Report: R.I. took step backward in 2015

RHODE ISLAND moved in the wrong direction in 2015, according to the Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity. / COURTESY RHODE ISLAND CENTER FOR FREEDOM & PROSPERITY
RHODE ISLAND moved in the wrong direction in 2015, according to the Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity. / COURTESY RHODE ISLAND CENTER FOR FREEDOM & PROSPERITY

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island took a step backward in 2015, according to the latest report from the Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity, which cited 99 “negative” bills that became law that year, offsetting 22 “positive” pieces of legislation.
The R.I. Center for Freedom & Prosperity released its 2015 General Assembly Freedom Index on Thursday. The annual report also details average legislator index scores, and examines Rhode Island’s progress on regulatory environment, public sector labor, tax and budget, constitutional government and educational reform. All five categories measured dragged down the state by producing negative scores, the center said.
“Lawmakers are actually weakening economic justice. By erecting more barriers that restrict the freedoms of many Rhode Island families and businesses, as compared with preferential treatment that is generally reserved for the few special insiders or targeted industries, opportunities for economic and educational advancement are not equally provided,” Mike Stenhouse, CEO for the center said in a statememt. “Special interest tax credits and targeted tax cuts do not help the average family pay their bills or find better jobs. Broad-based reforms and the repeal of burdensome taxes, fees and regulations is the strategy we recommend for 2016.”
The center said this is the fourth year in a row that the General Assembly scored in the negative. It also said that in 2015, the General Assembly scored a “dismal” negative 56.6, on a scale of negative 100 to 100. And, it said no lawmakers achieved an individual positive score in 2015, and that they all scored lower in 2015 than in 2014.
“The General Assembly moved Rhode Island in the wrong direction more than the prior year,” the center said, adding that as a result, “Rhode Islanders are less free than they were in 2014.”

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