| 1/15/2013 |
Senate, RIPEC issue recommendations on business rankings
STATE HOUSE, Providence – President of the Senate M. Teresa Paiva Weed was joined at a news conference today by Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council Executive Director John C. Simmons, Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce President Laurie White, and others where they unveiled a report and recommendations to address Rhode Island’s rankings on business competitiveness surveys.
Entitled “Moving the Needle,” the report reviewed the individual factors that often cause Rhode Island to rank poorly compared to other states, and made recommendations to begin to improve the state’s ranking and overall business climate. The report was a joint effort of the Rhode Island Senate and RIPEC.
“This report offers substantial recommendations to change how Rhode Island is ranked in national business-competitiveness surveys,” said President Paiva Weed. “The economy is the Senate’s priority, and will be the Senate’s focus this session.”
She continued, “Successfully moving the needle and improving the business climate will require a sustained, cooperative partnership. Just as this report was a partnership between the Senate and RIPEC, our economic development efforts must be a collaborative effort that includes the voices of the Senate, the House, the Governor and his administration, the non-profit sector, academia, and the business community. Working together, we will make Rhode Island more attractive to entrepreneurs, improve our image within our state and outside our borders, and help companies that are here to grow and create jobs.”
In the fall, President Paiva Weed directed the Senate Policy Office to examine the metrics that are looked at by those who produce such surveys, such as CNBC, Forbes Magazine, and the Tax Foundation, and to make recommendations on how to improve Rhode Island’s rankings. When it was learned RIPEC was working on a similar project, it was decided to combine efforts.
Mr. Simmons observed, “Not only does ‘Moving the Needle’ contribute to the discussion by providing baseline measures of economic performance, it also details specific action items for reform. Perhaps more importantly, it can be used as a tool to evaluate legislation, as one of the ways bills should be evaluated is by whether or not they have a positive effect on these types of indicators.”
The findings will be the basis for major legislative initiatives this session, since the Senate believes the General Assembly’s priority and focus at this time must be on the economy.
“This benchmark is a huge development in understanding the factors driving or impeding Rhode Island’s growth agenda,” said Laurie White, president of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce. “The report is validation of the true link that exists between the legislative process and our ability to grow the jobs base. It is a monumental step forward in how we evaluate, prioritize and measure economic policy initiatives. We applaud the Senate President for her work on this project and look forward to continued collaboration.”
The report established benchmarks and statistical baselines based on current conditions in several areas: the economy, workforce and education, transportation and infrastructure, cost of doing business, and quality of life. The indicators use independent data that has been deemed fundamental to an economically competitive state by national ranking bodies and site selection services. The report calls for an annual review of Rhode Island’s standing on the particular benchmarks to determine progress.
Among the findings of the report in each of the categories are:
Economy
Rhode Island ranks competitively on certain benchmarks, such as per-capita income, recent year-to-year state budget deficits, and per-capita real gross domestic product. However, Rhode Island’s unemployment rate is the second-highest in the nation, despite some recent improvements.
Recommended actions regarding this measure include:
• Reinvent Rhode Island’s approach to economic development;
• Develop a written, long-term, consensus-based strategic economic development vision for the state.
• Enact the “Enhanced Jobs Match” program, a web-based program which efficiently identifies and addresses skills gaps among job seekers.
• Enact the “Back to Work Rhode Island” program, which connects employers and the unemployed by enabling workers to continue collecting unemployment insurance payments while receiving on-the-job training at companies with vacancies.
• Reauthorization of a targeted historic tax credit program.
• Review the feasibility of a statewide arts district.
Workforce and Education
Rhode Island ranks 30th and 34th respectively in math and science proficiency, with commendable progress in recent years, and 31st in high school graduation rate. The state also scores well for overall educational attainment. Rhode Island ranks 13th among all states for working-age adults with at least a two-year degree, and 11th in the nation for working-age adults with a bachelor’s degree. However, the state also ranks 15th highest for the share of population without at least a high school credential.
Rhode Island ranks poorly on the benchmark for cost of higher education, with college tuition at four-year colleges and universities ranked 11th highest in the nation, and tuition at two-year institutions also ranked 11th highest.
Recommended actions include:
• Promote and fund early childhood and full-day kindergarten programs.
• Monitor the impact of the increase in the dropout age to 18, enacted in 2011, as well as the fair implementation of new high school graduation standards.
• Focus on helping those with some college learning but no degree obtain a degree, such as through pro-active identification and outreach to these former students, and implementation of a reverse-transfer program that allows transfer of credits towards an associate’s degree.
• Prioritize investment in higher education
Transportation and Infrastructure
Unsurprisingly, the small state of Rhode Island ranked well in the benchmark of average commute time, at 22.9 minutes. That average for the nation is 25.2 minutes, Connecticut, 24.6 minutes, and Massachusetts, 27.3 minutes. The report notes, however, that since 1990, average commute time has increased by more than 3 minutes in Rhode Island.
With some 81 percent of the market having internet speeds greater than 4Mbps, Rhode is third-best in the nation for broadband adoption. The state ranks fourth-best when looking at adoption of internet speeds above 10Mbps. This is an important factor in a growing, knowledge and technology-based economy.
Road and bridge conditions fared much more poorly. Only New Jersey and Hawaii have worse road conditions; and only Pennsylvania, Oklahoma and Iowa have a higher percentage of structurally deficient bridges.
Recommended actions include:
• Maintain an open and competitive telecommunications market.
• Review and enact the final recommendations of the Senate Commission on Sustainable Transportation program. The Commission’s first report included recommendations, some of which are in progress, to eliminate bonding as a means for providing the state match for federal transportation funds, reduce debt service payments, reallocate gas tax revenue for operations and maintenance, and provide additional funding for roadway operations, maintenance, capital and RIPTA.
• Provide resources for monitoring systems to address transportation cost overruns.
• Reinvest savings from retiring transportation bond debt in maintaining and upgrading roads and bridges.
• Monitor the results of the transfer of two bridges to the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority.
• Ensure that the business community is involved in the development of the state transportation plan.
Cost of Doing Business
In terms of Rhode Island’s performance in each category, the state performed the most poorly in the area of “cost of doing business.” The state was competitive – 18th nationally – in the “access to venture capital” category, but in no other benchmark did it score well.
Rhode Island was in the bottom seven in the categories of business tax climate, regulatory burden, energy costs, and health insurance costs. Forbes Magazine ranked Rhode Island 50th in the category of regulatory environment. The Tax Foundation placed Rhode Island’s unemployment taxes 50th, property taxes 46th, and corporate taxes 42nd. Energy costs across the region are high. Rhode Island ranked 43rd in the nation, worse than Maine but better than Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Connecticut. Average private employer health insurance premiums ranked fourth highest in the nation.
Recommended actions include:
• Resist increases in broad-based taxes and maintain the 2010 income tax reforms.
• Review the corporate tax structure, along with tax incentives that are offered, the impact on state revenue, and whether programmatic goals are being met.
• Work in cooperation with the Office of Regulatory Reform to reduce bureaucratic hurdles and monitor implementation of recent reforms.
• Convene a legislative commission to study singles state code uniformity, bringing consistency to the building, fire and elevator codes.
• Work with the new Office of Digital Excellence to ensure state websites are user friendly, professional and appealing.
• Leverage federal healthcare reform as a tool to reduce overall health care system costs.
• Analyze areas of need along Rhode Island’s capital continuum to ensure that there are not gaps among the various financing programs for stages along a businesses’ life cycle.
Quality of Life
Rhode Island scored well in the areas of crime and safety, and health and wellbeing. The state was competitive nationally in the percentage of people whose income falls below the federal poverty threshold, although only Maine had a higher poverty rate among New England states.
The perception of the state among Rhode Islanders, however, remained negative overall, with 61 percent responding to a recent Brown University survey that they feel the state is headed in the wrong direction.
Recommended actions include:
• Consider the recommendations of the Senate Youth Violence task Force to extend economic opportunities to at-risk youth, improve detention decisions and alternatives, and prevent crime.
• Support efforts to increase the healthcare workforce and promote wellness incentives.
• Address the “benefits cliff,” a structure wherein beneficiaries lose supports at a pace that exceeds their rate of increased earnings.
• Support adult literacy programs.
• Support private sector efforts to “re-brand” Rhode Island.
“Moving the needle begins with an honest assessment of what we do well and what we do poorly, and concerted, cooperative efforts to build on our strengths and improve on our weaknesses,” said Senate President Paiva Weed. “We are taking a frank and candid look at the factors that impact the state’s economy and laying the foundation for significant action, legislative and otherwise, to improve Rhode Island’s business climate.”
The report is posted on the General Assembly website at www.rilin.state.ri.us under the “Reports” tab, and on the RIPEC website at www.ripec.org.
For more information, contact:
Greg Pare, Press Secretary for the Senate
State House Room 314
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 276-5558 |
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