10 Emergency Legislative Ideas to Weather the Covid-19 Crisis

Providence, RI – Providing a ray of hope in these trying times, the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity, the state’s premiere free-market research and advocacy group, offers state lawmakers 10 proactive policy ideas that can help Ocean State businesses and families survive the Covid-19 crisis, while also paving the way to recovery.

Given the crushing impact on our state’s business community, with over 50,000 Rhode Islanders out of work and suffering anxiety about both their medical and economic well-being, the Public Policy Solutions brief published today by the Center provides lawmakers with positive legislative ideas that can help provide relief.

“If we rely on innovation in the private sector, our state can weather this horrible crisis. State lawmakers must find a way to get back in the saddle, demonstrate calm and deliberate leadership, and consider emergency legislation to help our citizens and businesses lead the way back,” urged Mike Stenhouse, the Center’s CEO. “Ocean Staters must not feel left-out and should be assured that their financial plight is being taken as seriously by political leaders as is the state budget.”

While Rhode Island may benefit in many ways from the federal rescue package working its way through Congress, the Center recommends that our state must also focus on what we can control. “We are not helpless,” added Stenhouse.

As part of its #GovernmentDistancing initiative, the Center’s recommended “emergency” policy ideas, designed primarily to keep more Rhode Islanders at work and financially-solvent in the coming months, include:

• Temporary and limited reduction of the minimum wage to the federal level, to get more people back in the workforce more quickly
• Re-writing laws to encourage short-term health insurance plans, for those who may have lost their insurance when laid-off
• Repeal “Certificate of Need” laws that limit the availability of life-saving medical equipment
• Repealing the ban on flavored vaping products, as the state needs every businesses and every worker possible to contribute to the state’s recovery
• The full-list of policy ideas can be viewed here

One of the Center’s ideas was enacted last week, when the Governor ordered that alcoholic beverages could be sold by restaurants as part of take-out orders. Another idea of the Center, to temporarily suspend Internet Sales Taxes, was previously highlighted in a separate policy brief.

The Center expects to regularly add to its initial list of policy ideas, many of which have been implemented or are being considered in other states.