PROVIDENCE – In addition to deciding the state’s future leadership in November, Rhode Island voters will be tasked with determining whether the Ocean State’s green economy should receive a $50 million bond package.
On Tuesday afternoon, legislators and environmental leaders gathered at Farm Fresh Rhode Island to launch the “Yes on 3” campaign, which asks residents to support a proposed $50 million bond package in support of the green economy.
The proposed package includes the following allocations, according to a draft ballot:
- $16 million for municipal resiliency.
- $12 million for the Roger Williams Park and Zoo.
- $5 million for the Small Business Energy Loan Program.
- $4 million for brownfields remediation and economic development.
- $3 million for Narragansett Bay and watershed restoration.
- $3 million for forest restoration.
- $3 million for the state land acquisition program.
- $2 million for a local land acquisition matching grant program.
- $2 million for a local recreation development matching grant program.
The bond package “is not free money,” Gov. Daniel J. McKee said at the event. “We are borrowing money to protect the environment.”
But McKee urged residents to “vote confidently” to approve the measures.
“The good news is the state is in a position where it can not only borrow the money but pay it back,” he added.
The question isn’t a new one for Rhode Islanders, who have historically shown strong support for environmental funding at the polls.
In 2021, 78.3% of voters approved the state’s $74 million Beach, Clean Water and Green Bond. And a few years earlier in 2018, voters approved a $47.3 million Green Economy & Clean Water Bond.
McKee was joined by Providence Mayor Jorge O. Elorza; R.I. Department of Environmental Management Director Terrence Gray; Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank Managing Director Shaun O’Rourke; and leadership from organizations, including the Rhode Island Audubon Society, Roger Williams Park Zoo and Save The Bay Inc., among others.
The additional two ballot questions will ask whether the state should approve or reject a $100 million bond for improvements and construction at the University of Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay Campus, and a $250 million bond for construction and renovations to public schools.
Jacquelyn Voghel is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Voghel@PBN.com.
Very misleading label which is a McKee Trademark. Half the $50 mil is going to the Zoo and to municipal resiliency (whatever that is). Looks like the waste of taxpayer dollars which is another McKee Trademark.