the welcome mat out any longer for unfettered illegal immigration into this state when it is facing enormous deficits.
Talk is Cheap: Here’s Some Action Items.
And how long do we have to talk about business overregulation in RI before we take
action? Governor Chafee’s last Regulatory Reform Report, dated Dec. 23, 2014, highlighted what we have all known - inefficiencies and heavy burdens in the regulatory processes. Instead of continuing to talk about it, FIX them.
It will require policy and law changes. As the report says, remove obstacles that hamper economic competitiveness. Remember, RI’s economy does not operate in a vacuum. In the report, small businesses openly listed a number of concerns from the $500 corporate minimum business tax to the state mandated apprenticeship requirements. They listed the high cost and the abuse of numerous employer subsidized systems like the unemployment system, the temporary disability insurance system and the workers’ compensation system. They referred to the excessive cost for adherence to fire safety codes that came on the heels of the Station Nightclub fire of 2003. They cited the burdensome professional licensure requirements. All of these issues have been on the table for years and as a result of doing nothing, the statistics speak for themselves - RI has not recovered the jobs it lost in the recession of 2008. Massachusetts has nearly doubled the jobs. Action is needed this year.
The Winds of Change
Do you think that as the winds are creating a wind chill of about 20 below that the Governor, the Speaker of the House, and the Senate President are having heated debates over this year’s budget? Are they meeting to discuss their economic vision for RI as they work together to put out a budget next month that all will agree on. Remember, this is the first time in quite a while that one party holds both the majority in the General Assembly and the Governorship.
We the people are expecting a unified vision from these two branches of government as they provide a Five Year Budget for improving RI’s economy and agree to the actions needed to catch up to Massachusetts in job creation.
We want a Five Year Budget that indicates our government leaders have addressed the structural problems, one that does what it takes to project no future deficits and does not further break the backs of the taxpayers. We want a budget that does not force a continued outmigration of talent and wealth. Now that we have one party in both branches of government will we see the political will to address critical issues or will it be more of the same hot air?
Pam Gencarella is a member of OSTPA, a taxpayer advocacy organization in Rhode Island.
Related Slideshow: 10 Questions Raimondo Has to Answer as Governor
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