The federal government is poised to shower billions of dollars on Rhode Island’s health providers over the next decade due to the looming expansion of Medicaid under President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

The health law expands Medicaid, the joint federal-state health insurance program for the poor, to cover childless adults who make up to 138% of the federal poverty level, currently $15,856. A new study by the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council projects that roughly 40,000 more Rhode Islanders will sign up for the program between the start of the expansion on Jan. 1, 2014, and the end of 2023.

Yet Rhode Island taxpayers will need to spend just $450 million in local matching funds to get $3.15 billion in federal money (seven times as much) to cover the newly enrolled 40,000, according to RIPEC. That’s thanks to the extremely generous terms of the Medicaid expansion: the federal government will pay at least 90% of the cost for patients added under Obamacare, compared with only 51% for the current members.

Rhode Island’s Medicaid program spent $1.8 billion in federal and state dollars to cover 224,000 people during the 2010-11 fiscal year. Medicaid accounts for roughly a quarter of Rhode Island’s entire state budget.

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If Rhode Island’s state leaders want to be more transparent about government spending, they don’t need to look far for inspiration.

Massachusetts is the second-most transparent state government in the country when it comes to detailing its spending online, topped only be Texas, according to a new study from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. But Rhode Island is among the least transparent, with the fifth-worst level of disclosure.

Massachusetts scored a 93 for transparency out of a possible 100 points; Rhode Island only scored a 54.

Rhode Island is one of seven lagging states that “maintain transparency websites but are missing important pieces of their checkbooks and other spending data that are available on most other websites,” the study said. The critique continues:

While all these states provide checkbook-level detail on the payments made to vendors through contracts and grants, only one state – Ohio – provides information on economic development tax credits. The information on contracts and grants is not as comprehensive or as easy-to-access as the information in higher-rated states. For example, many states do not make details available about the specific goods or services purchased or provide information about past expenditures.

Lagging States lack other information commonplace on many other states’ transparency websites. Only two states post information on city and county spending, and only three states make available tax expenditure reports that detail the total funds lost through exemptions, abatements, credits and other tax break programs.

Rhode Island was dinged for failing to provide checkbook data about economic-development subsidies, tax credits, tax expenditures and spending by cities and counties.

Update: A reader points out the annual reports on tax expenditures are available here.

• Related: Analysis: The good and bad on Chafee’s transparency website (Jan. 10)

The R.I. Clean Water Finance Agency is losing its longtime leader just as state officials start a push to expand the quasi-public agency’s responsibilities.

Anthony Simeone, the agency’s executive director since 1994, told WPRI.com he’s planning to retire later this year. The board of directors began searching for Simeone’s replacement a few weeks ago.

“The agency is currently seeking a new executive director,” Simeone told WPRI.com. “I have plans to retire effective June 30, but if I’m needed in any capacity to assist, my plans could be altered.”

House Speaker Gordon Fox and Treasurer Gina Raimondo unveiled a proposal last week to create a new Municipal Road and Bridge Revolving Loan Fund at the agency to reduce the cost for communities to borrow for repairs. Both said they wanted to capitalize on the agency’s strength under Simeone’s leadership.

Simeone did leave the door open to staying at RICWFA for a bit longer if state leaders ask. “Let’s say if there were a situation that were offered to me to remain on a few weeks or months in some capacity to make sure this program gets going, I would consider it,” he said.

• Related: What is the Rhode Island Clean Water Finance Agency? (March 21)

Rhode Island’s 2011 voter ID law was a hot topic on the campaign trail in some General Assembly races last fall, with Democrats in liberal districts saying they got an earful about the need to repeal it. House Speaker Gordon Fox has promised to consider the issue this session.

The strange spectacle of a heavily Democratic legislature implementing a policy that’s usually pushed by conservative Republicans raised eyebrows at The New Republic and deeply dismayed many local liberals. But should they rethink their opposition to voter ID?

Michael Waldman, president of NYU’s Brennan Center for Justice, seems to think so – and his voice will carry weight, considering the Brennan Center is one of the nation’s most prominent voting-rights organizations. In the new issue of the influential progressive journal Democracy, Waldman pushes for an aggressive agenda – and tells his political allies they should look to Rhode Island for a model:

Progressives will need to do much better, too, at making clear our commitment to election integrity. …

[P]rogressives look Pollyannaish if we belittle concerns about election integrity. After all, politicians have been trying to stuff the ballot box since senators wore togas. It was progressive reformers who fought for decades to improve the honesty and integrity of elections. …

I believe progressives must take one more step. We should unambiguously embrace an election-integrity agenda that protects against genuine risks without disenfranchising legitimate voters. The Republican demand for voter-ID laws is not the problem per se. The problem comes from laws requiring ID that many people do not have. About 11 percent of voters lack a driver’s license or another current government photo ID. Rhode Island, in contrast to the stricter ID laws conservatives favor, passed a law that accepts nongovernmental ID such as insurance cards, credit or debit cards, even health-club cards. This approach has caused little disenfranchisement or fraud.

Rhode Island’s law is being phased in, with some forms of non-photo ID still allowed this year. Photo IDs – though not necessarily government-issued ones – will be required at the polls starting next year. A bill to repeal voter ID [pdf] was considered by the House Judiciary Committee last week.

• Related: Is RI’s new voter ID law just an ‘oddity’ – or a ‘game changer’? (July 28, 2011)

By Ted Nesi

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – Concern is growing about potential job losses at Lifespan, the nonprofit parent of major medical facilities including Rhode Island Hospital that is the state’s largest private employer, WPRI.com has learned.

A Lifespan spokeswoman confirmed Friday morning that the hospital chain is experiencing a financial shortfall, saying its finances ran “significantly below budget” during the first five months of its current fiscal year.

Read the rest of this story »

• Update: Fox, Raimondo pitch $70M loan fund for repairs (March 21)

The Rhode Island Clean Water Finance Agency’s motto declares, “Clean Water for Rhode Island is Our Only Business.” But that won’t be true for much longer if Treasurer Gina Raimondo and House Speaker Gordon Fox have their way.

Raimondo and Fox will hold a press conference Thursday morning where they’ll propose adding a new Municipal Road and Bridge Revolving Fund to the water agency’s portfolio of programs. They’ll be joined by Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed and municipal leaders, making this as close to a sure thing as any new legislative proposal can be.

So, you ask, what is the R.I. Clean Water Finance Agency?

The short answer: RICWFA is a quasi-public state agency, similar to better-known entities like the R.I. Economic Development Corporation and the R.I. Airport Corporation. While the Clean Water Finance Agency has a relatively low profile, it plays a key part in financing the maintenance of Rhode Island’s water system. Its basic role is to provide subsidized and low-interest loans to local governments that they use to fund water-infrastructure projects of all sizes.

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The American Society of Civil Engineers is out with its latest report card on the nation’s infrastructure (the country got a D+) and as part of the release has created web pages with facts and figures about the infrastructure in each of the 50 states. Click the infographic for much more about Rhode Island:

By Dan McGowan

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – A company hired to investigate waste and fraud in the state’s welfare programs found problems including prisoners and deceased people receiving food stamps, retailers purchasing EBT cards and Section 8 housing recipients underreporting their benefits, according to a report released by Gov. Lincoln Chafee’s office Wednesday.

Read the rest of this story »

• Related: Read Ken Block’s full 16-page report (PDF)

Here’s an interesting email I got recently from a reader who says he’s a veteran state worker, offering his perspective on all the changes to his retirement benefits made in recent years (I’ve redacted his name):

Dear Mr Nesi,

My name is [X], I am a Correctional Officer with the RI Dept of Corrections, and have been employed there since 1988. At the time of my application I was a young ambitious man with hopes of making a better life for my family and I; that being said, I also knew that this would involve sacrifice, hard work, and dedication.

Today, I am older, wiser, and left to “play a game” in which the rules have been changed “in the middle”.

In my initial interview, I was informed that if I were fortunate enough to attain a position in the academy I would be paid $150.00 per week throughout the academy…and if I graduated, my starting salary would be +/-$21,000.00, would receive a full benefit package of life insurance and dental FOR LIFE, also, at 50 years of age I would be eligible to retire with a retirement package of 50% of my current salary. Also if I attended college and graduated in Administration of Justice I would receive a stipend of 15% of my pay for as long as I was employed.

This was not my only opportunity! I had other opportunities, Prov Police, State Police, Deputy Marshal, however, based on these promises I turned down the other opportunities for the opportunities availed by RIDOC. Now all these promises have been changed, IS THAT LEGAL! My college incentive cut to $2500.00 per year; my retirement age increased to 59, my percentage reduced significantly, my healthcare costs increased significantly. How is this possible?

Not through negotiation but through legislation!

24 years later, I know I am only a mere middle class guy, but I feel if there has ever been oppression and prejudice laid upon anyone, it is against me…the regular “joe” that works and does what he must for his family.

I do not think that the founders of this state or country intended that the working guys/gals were the ones that would be oppressed.

Your Thoughts,
Respectfully,
[X]

• Related: Mediation to continue in RI pension suit after judge gets update (Feb. 28)

The House Fiscal Office crunched the numbers on how much state aid Governor Chafee wants to give the cities and towns in his proposed 2013-14 budget: $80.3 million, up from a proposed $71.4 million this year (excluding K-12). That’s a healthy bump, but it’s still way less than municipalities were getting in 2006-07:

In theory the cities and towns could have made up for all the money they lost when the General Assembly axed the car tax reimbursement by immediately hiking drivers’ tax bills, but in practice that probably would have caused a mass revolt, so this was where the rubber met the road when a huge economic downturn collided with a requirement that governments balance their budgets.

In nominal dollars, House Fiscal says lawmakers hiked non-school aid to municipalities from $35 million in 1989-90 to $106 million in 1999-2000 and $202 million in 2004-05, then slashed it to $60 million in 2010-11. What the General Assembly giveth, the General Assembly taketh away.

​Update​: State aid to school districts, on the other hand, has climbed steadily over the past two decades except for a dip during 2008-09 and 2009-10 (with the much-discussed new funding formula taking effect in 2011-12):

Rhode Islanders pay the 13th-highest state and local taxes in the country compared with their incomes, according to the latest analysis of Census data by the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.

The $6.9 billion in state and local taxes paid by Rhode Islanders in 2009-10 totaled 11.1% of their personal income, up slightly from 11.0% the prior year, the analysis shows. Just 12 other states took more of their residents’ income in state and local taxes, according to the group.

The national average was 10.6% of income, and Massachusetts ranked 25th at 10.2% of income, the analysis shows. Three other New England states – Maine, Vermont and Connecticut – took more of their residents’ incomes in taxes than Rhode Island did, while New Hampshire took the least.

The left-leaning Massachusetts think tank said it looks at taxes as a share of personal income rather than per capita because it “allows for a meaningful comparison among states.” Another group, the right-leaning Tax Foundation, ranks Rhode Island’s tax burden higher after making adjustments to the data.

• Related: Charts: Regressive RI taxes getting (slightly) more progressive (Jan. 30)

(chart: Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center modified by WPRI.com)

For more than a decade, state and local taxes in Rhode Island have been among the nation’s most regressive – meaning they’re structured to take a larger share of income from the poor than they do from the wealthy.

That said, a WPRI.com analysis of the last decade’s “Who Pays?” studies from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy shows the richest Rhode Islanders are paying slightly more of their incomes in state and local taxes than they were in 2002, while the poorest are paying a bit less.

That doesn’t necessarily contradict progressives’ argument that wealthier Rhode Islanders have gotten a tax cut: the studies show the share of income paid by the top 1% in income taxes fell from 5.8% in 2002 to 4.8% in 2013. But that reduction was offset by an increase in how much the top 1% paid in property taxes, which rose from 2% to 3.1%. Here’s how the tax mix for the top 1% has changed over the last decade:

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The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy is out with its latest look at how much of their incomes different Rhode Islanders pay in state and local taxes, and the big headline hasn’t changed: the state’s tax structure takes almost twice as much from the poorest 20% of residents as it does from the top 1%.

Rhode Island families making less than $18,000 a year will pay 12.1% of their 2010 income in state and local taxes under current law, according to the study by ITEP, a Washington-based research group that is affiliated with the labor-backed nonprofit Citizens for Tax Justice.

At the other end of the spectrum, Rhode Island families making $378,000 or more a year will pay 6.4% of their 2010 income in state and local taxes when the federal deduction for those taxes is taken into account. An analysis by WPRI.com of ITEP’s reports shows that since 2002, state and local taxes have gone up or stayed steady for the top 60% of taxpayers while decreasing slightly for the bottom 40%:

(The 2010 income for the lowest 20% was less than $16,000; for second 20%, $16,000-$27,000; for middle 20%, $27,000-$42,000; for fourth 20%, $42,000-$72,000; for the next 15%, $72,000-$141,000; for the next 4%, $141,000-$328,000; and for the top 1%, $328,000 or more.)

Rhode Island is among 10 states that levy the highest taxes on the poor and is the only New England state in that group, according to the study. It is also one of only three states in the U.S. where the Earned Income Tax Credit isn’t fully refundable, which means Rhode Island families with no income tax liability cannot receive the benefit of the credit, the study says.

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By Dan McGowan

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – State procedures for recruiting and hiring personnel are outdated and flawed compensation structures lead to the inability to retain skilled employees, according to a 104-page report released by Governor Lincoln Chafee’s office Monday.

Read the rest of this story »

​By Dan McGowan and Ted Nesi

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – The reaction to Gov. Lincoln Chafee’s budget proposal Wednesday night was very different from the response to his first two. Here’s a roundup of reactions from Fox, Paiva Weed, Raimondo, Taveras, Fung, Melo, DaPonte, Newberry and Tanzi.

Read the rest of this story »

• Related: Chafee seeks lower corporate tax rate, more school funding (Jan. 16)

• Overview: No tax hikes in Chafee budget

In March 2011, a newly inaugurated Gov. Lincoln Chafee proposed an ambitious restructuring of Rhode Island’s sales tax to boost revenue. House Speaker Gordon Fox killed the idea just a month later amid a huge outcry.

Last year Chafee tried a different tack, proposing an increase in the meals tax and trying to win support by earmarking the money for education. But the dining industry protested, putting signs on restaurant tables from Woonsocket to Westerly, and lawmakers ignored the governor’s big idea on revenue once again.

Chafee may be stubborn, but he’s not insane: his first two budgets taught him that proposing high-profile tax hikes is political suicide. So the message in Chafee’s proposed 2013-14 budget is unequivocal: read my lips, no new taxes.

“Governor Chafee’s revenue plan was very simple – taxpayers have already shouldered enough of the cost of government, and the delicate recovery we are in today should not be derailed by any tax increases,” the budget document declares. “Therefore, Governor Chafee’s FY 2014 Proposed Budget ​does not​ include ​any​ increases in taxes, fees or charges.” (They underlined it in the original.)

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Sharon Reynolds Ferland, the R.I. House of Representatives’ fiscal advisor, had good news and bad news for the House Finance Committee in her presentation on Wednesday.

The good news: an increase in revenue has offset persistent overspending by state departments by enough that the 2013-14 budget deficit is now forecast to be $69 million, down from $130 million. That means fewer tough choices for lawmakers this spring.

The bad news: Rhode Island’s state budget is still structurally unbalanced, meaning the forecast is for deficits every year going forward. The General Assembly has committed to spending more than it has committed to raising from taxation and fees.

It’s worth keeping that in mind when you read headlines saying Rhode Island is projected to finish this fiscal year on June 30 with a $47 million surplus. The surplus is real, but it’s also spoken-for – the money is being used to get the deficit down to $69 million for 2013-14.

If you really want to understand the situation, here’s the entire PowerPoint:

• Related: Sasse knocks lawmakers for papering over unbalanced budget (June 15)

An earlier version of this story misstated the impact of the surplus on the 2013-14 deficit.

Clearly Lincoln Chafee doesn’t mind bucking public opinion.

With the governor going on national TV to make his second annual push to call the State House spruce a “holiday tree,” it’s worth taking another look at a Brown University survey question on the issue that was published last year.

The poll found an overwhelming 77% of Rhode Island voters said they would prefer the governor call it a “Christmas tree,” while just 11% preferred Chafee’s “holiday tree” formulation, 4% wanted something else and 8% didn’t know.

Treasurer Gina Raimondo, who is expected to challenge Chafee in 2014 if he runs for re-election, is more in line with the general public. “It’s a Christmas tree,” she told The Valley Breeze’s Ethan Shorey on Friday, adding: “That’s on the record.” Providence Mayor Angel Taveras also went with Christmas tree.

The telephone survey of 464 registered voters in Rhode Island was conducted Dec. 2-9, 2011, by Brown’s A. Alfred Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions and John Hazen White Public Opinion Laboratory. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

• Related: Analysis: On ‘Christmas’ trees and the public square in RI (Dec. 2, 2011)

Matt Yglesias writes for Slate (emphasis added):

There are certainly poor people here in Washington, struggling families in New Jersey, difficult sections of Philadelphia, and even in glitzy New York, many people having a hard time getting by in public housing. But on the whole this is a very prosperous section of the country, and when you combine its wealth and its size, it’s one of the most economically successful regions in the world.

Click over to ye olde Brookings State of Metropolitan American map and you’ll see that Davidson’s journey started in the New York metropolitan statistical area, which has the 13th highest median income out of America’s 100 largest MSAs. …

The Northeast’s laggard area is the Providence, R.I./New Bedford, Mass./Fall River, Mass., MSA that’s only 43rd in median household income with a number that’s only slightly above the national median. The Northeast corridor is so rich and successful, in other words, that Providence’s averageness looks like failure. …

Which is hardly to say that the Northeast is perfect. But I think dwelling on its pockets of industrial decline misses the biggest story here. The real questions to ask are about the linked issues of why the cost of living is so high and the population growth so relatively low in this economically dynamic region.

In the wake of their smashing election victory on Tuesday, Rhode Island liberals may want to ponder Yglesias’s observation and a related point from Michael Mandel: “Progressives cannot achieve their social goals without faster growth.” For more, read David Leonhardt on why growth matters.

• Related: RI ‘used to be about as rich as Mass.,’ then ‘stagnated terribly’ (Sept. 5)

By Tim White

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – The number of state workers making $100,000 or more has increased over the last four years, a Target 12 review of payroll data reveals.

Read the rest of this story »

Excitement ricocheted across Twitter Monday night when Republican Mitt Romney mentioned Rhode Island in one of his debate answers, a rare presidential-level cameo for this deep-blue state.

Echoing a frequent talking point from conservatives, Romney pointed to the Medicaid waiver that the outgoing Bush administration granted Governor Carcieri in early 2009 to explain why he wants to give states more control over the program.

“States like Arizona, Rhode Island have taken these, these Medicaid dollars, [and] have shown they can run these programs more cost-effectively,” the former Massachusetts governor said.

As the chart at right shows, Rhode Island has one of the most expensive Medicaid programs in the country, which partly explains why local policymakers have been so intent on finding ways to curb its costs. Yet the impact of the waiver remains in dispute nearly four years after it was approved.

Romney’s comments have led to a flurry of fact-checking, particularly from liberals who oppose Republican proposals to block grant Medicaid. Politico’s Jason Millman weighed in Wednesday with a story questioning Romney’s claims (emphasis mine):

The Romney Medicaid plan would cap the growth of the program’s spending to the consumer price index plus 1 percent and essentially give states a lump sum to spend as they see fit. The Rhode Island and Arizona Medicaid programs, while enjoying more flexibility, are still backstopped by the federal government. …

In the case of Rhode Island, the Global Waiver it obtained in 2009 wasn’t intended to control costs, as a Lewin Group report commissioned by the state explained last December. “The Global Waiver is not a block grant meant to control costs but a demonstration aimed to improve health care quality built on the core foundation of shared state and federal costs,” the report said. …

The Lewin report said it was too early to assess the full impact, but it did find the Global Waiver had saved about $23 million in the first three years — well short of the $100 million in savings predicted when President George W. Bush’s administration approved the waiver.

Health and Human Services Secretary Steven Costantino gave a mixed verdict last year. “I think many of the things we could’ve done without the waiver,” he told McClatchy. “The more important question is, would we have done it?”

To get the case for the Medicaid waiver’s importance, read the Ocean State Current’s Justin Katz, who highlights a key piece of context – the waiver went into effect in January 2009, when the economy was in a tailspin. Within a month that led President Obama to sign the stimulus law, which had a significant impact on Medicaid spending in every state, including Rhode Island. The months after the Medicaid waiver went into effect were not a normal policymaking period.

To get the case against the waiver as a national model for block grants, read the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ Jesse Cross-Call and Judith Solomon’s March 2011 study and their March 2012 follow-up. For a shorter summary, try Cross-Call’s new blog post: “The Truth Behind Rhode Island’s Medicaid Waiver.”

(chart: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)

Guests: RIPEC’s John Simmons and Brown University visiting scholar Lou Mazzucchelli:

• Related: Chafee reacts coolly to study saying demote EDC (Sept. 25) | RIPEC study (PDF)

By Ted Nesi

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – The R.I. Economic Development Corporation would be demoted and supplanted by a new secretary of commerce who reports directly to the governor if Rhode Island officials embrace the recommendations of an independent study ordered in the aftermath of the 38 Studios debacle.

During a press conference on Tuesday, Chafee thanked RIPEC for its “terrific, hard work” in putting together the study, which involved 75 interviews with more than 100 people. But the governor didn’t embrace its findings – and left the event without listening to the presentation by John Simmons, RIPEC’s executive director.

“I’m very impressed with what has happened in the last few months down at EDC,” Chafee said. The governor later added: “We’re moving forward. … I have full confidence in what is occurring at EDC right now.”

Read the rest of this story »

• Related: Read the full RIPEC study on economic development (PDF)

Jared Bernstein was Vice President Biden’s chief economist and economic adviser during the financial crisis, and is now a fellow at the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington. Matt Bai’s recent New York Times Magazine story examining who deserves credit for the Ohio economy’s rebound got him to thinking about what state and local officials can and can’t do for their economies acting alone.

Bernstein argues total employment growth nationwide is “largely driven by macro and global trends,” but says state and local officials can make a difference in whether their jurisdictions are the beneficiaries – that is, whether their locales get a fair share (at least) of the jobs being created. He says tax breaks and special deals à la 38 Studios aren’t the right approach, instead offering these two ideas:

First, what matters more to thriving businesses is the quality of public goods, including physical infrastructure and the quality of the workforce. Yes, the tax base matters, but the success stories are not the places that offered the most sugar in terms of tax cuts. It’s the ones that offered solid communities with world class infrastructure – the roads, airports, schools, and skilled workforce that businesses need to succeed. …

The second thing I think we know about the role of sub-national politicians in job creation has to do with regional aggregation or clustering effects that are often very important to local job growth. Cities can develop as research hubs with a quality university at the core; a port city can develop transportation infrastructure that creates lots of new opportunities, and so on. These clusters can develop organically, like the old railroad and river-confluence cities, but these days such developments tend to be more strategic.

Read my February interview with Bernstein for more.

• Related: Robitaille: 38 Studios lesson is don’t pick winners and losers (May 15)

Good luck finding a narrative in the results of this year’s 40 primaries for General Assembly.

There was no rhyme or reason to who won and who lost on Tuesday evening. Look at the scorecards for various groups that endorsed: Marriage Equality Rhode Island had nine wins and 10 losses. The unions’ Working Families Coalition won 10 and lost nine. The K-12 reform group RI-CAN won two and lost two. The Rhode Island Latino Political Action Committee was an exception, claiming a great night with eight wins in 10 races.

Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed and House Speaker Gordon Fox both had good nights. Only one incumbent senator in Paiva Weed’s Democratic caucus lost – and it was Michael Pinga, whom insiders never liked. She won’t face much pressure to push gay marriage next year. Fox’s caucus also had a decent run.

Here’s a scorecard. Incumbents are in bold. Winners in italics face no opposition in November.

House

In the House, 18 incumbents faced primary challengers – all Democrats except Rep. Laurence Ehrhardt.

• District 2 (D): Chris Blazejewski (Hennessey loses)
• District 6 (D): Raymond Hull (Wasylyk loses)
• District 8 (D): John Lombardi (Tarro, Kimzey lose)
• District 11 (D): Grace Diaz (Perez loses)
• District 12 (D): Joseph Almeida (Medina loses)
• District 16 (D): Peter Palumbo (Bergin loses)
• District 18 (D): Art Handy (McKenna loses)
• District 30 (R): Antonio Giarrusso (Bolton, Fachon lose; Watson retires)
• District 32 (R): Laurence Ehrhardt (Gamba loses)
• District 34 (R): Christopher Wilkens (Tetzner loses; Tanzi is incumbent)
• District 35 (D): Spencer Dickinson (Fogarty loses)
• District 39 (R): Clay Johnson (Picillo loses; Valencia is incumbent)
• District 40 (D): Lauri Archambault (Restivo loses; Chippendale is incumbent)
• District 44 (D): Gregory Costantino (Petrarca loses)
• District 45 (D): Mia Ackerman (Menard loses)
• District 46 (D): Jeremiah O’Grady (Barr II loses)
• District 49 (D): Lisa Baldelli-Hunt (Gitlow, Morin lose)
• District 50 (D): Stephen Casey (Brien loses)
• District 52 (D): Karen MacBeth (Uht loses)
• District 54 (D): William O’Brien (Mantia, Pellegrino; Schadone retires)
• District 56 (D): Agostinho Silva (Faria loses)
• District 58 (D): William San Bento Jr. (Tobon loses)
• District 59 (D): J. Patrick O’Neill (Arcaro loses)
• District 63 (D): Katherine Kazarian (Britto, Lovett, Tsonos loses; DaSilva retires)
• District 65 (D): Gregg Amore (Chapman, Miller lose; Savage retires)
• District 68 (D): Kenneth Marshall (Hanley loses; Morrison retires)
• District 73 (D): Marvin Abney (Carlin loses; Jackson retires)

Senate

In the Senate, eight incumbent Democrats and one Republican face primary challengers.

• District 3 (D): Gayle Goldin (Butke loses; Perry retires)
• District 5 (D): Paul Jabour (Kelly loses)
• District 9 (D): Adam Satchell (Pinga loses)
• District 14 (D): Daniel DaPonte (DaSilva loses)
• District 16 (D): Elizabeth Crowley (Moran loses)
• District 17 (D): John Cullen (Azar loses; O’Neill is incumbent)
• District 19 (D): Ryan Pearson (Spooner loses; Moura is incumbent)
• District 24 (D): Marc Cote (Pryeor loses)
• District 25 (D): Frank Lombardo (Acciardo loses)
• District 26 (D): Frank Lombardi (Dyszlewski loses; Lanzi retires)
• District 29 (D): Michael McCaffrey (Pisaturo loses)
• District 33 (D): Leo Raptakis (Gorman loses; Shibley is incumbent)
• District 34 (R): Frank Maher (McFadden loses)

• Related: The lucky 30 who’ve already won their General Assembly races (July 23)

There are 113 seats in Rhode Island’s General Assembly, and more than half of those House and Senate seats are being contested this year – just not necessarily in November.

That’s because there are 18 state legislative districts with a primary contest but no general-election race. These are all places where more than one Democrat filed to run in the primary, but no Republican or third-party candidate filed to run against the winning Dem in November.

Put another way, voters in these 18 districts have a choice on Sept. 11 but not on Nov. 6; barring a highly improbable victorious write-in campaign, the winner of tomorrow’s primary will be these districts’ next lawmaker.

Between the 18 primary-only districts and the 30 districts with no competition at all, nearly half of the General Assembly’s membership for the 2013-14 term will be known on Wednesday morning – 48 of 113 seats.

After the jump, a look at which districts have contested primary elections but uncontested general elections. Incumbents are in bold. If the current lawmaker isn’t in the primary, I put the name in brackets.

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Slate’s Matt Yglesias serves up some real talk about Rhode Island (emphasis mine):

The real truth, as noted in this great Andrew Gelman post from five years ago, is that there isn’t that much change over time in states’ economic well-being. All things considered the best predictor of how rich a state was in 2000 was simply how rich it was in 1929. There are some exceptions to this. … Rhode Island used to be about as rich as Massachusetts and has stagnated terribly. …

[T]he truth is that it’s very difficult to alter to the long-term trajectory of a state’s economic fortune. That’s primarily because people can move. If Mississippi starts doing a much better job of preparing its students to succeed in higher education, a lot of those people will probably leave and move to higher-income states like Connecticut or Massachusetts. Indeed, neither [Deval] Patrick nor Romney was born in Massachusetts. Rather, like many of the state’s most successful individuals they moved to the Bay State from elsewhere to go to Harvard and then stuck around. But creating Harvard was a smart public policy initiative undertaken in the seventeenth century and not something anyone alive today can take credit for.

Right.

This is something too often missed in all the debates over Rhode Island’s economy - after starting at parity after World War II, the state has spent six decades losing ground economically to its neighbors, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s. That’s a major problem for a variety of reasons, many of which were noted by Josh Barro in his must-read post from May.

Yglesias also indirectly references this 2005 Steve Sailer post tabulating “the monetary standard of living by state, as calculated by median income for a family of four divided by the Accra’s cost of living index.” Sailer gives Minnesota the highest standard of living, “at least in terms of things money can buy (i.e., not weather).”

As for Rhode Island? It was way down the list at #40, far behind Connecticut (#15), Massachusetts (#20) and Vermont (#33). (The other two New England states weren’t ranked due to lack of data.)

There are 113 seats in the General Assembly’s two chambers, and 30 of those elections are over before a single vote is cast because one candidate is running unopposed. But not everyone on Smith Hill was so lucky – some politicians must fight off challengers in the Sept. 11 primary to keep their seats.

Here’s a district-by-district look at which districts have primary elections. Incumbents are in bold. If the current lawmaker isn’t in the primary, I put the name in brackets.

House

In the House, 18 incumbents face primary challengers – all Democrats except Republican Rep. Laurence Ehrhardt, who’s opponent says she was told he’d be retiring and then surprised her by deciding to run again.

• District 2 (D): Chris Blazejewski vs. Dirk Hennessey
• District 6 (D): Raymond Hull vs. Peter Wasylyk
• District 8 (D): Michael Tarro vs. Libby Kimzey vs. John Lombardi
• District 11 (D): Grace Diaz vs. Laura Perez
• District 12 (D): Leo Medina vs. Joseph Almeida
• District 16 (D): Peter Palumbo vs. Michelle Bergin
• District 18 (D): Art Handy vs. William McKenna
• District 30 (R): Robert Bolton vs. Emil Fachon vs. Antonio Giarrusso [Watson]
• District 32 (R): Laurence Ehrhardt vs. Sharon Gamba
• District 34 (R): Stephen Tetzner vs. Christopher Wilkens [Tanzi]
• District 35 (D): Spencer Dickinson vs. Kathleen Fogarty
• District 39 (R): Clay Johnson vs. Michael Picillo [Valencia]
• District 40 (D): Lauri Archambault vs. Jon Restivo [Chippendale]
• District 44 (D): Peter Petrarca vs. Gregory Costantino
• District 45 (D): Rene Menard vs. Mia Ackerman
• District 46 (D): Jeremiah O’Grady vs. John Douglas Barr II
• District 49 (D): Lisa Baldelli-Hunt vs. Stuart Gitlow vs. Michael Morin
• District 50 (D): Jon Brien vs. Stephen Casey
• District 52 (D): Karen MacBeth vs. Augustus Uht
• District 54 (D): Lance Mantia vs. David Pellegrino vs. William O’Brien [Schadone]
• District 56 (D): Agostinho Silva vs. Joseph Faria
• District 58 (D): William San Bento Jr. vs. Carlos Tobon
• District 59 (D): J. Patrick O’Neill vs. John Arcaro
• District 63 (D): Robert Britto vs. Katherine Kazarian vs. Sam Lovett vs. Charles Tsonos [DaSilva]
• District 65 (D): Gregg Amore vs. Timothy Chapman vs. James Miller [Savage]
• District 68 (D): Kenneth Marshall vs. John Hanley [Morrison]
• District 73 (D): Marvin Abney vs. David Carlin [Jackson]

Senate

In the Senate, eight incumbent Democrats and one Republican face primary challengers.

• District 3 (D): Maryellen Butke vs. Gayle Goldin [Perry]
• District 5 (D): Paul Jabour vs. Maura Kelly
• District 9 (D): Michael Pinga vs. Adam Satchell
• District 14 (D): Daniel DaPonte vs. Roberto DaSilva
• District 16 (D): Elizabeth Crowley vs. Joseph Moran
• District 17 (D): Louis Azar vs. John Cullen [O'Neill]
• District 19 (D): Ryan Pearson vs. James Spooner [Moura]
• District 24 (D): Marc Cote vs. Lewis Pryeor
• District 25 (D): Frank Lombardo vs. Nicole Amelia Acciardo
• District 26 (D): Frank Lombardi vs. Gene Dyszlewski [Lanzi]
• District 29 (D): Michael McCaffrey vs. Laura Pisaturo
• District 33 (D): David Gorman vs. Leo Raptakis [Shibley]
• District 34 (R): Frank Maher vs. Paul McFadden

Update: WPRI 12 political analyst Joe Fleming calls to say it’s actually surprising to him that there are four Republican House primaries. ”It’s a rarity that there are so many,” he said. “Usually there’s only one or two.”

• Related: The lucky 30 who’ve already won their General Assembly races (July 23)

An earlier version of this list incorrectly classified the Senate District 34 race as a Democratic primary and missed the Democratic primary in House District 56.

More than two dozen General Assembly races are already over before a single ballot is cast because only one candidate filed for the seat. Here’s who is currently listed as running unopposed and therefore won’t have to campaign this fall, according to the secretary of state:

1. Sen. Maryellen Goodwin (D), District 1
2. Sen. Walter Felag (D), District 10
3. Sen. Chris Ottiano (R), District 11
4. Sen. Lou DiPalma (D), District 12
5. William Conley (D), Senate District 18
6. Sen. Roger Picard (D), District 20
7. Sen. Erin Lynch (D), District 31
8. Sen. David Bates (R), District 32
9. Sen. Dennis Algiere (R), District 38

1. Rep. Maria Cimini (D), District 7
2. Rep. Anastasia Williams (D), District 9
3. Rep. John Carnevale (D), District 13
4. Rep. Charlene Lima (D), District 14
5. Rep. Joseph McNamara (D), District 19
6. Rep. David Bennett (D), District 20
7. Rep. Eileen Naughton (D), District 21
8. Rep. Frank Ferri (D), District 22
9. Rep. Joe Trillo (R), District 24
10. Rep. Jared Nunes (D), District 25
11. Rep. Samuel Azzinaro (D), District 37
12. Rep. Stephen Ucci (D), District 42
13. Rep. Arthur Corvese (D), District 55
14. Rep. James McLaughlin (D), District 57
15. Rep. Elaine Coderre (D), District 60
16. Rep. Raymond Johnston (D), District 61
17. Rep. Mary Duffy Messier (D), District 62
18. Rep. Helio Melo (D), District 64
19. Rep. Raymond Gallison (D), District 69
20. Dennis Canario (D), House District 71
21. Rep. Peter Martin (D), District 75

Among the most surprising names on this list is Rep. Carnevale, who survived calls for his resignation last fall when he was charged with sexual assault; the case against him was dismissed after the alleged victim died. Also lucky are Democrats William Conley (Senate District 18) and Dennis Canario (House District 71), who aren’t even incumbents but don’t face opposition. Canario is actually a pickup for Democrats, since that seat was previously Dan Gordon’s and John Loughlin’s; Republicans couldn’t get someone on the ballot this time.

There may be no bigger health wonk in Rhode Island politics than Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts. Now in her second term, the Democrat was tasked by Governor Chafee shortly after he took office with overseeing the state implementation of the federal health care law, and she’s moved quickly to do so.

After this morning’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding the health law, I sat down with the lieutenant governor in her State House office to discuss what comes next. The transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

This decision just says, OK, Rhode Island, keep doing what you’re doing with implementing the health care law, right?

It says keep doing what we’re doing and with a sense of confidence that the federal government is going to be our partner in this going forward. We also have a lot of regional conversations going on, and there’ll be more consistency from state to state – we now know that as a country we are moving forward with this law. That will change a lot of the politics, and also a lot of the practical work that we’re doing.

Take me through – at 30,000 feet – the big benchmarks and milestones ahead in implementing the law for Rhode Island.

(more…)