Rhode Island gubernatorial election, 2018 (September 12 Democratic primary)

Health Care
PROTECT HEALTH CARE

✓ Supports Medicare For All (Read the full plan)

✓ Undo Governor Raimondo’s severe Medicaid cuts

✓ Lower the costs of prescription drugs

✓ Expand training for caregivers and affordable care for seniors

✓ Protect and expand reproductive freedom

✓ Expand family leave

We must live up to our values and stop balancing the budget on the backs of the middle class, our children, and the most vulnerable. We cannot keep giving hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks to huge corporations while at the same time cutting Medicaid and other programs for the poor, the disabled, and the elderly.

Health care costs for Rhode Islanders have risen 250% since 1991. Seniors spend 75% more on average for prescription drugs now than they did in 2006; meanwhile, the average annual cost of just one prescription drug is nearly $13,000, or 80% of a typical Social Security check.

That’s not who we are and not who we want to be. While we restore Medicaid in Rhode Island, we must build toward a Medicare-for-all system and reduce prescription drug costs by cutting expensive middleman costs from our health care system while at the same time providing high-quality health care to everyone in our state.

We must act now to prevent the looming shortage of in-home health care workers to meet the needs of our seniors, as the number of Rhode Islanders over 70 climbs by 90,000 over the next 15 years. To meet the needs of our caregivers, we will dramatically expand training in the state and offer that training free of charge. We will set rules for pay, benefits, and working hours to ensure caregivers can make a living wage. Caregivers do some of the most important work in society, yet in Rhode Island, they earn on average $11.50 an hour or $23,000 per year — poverty wages for a family of four. That needs to change.

As it relates to reproductive freedom, under the current administration there are severe anti-choice abortion restrictions. These restrictions should not be in place to limit reproductive freedom. That needs to change. In addition, women should have the support from their employers to take time to care for themselves and children after birth. Currently, Rhode Island does not have guaranteed maternity leave for all, and that needs to change.

Education
FUNDING OUR FUTURE

✓ Fund our schools. Not more tax breaks for the wealthiest and corporations

✓ Fix our crumbling schools and ensure it never happens again

✓ Shrink class sizes

✓ Invest in teachers and provide resources

✓ Ensure every child, regardless of income or race, receives an outstanding education

For two decades our state has steadily cut taxes for the wealthiest corporations and individuals while leaving our schools so underfunded that school buildings are now literally crumbling. At the same time, Rhode Island has placed dead last in the country for the education of Latino children. We must repeal those top-tier tax cuts and finally provide the funding our schools need to invest in good teaching, undo teacher pension cuts, shrink class sizes, and make sure our school buildings never fall apart again so that every single child in our state can get a quality education.

Economy
INVEST AT HOME

✓ End lavish corporate giveaways

✓ Lower small business taxes and increase investment

✓ Create Rhode Island Investment Bank to invest our money here

✓ Unlock thousands of new jobs through housing and renewable energy

As Governor, Gina Raimondo’s signature economic development initiative has been to give millions in taxpayer money to hand-picked big corporations. This failed strategy has been widely discredited and has not worked for Rhode Islanders. Business Insider’s state economic ranking, based on employment, wage and GDP growth, dropped Rhode Island from 9th to 17th this year, as unemployment rose above the national average. And CNBC ranked Rhode Island 45th out of the 50 states for its economic environment.

We must reverse these trends and build an economy that works for all Rhode Islanders.

Today in Rhode Island it doesn’t matter if you are a small business trying to make ends meet or a global corporation with billions in profits -- all pay the same 7% flat tax rate. We will create a fair business tax system, in which the big corporations pay their fair share and we cut taxes and fees for our small businesses, which are the beating heart and the future of the Rhode Island economy.

We also know that Rhode Island small businesses struggle to access affordable credit to build and expand their businesses. We’ll make affordable, easy-to-access small business loans a priority of the new Rhode Island Investment Bank.

Under my leadership, this new Rhode Island Investment Bank will have a charter and mandate to invest our money only in Rhode Island, supporting small businesses, clean energy, affordable housing, and more. The profits earned by the bank will be a source of growing revenue to invest back into the Rhode Island economy year after year, creating jobs, raising incomes, supporting small businesses, and strengthening communities here at home for generations to come, without raising property taxes or putting the state further into debt.

Unlike Wall Street banks, the state investment bank will be transparent, closely regulated, regularly audited, and always held accountable. The Rhode Island Investment Bank will work in partnership with local community banks and credit unions to help build one of the strongest local banking industries in the country.

The bank's focus on renewable energy and affordable housing will unlock thousands of new jobs. Right now, homeownership rates in Rhode Island are lower than they have been in more than 30 years, and less than half of Rhode Islanders can afford payments on a median-priced home in the state – one of the highest rates of unaffordability in the country.

The reason is simple: We don’t have enough houses. We will work with cities and towns to help them afford to educate a growing number of school-age children by rolling back the extreme tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest -- who now pay the lowest tax rate of all Rhode Islanders -- and putting that money back in to schools, with incentives for cities and towns that facilitate the construction of affordable housing.

By unlocking a construction boom and helping developers build the 40,000 new homes needed to meet demand over the next decade, we will transform our state’s economy and future. Building those homes has the potential to create and sustain more than 9,000 jobs every year over 10 years. Adding thousands of new homes will lower rents and home prices around our state, solving our affordable housing crisis. And, perhaps most importantly, the combination of new jobs and homes will attract thousands of new residents to Rhode Island.

Worker's Rights
MAKE WORK PAY

✓ Support $15 an hour minimum wage

✓ Strengthen union rights

✓ Create employee-owned businesses

Over the past dozen years, income inequality in Rhode Island has worsened. The wealthiest now earn more than half of all of the income in the state - a greater share than in 2006 - while the share for working families and the middle class has fallen.

Working families are under attack, in Rhode Island and nationwide. Minimum wage in Rhode Island is a poverty wage for a family of four, but the Governor and other leaders refuse to push for a wage that allows working families in Rhode Island to survive. And as the Supreme Court guts protections for public sector unions, Governor Raimondo vetoes legislation that would leave hard-fought contracts in place until workers and state employers reach a new labor deal.

Any Rhode Islander who works full-time should be able to afford the basic necessities of life. That’s why I support a $15 living wage. A higher minimum wage will keep working Rhode Islanders out of poverty, off of government assistance, and give them the opportunity to build a better life for themselves and their families.

As Governor, I propose increasing the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2022, increasing $.50 the first year, $1 the second year and $1.50 per year the final two years. We will then tie that wage to the rate of inflation to ensure that people’s earnings keep up with the cost of the things they need.

Rhode Island will join the fight for laws that protect unions and the contracts they fight for and win, including evergreen contracts for public sector workers and laws that allow workers to walk away from the bargaining table if they believe they aren’t getting a fair shake from management. For decades, strong unions guarded us against rising inequality by giving workers power. In Rhode Island, I believe workers should have that power once again. Under my leadership, they will.

To bring the benefits of employee ownership to Rhode Island, we will provide tax relief to a Rhode Island business owner for sale of stock to an employee-owned enterprise. When owners intend to sell their businesses, we will require that owners notify employees that they are eligible to purchase or bid on the business, and give employees the right of first refusal to purchase the business through a cooperative or employee stock ownership program. We will also establish an independent, nonprofit Center for Employee Ownership that provides technical assistance, marketing, and education on the benefits of worker cooperatives to Rhode Island businesses and workers.

Environment
REINVENT ENERGY

✓ 100% renewable energy by 2035

✓ Share profits for all Rhode Islanders

✓ Create 11,000 new, green jobs

The world – along with our neighboring states – is building the energy system of the future powered by water, wind, and sun rather than coal, oil, and gas. Rhode Island has the renewable resources to generate twice the amount of energy we use - enough to export all across the region. Instead, Rhode Island spends $3.6 billion a year – $3,400 for every Rhode Islander – importing fossil fuels from other states that create jobs and profits elsewhere. We want Rhode Island to be the first state in the country to build a local renewable energy system that not only provides all of the state’s energy needs but generates surplus energy to export.

Creating this new energy system is the biggest economic opportunity Rhode Island has had in generations. I believe that Rhode Island can lead the energy revolution by being the first state in the country that not only produces all of its energy from local, truly clean renewable resources — but also exports surplus renewable energy to other states. It would mean thousands of jobs in wind and solar for residential and commercial that can never be outsourced. And Rhode Islanders should have a financial stake in this new energy system so they can benefit from the profits of our shared natural resources. Under my plan, Rhode Islanders would receive dividend checks every year from the profits generated by the energy system, just as all residents of Alaska do.

As Rhode Island mobilizes to lead the energy economy of the future, it must scrap its plans for the Invenergy corporation to clear-cut more than 100 acres in the forest of northwestern Rhode Island to build a fracked-gas and diesel oil power plant. People in Burrillville, Providence, and across the state have been fighting heroically to stop more fossil fuel infrastructure from being built, including the expansion of the Fields Point LNG facility. All Rhode Islanders should join in this fight — the environmental, health, and economic harm caused by anchoring ourselves to the polluting, monopoly energy of the past would hurt us all.

Along with our proposed offshore wind energy system that includes annual dividend returns to the public, we will have a comprehensive solar and land-based wind energy plan that will prioritize building solar in already-developed areas, such as rooftops and surface parking lots, while working to protect green spaces.

In total, our energy plan will create nearly 11,000 good jobs for Rhode Islanders that can’t be outsourced.

Pensions
RESTORE LOST PENSION BENEFITS

✓ Restore cost of living increases for retirees

✓ Move our pension funds out of risky Wall Street hedge funds and back to stable, low-fee investments

In 2011, then-Treasurer Raimondo told Rhode Islanders the state needed to cut the pensions for teachers, cops, and firefighters while moving at least $1 billion into expensive, high-risk hedge funds and venture capital firms. These investments have consistently underperformed and have already cost the state more than $214 million in fees. That includes firms like Point Judith, a venture capital firm Raimondo founded that the state invests with and from which Raimondo makes money.

Governor Raimondo’s drastic pension cuts needlessly hurt public employees and retirees, exposes their retirement funds to even greater risk, and will cost the state’s taxpayers millions more long-term.

As Governor, I will fight for full transparency for investments of public money, including public release of current management contracts, investment fees, and the portfolio of investments. I will also fight for rapid disinvestment from risky Wall Street hedge funds and venture capital firms and move the money back into stable, lower-fee, better-performing index funds; and use the savings from reduced investor fees and improved investment performance to restore annual COLAs for current and future retirees.

Immigration
RIGHTS FOR ALL RHODE ISLANDERS

✓ Welcome and value immigrants

✓ Test and license all Rhode Island drivers

I wholeheartedly oppose and am disgusted by the Trump Administration’s policy of abusing migrants and asylum seekers - interning them at the border, charging them criminally, raiding their workplaces, terrorizing their communities, and worst of all, separating families.

As Governor, I will strengthen sanctuary and asylum policies here in Rhode Island, including ensuring that no state agency shares information about any state resident with ICE, either intentionally or otherwise. For the safety of the public and our roads, all Rhode Island residents should be required to get tested and licensed to drive a vehicle, regardless of immigration status. And, unlike the current Governor, I will end the practice of handing out state tax breaks and other corporate welfare to defense contractors profiting from the Trump Administration’s horrific immigration policies.

Child Safety
PROTECTING OUR FUTURE

✓ Audit all Rhode Island child services

✓ Fund child services properly

As Governor, my chief priority will be keeping our families safe. That starts with our children. Under Governor Raimondo, at least 28 children in the Department of Children Youth and Families (DCYF) care have died in the last two years. Governor Raimondo failed to appoint qualified leadership for more than two years, leaving the department rudderless and putting these kids’ lives at risk. Further, in the last several years, Raimondo made even more budget cuts to DCYF even after warnings from advocates that DCYF's financial shortfalls were making problems worse. Raimondo has failed at the basics of her job and the consequences of her mismanagement have been tragic. No child in our care should ever be in danger of losing their lives because of mismanagement and budget cutting.

Gun Violence
RHODE ISLAND CAN LEAD

✓ Hold gun manufacturers accountable

✓ Ban guns in schools

✓ Regulate junk guns

✓ Pass a Comprehensive Firearm Registration

✓ A Mom’s Demand Action Gun-Sense Candidate

Washington is broken. Nowhere is that more obvious than Congress’s complete failure to pass a ban on assault weapons and large capacity ammunition magazines after the unspeakable gun violence at Newtown, at Sandy Hook, at Pulse, and Parkland. If we’re going to do something about it and prevent another tragedy, the next Governor is going to have to lead. Like you, I’m tired of our surreal national gun violence routine of mass shootings, thoughts, and prayers without real solutions from gutless politicians. It's time to take on the NRA, and pass comprehensive reforms. ^[18]

Jobs and the Economy
Our economy is strong when Rhode Islanders can get good paying jobs, wages are growing, construction is booming and everyone who works hard has the opportunity to get ahead. Under Gina’s leadership, Rhode Island has gone from number 49 to number one in the nation for rising wages, there are more people working than at any time in the past 10 years, and our unemployment numbers are on par with the national average (they were some of the highest in the nation when she took office).

Small businesses are the engine of our economy. Gina is committed to supporting Rhode Island businesses — that’s why we’ve made significant investments to help small businesses and local manufacturers.

For the first time in a long time, companies are moving here and expanding here because they want to hire Rhode Islanders. A combination of job training and business incentives has ignited our comeback.

In the last two years, we have recruited or expanded 24 companies that would have gone somewhere else, but today are on track to hire more than 2,000 Rhode Islanders at an average salary of more than $70,000.

New companies means new construction and cranes in the sky. Under Gina’s leadership, Rhode Island has among the fastest annual construction job growth of any state in America.

Early Childhood Education
Excellent early childhood education puts kids on the path to lifelong success. In the three years since Gina took office, there are three times more four-year-olds from low income communities participating in Rhode Island’s public Pre-K. Rhode Island’s preschool programs are among the best in the United States, and our enrollment rates have increased by 70 percent in the past year. As governor, Gina has more than doubled the state’s investment in high-quality, public Pre-K programs.

All families deserve access to excellent childcare, so Gina has taken direct action to ease the financial burden and give peace of mind to low-income working families. Under her leadership we’ve seen the largest increase in Child Care Assistance funding in a decade, and Gina’s latest budget calls for additional investments in improving childcare quality.

K-12 Education
Our kids succeed when they go to great schools with excellent teachers and get a world-class education. No one in Rhode Island history has made a larger investment in our state’s public schools than Gina. From kindergarten through high school graduation, Rhode Island students have more opportunities to thrive than ever before.

As governor, Gina guaranteed all-day kindergarten for every child in Rhode Island. She committed to more than doubling the number of kids who read on grade level in third grade by 2025 — a key indicator for improving high school graduation rates. And since today’s kids need some understanding of coding and digital literacy to compete in the 21st century, Gina made Rhode Island the first state in America to teach computer science in every public school.

Gina is investing in every Rhode Island student so they can graduate high school and have the opportunity to go to college. Thanks to Gina, the PSAT and SAT are free in Rhode Island — and now 20 percent more high school students are taking college admission tests.

But college isn’t for everyone, and everyone deserves a good job. High school students who don’t plan to go to college should graduate with the advanced skills they need to be successful and ready to compete for today’s in-demand jobs in healthcare, construction, computer science and more. Rhode Island, under Gina’s leadership, is leading the nation in expanding career and technical education opportunities. High schoolers are graduating with additional degrees, certifications and licensures, prepared to join the workforce immediately.

Gina ended the state funding freeze on school repairs and construction. Now, she is leading the way to pass a once in a generation school funding package to fix, upgrade and build public schools throughout Rhode Island. There are priority needs in every district — students and teachers deserve schools that are warm, safe and dry.

Higher Education and Job Training
Every hardworking Rhode Islander must have access to the training and education they need to keep up and get ahead — with or without a college degree. Gina is making record investments in education and job training so that every hardworking Rhode Islander can keep up and get ahead in today’s economy.

The top reason cited for not going to college is the the cost, so Gina led the effort to make Rhode Island one of just five states that offers tuition-free access to community college. Thanks to Gina, more than 1,500 additional Rhode Islanders enrolled at the Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) this year — a 43 percent increase.

College isn’t for everyone, but everyone deserves a good job. So Gina created new career and technical training programs in and beyond high school. Rhode Islanders at every stage of their career can get the skills, degrees, certifications and licensures they need for today’s in-demand jobs in healthcare, construction, computer science and more.

Rhode Islanders who complete training programs are matched with local employers in need of talent. Gina’s leadership is a win-win for Rhode Island employers and employees.

Healthcare
Everyone deserves access to high quality, affordable health care.

Under Gina’s leadership, 96 percent of Rhode Islanders have health insurance and our premiums on the state health exchange are the lowest in the country.

The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, is working in Rhode Island. We have one of the highest insured rates in the U.S. When Washington tried to tear Obamacare apart, putting the lives of Rhode Islanders at risk, Gina spoke out and stopped them. Gina will not let Washington take away our health care.

Gina is committed to combating the overdose crisis in Rhode Island — it remains our most urgent health crisis. Gina was one of the first Governors to appoint a dedicated senior adviser to focus full-time on the overdose crisis and our Overdose and Prevention Action Plan has been hailed as a national model. Under Gina’s leadership there has been a decline in overdose deaths in Rhode Island — but even one death is too many, we must keep going.

Roads and Infrastructure
Rhode Islanders deserve safe and well-maintained roads and bridges. When Gina took office, Rhode Island ranked dead last in bridge condition in America — one out of four bridges in our state was crumbling. She made a commitment to fix our roads and bridges and put thousands of Rhode Islanders to work.

Under Gina’s leadership, we have already fixed more than 75 bridges and roads, in every community in Rhode Island, as part of a 10-year, $4.7 billion investment in the state’s infrastructure. The construction industry is back at work repairing and rebuilding Rhode Island.

Energy and the Environment
Climate change will have a big impact on our small state. We have to do all we can to protect Rhode Island’s precious resources.

Governor Gina Raimondo is making sure that every Rhode Island family can enjoy our bay, beaches, forests and wetlands for generations to come.

In her first term, the Governor set an ambitious goal: Make Rhode Island’s energy system ten times cleaner by 2020. With less than two years to go, we’re well on our way to meeting our goal.

Rhode Island is the only state in America with an offshore wind farm and this year Gina announced a new offshore wind project to provide enough energy to power over 200,000 Rhode Island homes and create more than 800 good jobs at every level. Green energy jobs have already increased by 66 percent under Gina’s leadership.

Our state is ranked third in the nation for energy-efficiency programs and policies under Gina. Since 2014, the number of solar companies in Rhode Island has increased from six to 48 and homeowners and businesses across our state are benefiting from incentives to install solar.

Gina has been an environmental leader in our country and region. She endorsed a more aggressive reduction in emissions through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a strong, regional approach to combat the climate crisis. When President Trump withdrew our nation from the Paris Climate Agreement, Gina entered Rhode Island into the United States Climate Alliance and committed to uphold greenhouse gas reduction goals despite D.C.’s action. And when the Trump administration threatened to open up Rhode Island’s coastline to offshore oil exploration and drilling, Gina went directly to Washington to protect the Ocean State.

Gun Violence Prevention
School is the last place a parent should have to worry about their child’s safety. Gun violence has become far too common in the United States and Gina believes that if the federal government won’t take action to prevent gun violence and keep our kids safe, states must act. Without action, thoughts and prayers are meaningless.

In 2017, Gina was proud to champion and sign The Protect Rhode Island Families Act, which prohibits gun possession by individuals convicted of domestic violence crimes, and requires that all guns in their possession be turned in upon conviction.

Gina was the first Governor in the country to sign a Red Flag Executive Order after the school mass shooting in Parkland, Florida — ordering police to take all available legal steps to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals.

She is with Rhode Islanders demanding a ban on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines like those used in Parkland, Las Vegas and Sandy Hook and she is championing legislation to make schools more secure, healthier and safer.

Gina has never taken a dollar from the NRA and she never will.^[18]