Gov. Gina M. Raimondo started 2020, her sixth year as governor, by outlining her priorities to improve education, affordable housing and job opportunities for Rhode Islanders. Within months, the COVID-19 pandemic upended those plans. Raimondo declared a state of emergency on March 9 due to the dangers COVID-19 posed to health and life, and for much of the year, it was her voice that state residents heard on the pandemic response. Her decisions determined how and whether businesses could operate. She discusses some of the implications of the past year on the state’s budget and economy, and what her priorities are for 2021.
What has been the greatest challenge faced by state governments during the pandemic and how has that affected Rhode Island government? The greatest challenge is there’s a tension between what you have to do to control the virus and save lives and the economy. So, it’s clear that the more you restrict the economy, the less the virus spreads and the fewer people get sick. However, then you put a lot of people out of business and they lose their livelihoods. The hardest thing has been balancing those two interests. I think that’s [a challenge] in Rhode Island, [and] everywhere.
What was your response to that challenge? No. 1, I have really just focused on our hospital system. The thing we could not have was an overwhelmed hospital system, such that hospitals were not able to take care of people. Secondly, we really invested in testing and contact tracing … if you test enough and very quickly identify positives and get them into isolation, and also, if you have mandatory mask wearing, then you can allow people to go to work, allow people to go to school, more so than if you didn’t have as much testing, mask wearing, contact tracing. We set up the systems that allowed us to continue to live our lives safely enough so that our hospitals don’t get overwhelmed.
What is your plan for recovery once the coronavirus crisis has passed? That will be 2021. As I end this year, obviously the focus this year is getting through the pandemic. 2021 will be all rebuilding. Rebuilding our economy, making sure all of these businesses hanging on by their fingernails will be able to get back on their feet. So many people have been put out of work in industries [such as] restaurants, hospitality, retail. I worry a lot that some of those jobs will not be coming back. So we have to be there for those people and retrain them and place them in jobs. We really have to lean into hotels and retail and restaurants and catering, the businesses that have been most affected. And also women. Women have fallen out of the workforce at a much greater rate than men. I think because they’ve borne the brunt of the extra family obligations. When the kids are learning from home or somebody gets sick. It’s a real rebuilding year. Making sure we are mindful of who has been hardest-hit.
What are the challenges getting to that recovery? There are so many. The very first thing is we have to get people vaccinated. I’ve had probably five hours of meetings and phone calls today on the vaccine. We have to successfully get the vaccine out to Rhode Islanders as safely and as quickly as possible. Until we really put a lid on the virus and vaccinate the majority of Rhode Islanders, we’re not totally out of the woods. That’s point No. 1. Point No. 2 is I think … there’s a lot of industries, say commercial real estate, where because remote working is here to stay, I worry a lot about commercial real estate, how are we going to rebuild that? That is a barrier. Airlines, which isn’t a particular issue for Rhode Island, but people are going to be afraid to travel for awhile. So I think some of the hangover effects of COVID will be challenges. By the way, state deficits are enormous. So at a time when we need to be investing, if we don’t have the money, that will be a challenge. I think 2021 is going to be a challenging year. Not as bad as 2020, that’s for sure. But it’s going to take a while to get back on our feet.
How fixed is the schedule for who will get the vaccine first and what considerations went into that? How fluid is this? We are pretty sure. However, what we’ve learned, and we’re learning it now with this: you can have a theory on paper and then once you put it into action, you always learn things that were unexpected. So I think the broad categories are correct. You want to get the health care workers. You want to get the first responders. You want to get to the people in nursing homes. But when you’re executing this stuff on the ground, you run into challenges or practical realities you didn’t always think of. So it might be a little bit fluid around the edges.
There are some groups, I’m thinking of some that have been in the national news, such as the hospitality industry, teachers, even shipyard workers, apparently who are advocating for moving up in line. Will they be allowed to move up in line? No. The broad categories and guidelines are not likely to change. We know we need to do health care workers, and the most vulnerable first. … But here’s the good news: I’ve been talking to a lot of the vaccine manufacturers this week. They’re anticipating their ability to manufacture is really going to ramp up in January and February. So I think we’ll have a lot more of it next year.
Is the state going to have enough doses to get everyone who wants a vaccination inoculated by the late spring? I think so, yes.
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Gina M. Raimondo / PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO[/caption]
Is that because the manufacturers feel confident they can produce these vaccines? That’s what they’re telling us. For instance, we were on a call yesterday with Johnson & Johnson, who has a vaccine that hasn’t yet been approved, but hopefully they’ll get approved. And once they do get approved, they’re using a tried-and-true manufacturing process and they think they can start ramping up very quickly.
How will the vaccine program impact your reopening of business activity? Will it be dependent on how many people are getting the shot in Rhode Island? I’m wondering if that’s going to become a data point for you. Yes, it will become a factor. Once you have all of your health care workers and your nursing home residents and all of your first responders vaccinated, obviously that takes a lot of the risk off the table.
Looking ahead to the fiscal 2022 budget, what is your position on higher income taxes for wealthier Rhode Islanders? A lot of progressives would like to see a higher income tax rate for people who make more than a few hundred thousand a year. I’d like to avoid it. I’m not ruling it out because it may be necessary.
What will you do to ensure the R.I. Commerce Corp. incentive programs remain a part of the fiscal 2022 budget? Rep. K. Joseph Shekarchi, the presumed next House speaker, said that although the sunset has been extended, the merit of these programs may be discussed in the next session. Well, I think that’s fair. Every dime that we spend of taxpayers’ money should be debated and evaluated, to make sure it’s appropriate. I do support those programs because they’ve created thousands of jobs. I will say that next year, we need to be investing in job growth. We need to be helping small businesses, helping people find jobs, helping to stimulate our economy. Everything we do should be to stimulate the economy. Hopefully the legislature will do their debate and look at the facts. The facts speak for themselves on those initiatives. They’ve created thousands of good-paying jobs. And I think we need to keep investing in what works to get people back to work.
Are you going to try again to legalize recreational marijuana? Yes, I will try to do that again. I tried to do it this year. I’m in favor of it. And it’s also revenue, which would help the state when we need it.
Manufacturers have said they’re nervous about this because they worry about their workforce coming in under the influence. Can safeguards be put in place to prevent that or to give them more control? I do [think safeguards can be put into place]. And I hear them. I hear the concern. I share the concern. But the reality is it is [coming into] Rhode Island. Anyone who lives in the East Bay who does their shopping over the line in Seekonk or Attleboro knows that. There are stores there. I live in Providence and you’re in South Attleboro in six minutes. If you talk to the state police, they’ll tell you the same thing. They see it in our community, on our roads. I would rather have us legalize it here and have proper regulations, so we can regulate it and keep everyone safer, than to pretend it’s not here. It is, because Massachusetts is so close.
You went from very high approval ratings in the spring when the pandemic first started to less-so this fall. I’m wondering what you made of that shift and does it affect your decision-making? No, it does not affect my decision-making at all. I have never looked at those polls. I have a job to do and everything else just doesn’t matter.
How do you expect your working relationship with [the next House speaker] Shekarchi will be different than with his predecessor, with whom you didn’t always agree on economic issues? What should Rhode Islanders expect in terms of a relationship between your office and the General Assembly? I think very highly of the incoming speaker. I think he is very smart. He’s a can-do person. And he knows how to build consensus. My administration worked very closely with him when he was the majority leader on the Qualified Jobs tax incentive program. He was really the lead on that and we worked with him. I’m optimistic. Look, this is a crisis and next year will be really difficult. So there’s really no time for drama or fighting. It’s time to sit down and solve problems. And that’s what Joe likes to do. Sit down and solve problems.
