Government
Public services and government action
Eligible Rhode Islanders need to take advantage of expanded Child Tax Credit
"The expansion of the Child Tax Credit and the ability to receive the credit as a monthly installment will provide Rhode Island families with much needed stability and opportunity," said Larry Warner, Chief Impact and Equity Officer, United Way of Rhode Island.
Move quickly if you want to testify in favor of repealing LEOBoR
The Rhode Island Senate Judiciary Committee announced on Friday that they will be hearing testimony on a slate of policing and criminal justice bills, including three bills on the Law Enforcement Officer's Bill of Rights (LEOBoR) on Monday at 3:30pm. This gives advocates for criminal justice reform precious little time to submit written testimony or to sign up to provide the Judiciary Committee verbal testimony by telephone.
Better than New York? Cannabis legalization in RI needs to center social and economic justice, say advocates
“In any legalization legislation we must ensure that the past and future harms of the criminalization of cannabis endured by thousands of Rhode Islanders are repaired," said Cherie Cruz, Co-Founder Formerly Incarcerated Union of Rhode Island. "In order to equitably do so we must include automatic expungement of all cannabis related offenses and provide a strong social equity program for the legal cannabis market that intentionally includes those who have been directly impacted and criminalized by this failed war on drugs.”
Activists call on RI House to raise taxes on the one percent
"It is important to pass this now,” said Rachel Flum of the Economic Progress Institute. "You may have heard that now is not the time because we're getting a lot of federal dollars. But that is not the case. the way tax policy works is that it takes a while to get the revenue. If we pass this now, it will go into effect for tax year 2022, which means that we'll get the revenue in April of 2023 - just about the time that those federal funds are done."
Advocates push for repeal of LEOBoR; PVD Mayor Elorza supports Senator Mack repeal bill
"We're not asking for defunding the police," said State Senator Tiara Mack. "We're not asking to abolish the police right now. We're asking for the bare minimum - the sub basement of policy - which is the full repeal of a bill that does not allow the community to hold these systems accountable."
Rhode Island State House Thursday, May 6, 2021
Thursday, May 6, 2021 1pm Governor's Press Conference on COVID-19 https://youtu.be/h0VYkbvuUaY 3pm Senate Committee on Finance https://youtu.be/hpirSMOTlv4 SCHEDULED FOR HEARING: H6122 (Governor) by Abney ENTITLED, AN ACT MAKING APPROPRI...
Rhode Island State House Wednesday, May 5, 2021
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 9am Caseload and Revenue Estimating Conference https://youtu.be/laJAQbJ_3O0 3pm Senate Committee on Education https://youtu.be/PdmTZyDni3o SCHEDULED FOR HEARING AND/OR CONSIDERATION S0207 by DiPalma, Picard, Euer E...
Rhode Island State House Tuesday, May 4, 2021
Tuesday, May 4, 2021 4pm Rhode Island House https://youtu.be/ypranEIHSfk Legislation, which raises the rate to $15 over four years, heads to Senate, which has approved companion measure Bill to eliminate subminimum wage for disabled also...
PVD Mayor's African American Ambassadors Group supports full repeal of LEOBoR
"Anything short of a full repeal is unacceptable. The time is now for a full repeal, explicitly replacing it with the same protections and procedures applied to all city / state public servants."
Rhode Island State House Monday, May 3, 2021
Monday, May 3, 2021 11am Governor McKee, Fidelity Investments Announce 500 New Jobs Coming to Rhode Island https://youtu.be/A61zJeUYOLY In his first jobs announcement since becoming Governor, Governor Dan McKee today announced that Fidel...