PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - As Gov. Gina Raimondo approaches the halfway point of her first term in office, she remains intent on creating more jobs for Rhode Island residents, especially in manufacturing.
The Democrat said she plans to seek re-election in 2018 but doesn’t spend much time thinking about that political season. Her agenda for the coming year, she said, includes using business incentives and skills-training programs created during her first two years in office to attract manufacturing jobs in high-growth industries.
“We have momentum like we haven’t had in a long time,” she said, citing a string of economic development successes announced in recent weeks that have led technology companies to expand into Providence.
She said the state’s ongoing budget deficit - estimated by the House Fiscal Office at $112 million next year - could portend tough cuts in social services or health care.
“But I really don’t think we can afford to cut public education,” she said.
The governor described her outlook on 2017 in an interview this month with The Associated Press.
ECONOMY
Raimondo said the more time she’s been governor, “the more time I spend talking to people outside of the building.”
Rhode Island’s unemployment rate was at 5.3 percent last month, less than half of its 11.3 percent peak in mid-2009. But Raimondo said she regularly runs into people who are still hurting.
“Too many Rhode Islanders are feeling insecure,” she said. “They might have a job, but it doesn’t pay them enough. Or they might have a job, but they don’t know how long they’ll have a job. They might send their kid to a public school that is not as good as they’d want it to be. They want more, and I think they deserve more so we just have to keep working.”
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CAR TAXES
Raimondo said she’s willing to work with state lawmakers to reduce or phase out municipal car taxes, a top priority of Democratic House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello.
“It’s a burden in many ways on the people who can least afford it,” Raimondo said. “There’s nothing worse than having a clunker in your driveway that you know isn’t worth much and paying a big tax on it. But you’ve got to do it right. Where are we going to get the revenue? We have to be thoughtful about it.”
The General Assembly begins its new session Tuesday and Raimondo’s budget proposal is due to lawmakers by mid-January. She said it’s too early to tell if reducing car taxes will be in next year’s spending plan. A reduction would likely mean reimbursing the cities and towns that levy them.
She said she maintains a good relationship with leaders of the Democrat-controlled legislature that contrasts with the gridlock in Washington, D.C., and in other states.
“We don’t agree on everything. We never will, we probably shouldn’t, but I think we agree on more than we disagree on, and we figure out ways to get things done,” she said.
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PANHANDLING
Raimondo expressed less willingness to collaborate with lawmakers on another Mattiello priority: cracking down on people who ask passing motorists for money.
“I see that more as a municipal issue than as a state issue,” Raimondo said, noting that such legislation often turns out to be unconstitutional because of free speech considerations.
“People panhandle because they’re poor,” she said. “They don’t have good jobs. That’s why I’m trying to make schools better, make training programs better, get more jobs here.”
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BENEFITS SYSTEM
Raimondo said that one of her biggest disappointments this year is the ongoing problems with a new computer system for distributing public assistance.
She said stories she’s heard of parents with young children not getting their food stamps “keep you up at night” and “eat away at you.”
“We’ve got to do better,” she said.
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