MEDIA RELASE: Center Calls on Governor Raimondo to Halt Controversial HPV Vaccine Mandate

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 30, 2015
Controversial Vaccine Mandated by Regulatory Fiat

Center Recommends Parents Claim a Religious Exemption to Maintain Rights
Calls on Governor to Delay the Mandate and Lawmakers to Overturn the Edict

Providence, RI — In a stunning revelation made public in a Providence Journal article yesterday, all Rhode Island 7th graders will be mandated to receive a controversial HPV vaccination that infringes on parental rights and has been subject of national scorn in recent years.

The Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity finds it even more troubling that Rhode Island will become just the second state to mandate the vaccine … and the only state to do so by regulatory fiat, without public debate, and without consideration from the elected representatives of the people.

“This growing trend of government by executive fiat and regulatory despotism bypasses the traditional democratic process and must cease. Like RhodeMap RI, why do we continue to allow unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats to arbitrarily make such important public policy decisions,” asked Mike Stenhouse, CEO for the Center. “Where are the voices of the Governor and our General Assembly, whose authority is being infringed upon by out-of-control bureaucratic ideologues? We call on the Governor to immediately halt this mandate in order to give lawmakers time to consider overturning this unprecedented edict.”

“Not only are the FDA approved vaccines for HPV relatively new and not vetted to the satisfaction of many in the medical community, they have been cited as the cause of many injuries, health complications and even death in some cases. Parents and the public have every right to be concerned about their children’s health,” said Gary D. Alexander, former Secretary of Health and Human Services for Rhode Island and adjunct scholar for health issues to the Center. “The state has not provided a proper public forum to discuss these concerns with parents. The implementation of this mandate must be delayed until a full public process has been conducted and all fears allayed.”

Also, a group of Rhode Island physicians that have been in contact with the Center do not believe an epidemic exists, especial one that should warrant such a drastic mandate; they further question whether the Gardasil vaccine is even effective. The doctors further claim that the potential side-effects of the vaccination include paralysis and death. The group cites that traditional pap smear tests are highly effective in diagnosing the human papillomavirus. The physicians also argue that the disease is not a public health issue in America, but rather a personal health issue, where parents – not the state government – should be making such important decisions about whether or not to have the vaccines administered to their children.

In 2011, then Texas governor and presidential candidate, Rick Perry, came under intense national criticism for issuing a similar executive order. Perry would later call his executive order a mistake, after the Texas legislature decided to overturn it.

The Center strongly recommends that any parent uncomfortable with this vaccine for their children should claim a ‘religious medical exemption’, which can be executed via a simple form that can be downloaded from the health.ri.gov website.

Media Contact:
Mike Stenhouse, CEO
401.429.6115 | info@rifreedom.org

About the Center
The nonpartisan RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity is Rhode Island’s premiere free-enterprise think tank. The mission of the 501c3 nonprofit organization is to return government to the people by opposing special-interest politics and advancing proven free-market solutions that can transform lives by restoring economic competitiveness, increasing educational opportunities, and protecting individual freedoms.

Rhode Island Employment Snapshot, June 2015: RI Bucks Southern New England Trend?

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[Click here for the printable one-page PDF of this post.]

The June employment data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) provides a good lesson in a number of the ways in which the data can be misleading. For one thing, looking at the unemployment rate, one could say that Rhode Island dipped below 6% for the first time since November 2007. Of course, one could have said the same thing last month. But the BLS revised May up to 6%, so the Ocean State gets to repeat its milestone.

As the first chart below shows, this has been a banner, booming year, for Rhode Island. More and more people are looking for work and, at least when it comes to the statistics, more and more people are finding it. The curious thing is that this growth has been unabated for so many months, yet the news and anecdotes around Rhode Island wouldn’t lead one to expect such a boom. Indeed, in June, the number of jobs available in Rhode Island, as measured by another BLS dataset, actually went down. Readers should keep in mind that two years in a row have brought dramatic downward revisions come the following January.

Another bit of conflicting information is related to the second chart. The fact that Massachusetts and Connecticut are doing so much better than Rhode Island, when it comes to making up for losses during the recession, is not new. What’s new is that Massachusetts and Connecticut slowed or lost ground in June, while Rhode Island’s sprint continues. That could be accurate, but it seems unlikely.

The third chart illustrates the significance of the size of the labor force. The red line shows what the curve would have been if the labor force had not shrunk since January 2007, and it ends in a conspicuous cliff. It also illustrates that Rhode Island has a long way to go, even according to the questionable statistics. In June, unemployment would still have been 8.5%. Even that represents a huge drop, over the course of this year so far, from 11.0% in December.

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Governor’s BOND & TOLL plan will waste over $650 million

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PAY-AS-YOU-GO a Superior Approach.

The plan under consideration would more than double the cost of the project and would enrich special-interests without any added benefit for Rhode Islanders. The Center’s new report shows how to make RhodeWorks “work” for Rhode Island.

[button url=”https://rifreedom.org/2015/07/making-rhodeworks-work-for-rhode-islanders/” target=”_self” size=”medium” style=”royalblue” ] Read the PayGo Report here [/button]

Mike Stenhouse: Court ruling dooms HealthSource RI

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Originally Published in the Providence Journal: http://www.providencejournal.com/article/20150707/OPINION/150709689/13831

The jig should be up for HealthSource RI. In 2014 the state’s insurance exchange, with its high cost of annual operation, was saved by last-minute funding from the federal government. This year the exchange was saved because of concerns about the then-pending U.S. Supreme Court case as to whether federal subsidies would be preserved in federally-run state exchanges. It has been continually argued that the exchange was worthy of state spending because it would reduce premium costs.

Now, none of these justifications are valid. By upholding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in June, the Supreme Court has eliminated concern about subsidies. And, federal funding is no longer available. Finally, given that a June 26 report notes that insurance rates could rise by as much as 18 percent next year, HealthSource RI has obviously not fulfilled its promise to control rate increases.

So, Rhode Islanders must now decide if taxpayers and policyholders should fund yet another big-government boondoggle that is not working. House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello was correct in insisting that the exchange cut its bloated budget; even still, why should Rhode Islanders pay for an inefficient bureaucracy when a less costly federal alternative is available, one that will not harm anyone in the process? Clearly, the feds can realize “efficiencies of scale” to run the exchange at a much lower cost than we could ever hope to achieve on our own here in Rhode Island.

With our state economy still in a shambles and with every budget dollar needed for repairs to bridges and roads, how can we justify spending on HealthSource RI? More disturbingly, there’s another even more dangerous agenda in play.

In 2014, there was a legislative effort to socialize virtually all of our state’s health-care industry — private and public — under the government’s exchange. This would have led to price controls and health-care rationing. Plus, the new director of HealthSource RI attempted, but failed, to advance a similar scheme in Vermont. Does anyone really trust our state government to run a major portion of our economy? Does anyone not believe that this effort will be revived by the progressive left?

Rhode Island is one of just 15 states that fully funded its own insurance exchange — and it did so by Gov. Lincoln Chafee’s executive order, after the General Assembly rejected the idea. As our center has researched, the Ocean State does not have a large enough tax or insurance base to justify its high operational costs.

More importantly, the free-market system must be preserved in Rhode Island. It is only open competition that can produce the affordable, high-quality health insurance that all Rhode Islanders desire. By eliminating costly insurance mandates and by allowing inter-state insurance sales, premiums can be dramatically reduced, making it far less costly when we choose to subsidize insurance for the neediest among us. 

It is time for lawmakers to save money for Rhode Islanders. We should join the vast majority of other states and let the feds run their own mandated ACA program.

 

Mike Stenhouse is CEO for the Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity, a free-market research and advocacy organization.

Freedom Index “Live” Update: Zero Legislators Now with Positive Score; Overall GA Index Falls to (-79)

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Freedom Index “Live” Update
Zero Legislators Now with Positive Score; Overall GA Index Falls to (-79)

Providence, RI — Individual legislator voting scores and the overall legislative direction of the General Assembly took a precipitous fall last week, according to an interactive scorecard, updated Monday, which can be viewed live online, published by the nonpartisan RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity. The near real-time RI Freedom Index – Live rates individual pieces of legislation, according to whether or not they preserve or infringe upon the freedoms of Rhode Islanders, then scores General Assembly legislators based on how they voted for each bill.

While not all 2015 bills have been evaluated, to date 194 bills have preliminarily been rated as qualifying for the Freedom Index scorecard; 117 with a negative rating, 73 with a positive rating and 4 yet to be rated, with an aggregate General Assembly negative rating of (-79) (down from (-56) last week), meaning once again, lawmakers are on a path to do more harm than good when it comes to legislation that preserves the freedom and, therefore, the prosperity of our state’s residents.

Not one of 113 state legislators scored above zero. For each vote, every legislator has the chance to earn a positive score. To date, 57 rated bills have received a floor vote.

With the online tool, voters can monitor the scorecards – as votes occur – for all legislators, and can sort and filter by party, district, bill category, and legislator score. The tool also includes separate interactive district maps for the House and Senate.

For more information about current and prior year Freedom Index posts, please visit RIFreedom.org/FreedomIndex.

About the Center
The nonpartisan RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity is Rhode Island’s premiere free-enterprise think tank. The mission of the 501c3 nonprofit organization is to return government to the people by opposing special-interest politics and advancing proven free-market solutions that can transform lives by restoring economic competitiveness, increasing educational opportunities, and protecting individual freedoms.

STATEMENT: Childcare Subsidies Will Enrich Labor Unions

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STATEMENT
June 16, 2015

Childcare Subsidies Will Enrich Labor Unions
Non-transparent process leads to added taxpayer burden

As the Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity predicted in 2013, the non-transparent process surrounding union negotiations for childcare subsidies will enrich labor unions while adding to taxpayers’ burden. In another budget cycle during which the state government is hunting for every dollar it can find, Governor Raimondo and the General Assembly have made dues to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) a priority.

As Katherine Gregg has reported in the Providence Journal, the budget on which the Rhode Island House will vote tonight includes $2.15 million in raises for independent childcare providers whose clients receive state subsidies. The expense to taxpayers is the only indication that the state has given that it has a first-ever agreement with the SEIU local representing the private providers.

In 2013, the General Assembly and Governor Lincoln Chafee changed state law in order to allow the childcare providers, who are not government employees, to unionize in order to negotiate rates with the state. In a short time frame, and through a process tainted with controversy, the SEIU won the right to represent the approximately 540 providers.

Despite a related ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that the Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity believes renders the state law unconstitutional, the Chafee and Raimondo administrations continued negotiations. Now, at the conclusion of the completely non-transparent process, elected officials are poised to pass the costs on to the heavily burdened people of Rhode Island.

“With our unhealthy economy and projections of government deficits on into the future, Rhode Islanders have to start catching on to the game, here,” said Justin Katz, Research Director for the Center. “If needy families are having trouble finding providers because the subsidies are too low, the General Assembly could have increased the rates without the involvement of an expensive labor union.”

Details of the agreement still have not been made public. Based on budget numbers provided by the House Speaker’s office and the Center’s review of similar contracts in other states, the amount of the increase going entirely to the labor union could be around $1 million – about half of the total raise.

The state should immediately release details of the agreement so the people of Rhode Island and their elected officials can make informed decisions prior to budget votes.

Media Contact:
Justin Katz, Research Director
401.835.7156 | info@rifreedom.org

About the Center
The nonpartisan RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity is Rhode Island’s premiere free-enterprise think tank. The mission of the 501c3 nonprofit organization is to return government to the people by opposing special-interest politics and advancing proven free-market solutions that can transform lives by restoring economic competitiveness, increasing educational opportunities, and protecting individual freedoms.

STATEMENT: General Assembly Budget – More of the Same

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STATEMENT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 10, 2015

2016 Budget Has No Broad-based Reforms

No Game Changing Economic Ideas
Continued Special-Interest Spending

Providence, RI — The General Assembly’s proposed FY-2016 budget plan, consistent with recent annual budgets, and despite the positive spin from lawmakers, includes no broad-based plan to boost Rhode Island’s stagnant jobs market, according to the nonpartisan Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity. The Center maintains that the budget gives government more power in attempting to orchestrate economic development and represents a further departure from proven free-market principles

While the budget does include a number of positive elements, there are off-setting negative elements that will largely serve to maintain the Ocean State’s stagnant status quo. In fact, in its initial ratings of 151 bills on its annual Legislative Scorecard, the Center scored 92 bills as having a negative impact, with only 59 bills rated as positive.

“Our state levies high taxes, spends at high levels, and has amassed high debt … yet when you look at our business climate, infrastructure and education, it is obvious that taxpayers are receiving low value for their hard-earned tax dollars,” said Mike Stenhouse, CEO for the Center. “Once again special-interest insiders will benefit at the expense of average Rhode Islanders.”

The plan’s government-centric approach toward economic development that favors unions and targeted industries is merely an extension of the same, failed public policy approach that is responsible for sinking Rhode Island into its current economic rut. The Center, instead, recommends broad based tax and spending reductions as the primary means to boost the economy, as have been highly successful in North Carolina.

Among the minor, positive elements in the budget are the elimination of income tax on social security and the sales tax on commercial energy; the reduction of the corporate tax; the minimal Medicaid reforms; and the exclusion of the Taylor Swift tax and the trucker tolls.

On the negative side, are new taxes on health insurance premiums and on vacation home rentals, and higher taxes on cigarettes; union hand-outs such as spending for all day kindergarten and construction jobs; and multiple corporate welfare programs such as the real estate development tax credit, the vendor relocation tax credit, and the I-195 redevelopment fund.

Other major issues are still outstanding, some that will impact municipal budgets and local governmental sovereignty:

  • A realistic plan to address the state’s crumbling roads and bridges
  • The pro firefighter and municipal employee collective bargaining bills
  • Bills to reduce the negative impacts of RhodeMap RI
  • The Pawtucket Red Sox stadium deal

Media Contact:
Mike Stenhouse, CEO
401.429.6115 | info@rifreedom.org

About the Center
The nonpartisan RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity is Rhode Island’s premiere free-enterprise think tank. The mission of the 501c3 nonprofit organization is to return government to the people by opposing special-interest politics and advancing proven free-market solutions that can transform lives by restoring economic competitiveness, increasing educational opportunities, and protecting individual freedoms.

STATEMENT: Pro Firefighter Bills Infringe on Local Sovereignty as with RhodeMap RI

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STATEMENT
June 9, 2015

Pro Firefighter General Assembly Bills Would Interfere with Local Sovereignty
Center Criticizes Trend Towards Centralized Government

At least four bills introduced in the 2015 Rhode Island General Assembly that would bolster firefighter leverage in the collective bargaining process, two of which will be heard in committee today, would infringe on the sovereignty of municipal governments and further represents an unhealthy trend towards centralized government planning, according to the nonpartisan Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity.

Similar to the arguments against the one-size-fits all RhodeMap RI mandates are now required of every locality, the four bills (H6278/S0961 and H6473/S0533) represent a universal statewide mandate on cities and towns that would restrict management rights of local officials in dealing with increasingly costly public employee collective bargaining contracts.

“America was structured on the concept that local representative government is the best government. These local decisions must be left to local officials; our state legislators must resist the urge to interfere,” said Mike Stenhouse, CEO for the Center. “Every locality has a unique relationship with its employees, and it is not the place of the state government to mandate a single, centralized approach.”

The Center notes that the growing trend of federal and state governments seeking to interfere with or control local decisions, is a dangerous model that runs contrary to the principles of limited government. The most notable analogy is the recent RhodeMap RI plan which was centrally imposed upon cities and towns without any consent from the General Assembly.

With regard to the firefighter bills, the Center points to different paths that different municipalities are upon:

  • In Coventry, local voters and officials chose not to fund their highly costly fire district. After the state interfered in 2014, a state appointed overseer is now attempting to negotiate a more cost-effective arrangement.
  • In North Kingstown, local officials chose to alter the firefighter shift schedule, a right affirmed by the RI Supreme Court. The bills in question would block such action.
  • In Providence, Mayor Elorza is looking to change shift schedules in order to save taxpayer dollars. The bills in question would pre-empt the Mayor from implementing his plan.
  • In Tiverton, local officials voluntarily decided to include shift schedules as part of their firefighter collective bargaining agreement. The bills in question would tie the hands of municipal leaders.

“The Tiverton example demonstrates that a state mandate is not needed for certain issues to be collectively bargained,” commented Justin Katz, research director for the Center and Tiverton resident. “It should be up to each town, not state legislators, to determine when this tactic is appropriate and when it is not.”

Media Contact:
Mike Stenhouse, CEO
401.429.6115 | info@rifreedom.org

About the Center
The nonpartisan RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity is Rhode Island’s premiere free-enterprise think tank. The mission of the 501c3 nonprofit organization is to return government to the people by opposing special-interest politics and advancing proven free-market solutions that can transform lives by restoring economic competitiveness, increasing educational opportunities, and protecting individual freedoms.

MEDIA RELEASE: 2015 Legislative Scorecard Update: Overall GA Index falls to (-58)

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Freedom Index “Live” Update

Overall Legislative Index Once Again Pointing in the Wrong Direction

Providence, RI — As 2015 bills receive floor votes, an updated interactive scorecard of legislator voting records can be viewed live online, published by the nonpartisan RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity. The near real-time RI Freedom Index – Live rates individual pieces of legislation, according to whether or not they preserve or infringe upon the freedoms of Rhode Islanders, then scores General Assembly legislators based on how they voted for each bill.

While not all 2015 bills have been evaluated, to date 155 bills have been rated as qualifying for the Freedom Index scorecard; 92 with a negative rating, 59 with a positive rating and 4 yet to be rated, with an aggregate negative rating of (-58) (down from (-29) last week), meaning once again, the General Assembly is on a path to do more harm than good when it comes to legislation that preserves the freedom and, therefore, the prosperity of our state’s residents.

Not a single Senator scored above (0) on the Freedom Index, in a chamber which has see many more full-floor votes than has the House, which has a number of Representatives tentatively with positive scores.

With the online tool, voters can monitor the scorecards – as votes occur – for all legislators, and can sort and filter by party, district, bill category, and legislator score. The tool also includes separate interactive district maps for the House and Senate.

For more information about current and prior year Freedom Index posts, please visit RIFreedom.org/FreedomIndex.
About the Center

The nonpartisan RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity is Rhode Island’s premiere free-enterprise think tank. The mission of the 501c3 nonprofit organization is to return government to the people by opposing special-interest politics and advancing proven free-market solutions that can transform lives by restoring economic competitiveness, increasing educational opportunities, and protecting individual freedoms.

STATEMENT: Two Reasons Why Trucker Toll Plan is Misguided

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 2, 2015
Trucking Toll Proposal Demonstrates Lack of Discipline;
Disguises Spending on non-Essential Projects
Spending Priorities Must be Set; Strip Out RhodeMap RI type Mass Transit Plans
It was a lack of fiscal discipline that allowed the Ocean State’s bridge and road conditions to become degraded in the first place, therefore renewed spending priorities must be a major part of the solution. This according to the Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity, nonpartisan public policy think tank.

The proposed trucker toll represents the typical status quo method of taking the easy approach of tapping some group to pay for costly government programs, instead of taking the more responsible path of prioritizing spending over other elements of the budget.

Also, as part of that discipline, the state should only spend money on essential repairs and upgrades, and not on new, non-essential mass transit projects that could cost billions in extra public funding.

“Clearly, something has to be done to ensure we have a safe infrastructure. And we must seek to find that money in our existing budget,” commented Mike Stenhouse, CEO for the Center. “Mass transit is not a pressing need. We urge legislative leaders to strip out all non-essential spending from this effort.”

Governor Raimondo has hinted, but provided few details, that some of her infrastructure program would include major mass transit programs, which arguably are not necessary. Heavy taxpayer investment in mass transit is one component of the unproven ‘sustainable development’ philosophy, which was the basis for the controversial RhodeMap RI plan. “Often, major mass transit programs turn into bloated government boondoggles; clearly something Rhode Islanders cannot afford right now,” concluded Stenhouse.
Media Contact:
Mike Stenhouse, CEO
About the Center
The nonpartisan RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity is Rhode Island’s premiere free-enterprise think tank. The mission of the 501c3 nonprofit organization is to return government to the people by opposing special-interest politics and advancing proven free-market solutions that can transform lives by restoring economic competitiveness, increasing educational opportunities, and protecting individual freedoms.