Contract with RI

Imagine our state government.

 

Imagine if it started building a state-owned utility when Rhode Island Energy requested a 47% rate increase in 2022.

 

And if it began to build affordable housing when the price of rent and homes exploded during the pandemic in 2020.

 

And if it launched a single payer healthcare system when health care costs began to rapidly increase in the 2000s. 

 

Imagine if our government saw investing in Rhode Island as a way to solve problems. What would your life look like today?

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I believe in investing, and as governor, I will prepare plans for investment across our state.

 

I will hire experts to create blueprints for:

 

1. A statewide, publicly-owned, clean energy utility that lowers the cost of energy and creates a new source of revenue for Rhode Island

2. 25,000 units of housing of every type for all incomes throughout Rhode Island

3. A single payer healthcare system that lowers costs and insures all Rhode Islanders

4. A statewide public transportation system that’s effective and reliable

5. A Rhode Island safety net that ensures that every Rhode Islander has a place to stay, enough to eat, and can see a doctor

6. A tax system that decreases the amount of income, property, and sales tax paid by lower incomes and increases it for the highest incomes

 

I will also order an analysis of how to reorganize our healthcare system to better serve the needs of patients and healthcare workers.

 

I will work on reforming our government to improve how it serves the people of Rhode Island and request expert assessments of:

 

1. How well state departments are carrying out their missions

2. How to remake the General Assembly into a full-time body that works for Rhode Island year round

3. How to reduce the authority of the leaders of the General Assembly to correct the power imbalance that makes our legislature undemocratic

4. How to institute ranked choice voting to increase voter turnout, encourage variety among candidates, improve representation, and build stronger democracy

 

And I will correct deficiencies in how our state departments are run, like requiring the Department of Environmental Management to finally obey the Natural Areas Protection Act.

 

Then, when everyone has had a chance to read and discuss the blueprints and reports, we can organize a referendum to decide how we, the people, want to run our state.

 

Every one of us knows how difficult it can be to get by in Rhode Island, and I pledge to use all of my power as governor to give us a state that works for all of us.