Rhode Island
6 takeaways from RI Gov. Dan McKee’s State of the State address Tuesday night
RI Gov. Dan McKee delivers State of the State address
The governor laid out an aspirational slate of priorities, heavy on education and housing.
Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee gave his third State of the State speech Tuesday. It clocked in at around 45 minutes. Here are the top six things we noticed:
No fiscal storm clouds on the horizon, unlike Massachusetts
While General Assembly leaders, spending watchdogs and leaders in other states warn of budget belt-tightening ahead, McKee painted a sunny picture of Rhode Island’s finances Tuesday and highlighted all the areas he wants to invest in.
From new spending on housing and health care to a tax cut for retirees and a push to build a new state archives building, McKee’s speech didn’t include any talk of pulling back, even in areas like pandemic-era aid for school districts that have lost students or payments to health care providers.
His message was a world apart from the outlook across the border in Massachusetts, where Gov. Maura Healey recently identified a $1-billion revenue gap and said budget cuts would be “the new normal.”
In fact, McKee appeared to lob a gentle dig at Rhode Island’s richer neighbor to the north, noting that “we won’t be forced to revise our budget like other states are and make midyear cuts.”
You had to focus on what wasn’t mentioned to see some of the tough choices ahead.
There was no mention of his signature proposal from last year to cut the state sales tax.
No mention of funding to replace the Garrahy Judicial Center in Providence
No mention of what to do with the vacant Cranston Street Armory.
No mention of the cash-strapped Rhode Island Public Transit Authority.
Biggest applause lines
Who says you can’t be famous just for showing up.
The loudest cheers of the night were directed at three Rhode Island students recognized by McKee for turning around poor attendance records: Alejandro Uz, a second-grader at Webster Elementary School in Providence, Bella Vasquez, a junior at Nowell Academy and Alondra Santos Godinez, a senior at Central Falls High School. Combatting chronic school absenteeism is one of McKee’s top priorities.)
The second loudest applause in the chamber probably went to a group of workers who helped take down the Independent Man statue for repairs.
As far as issues are concerned, the crowd dominated by Democratic General Assembly members was enthusiastic, although not uniformly so, about McKee’s call for an assault-weapons ban.
Not clear – yet – what will drive plan for more personal wealth
McKee on Tuesday promised to do for Rhode Islanders’ paychecks what he vowed to do for student test scores last year: raise them.
Specifically, McKee promised to raise per capita income in Rhode Island by $20,000 by 2030. (That would be his last year in office if he wins reelection in 2026.)
Rhode Island’s per capita personal income was $63,557 in 2022 compared to $84,561 in Massachusetts and $82,938 in Connecticut.
Details on how McKee intends to raise incomes will come within 100 days, he said; there were only hints in the speech.
McKee clearly sees the new biotech hub being established in Providence as a driver of income growth, and building a new life sciences school at the University of Rhode Island, plus a cybersecurity center at Rhode Island College helping that effort.
Whether there is more to McKee’s plan is unknown.
A lack of specificity around how he planned to improve Rhode Island schools was the loudest criticism of his education plan, which in many ways remains aspirational.
Rhode Islanders will be watching to see if his income-raising plan is similar.
Get ready for more housing money
A big chunk of the $321 million budgeted for housing programs over the last two years has yet to be spent, but McKee is calling for more to help solve the state’s ongoing affordability crisis.
McKee had already said he intends to ask voters to approve more borrowing for housing programs in November, but on Tuesday he confirmed that he wants to make it the largest housing bond ever at $100 million.
$100 million was the amount state Housing Secretary Stefan Pryor recommended based on what fiscal analysts estimated could fit within the state’s borrowing capacity.
If it passes, expect the bond to include funding for first-time homebuyer down-payment assistance, more money to help finance privately owned low-income housing and, maybe, seed money for a publicly owned state housing developer.
The speaker’s view
Keeping with the basketball theme he laid out by comparing Rhode Island to an underdog youth team he once coached, McKee gave House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi a copy of the late UCLA coach John Wooden’s biography as left the rostrum.
Does Shekarchi, who has warned of a more difficult budget picture, think the state can afford everything in McKee’s speech?
“I think it is certainly within an affordable range,” he told reporters after the speech. “Look, that’s his job is to be optimistic. That’s what a governor does in a State of the State. You highlight all the achievements that we’ve had in the past and you look forward. It’s a very forward, forward-looking statement.”
“Do the work” does a lot of work
McKee’s basketball background makes it no surprise when his speeches grab the spirit of a good locker room pep talk.
But the themes of elevating the downcast and uplifting the underappreciated in McKee’s speech went beyond the sports analogies.
He used some variation on the phrase “do the work,” a phrase that has become associated with self help and therapy, nine times in the speech, according to prepared remarks.
Among those credited with doing the work: all 39 cities and towns, the state’s education bureaucracy, a still-to-be-formed health care working group, the Department of Transportation, offshore wind workers, State Film Office chief Steve Feinberg, state facilities managers who worked on the Independent Man and “people across Rhode Island.”
A few years ago, the phrase “do the work” carried social-justice overtones, but has more recently been described as “therapy-speak” exported from the psychologist’s couch into popular culture.
Rhode Island
Bodycam footage shows moments police respond to Pawtucket shooting
Police bodycam footage shows the moments officers arrived to the scene of a deadly mass shooting in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
The shooting on Feb. 16 at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena killed Rhonda Dorgan and Aidan Dorgan, the ex-wife and son of the shooter, who died by suicide.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.
Gerald Dorgan, Rhonda’s father, died from his injuries this week. His wife, Linda Dorgan, and family friend Thomas Geruso remain hospitalized.
Around five minutes after the first officer arrives, he beings helping paramedics with a man who identifies himself as Aidan. Twelve minutes in, Aidan Dorgan is transported to the hospital, where he would later die from his injuries.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline by calling 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), visiting www.thehotline.org or texting LOVEIS to 22522.
For the last 10 minutes of the footage, the officer then begins helping paramedics transport the other three gunshot victims.
The video ends with police prepping witness interviews.
The shooting rocked the Pawtucket community. Chris Librizzi, head coach of the Blackstone Valley Schools hockey team impacted by the shooting, said the players and coaching staff “are devastated over the events that took place at Lynch Arena on Monday and intimately affected one of our teammates.”
As authorities continue investigating the shooting in Pawtucket, three patients remain in critical condition.
“We will lean on each other and support one another, as we have always done as a team,” he added.
Pawtucket police said two handguns were found at the scene after the shooting, a Sig Sauer P226 and Glock. Other weapons have been seized at the suspect’s storage unit in Maine.
Investigators continue reviewing all video evidence from before, during and after the shooting, including surveillance footage from the Dennis M. Lynch Arena, police body-worn camera footage and other records — a high school sports livestream captured the shooting from a distance — police said.
Rhode Island
Man killed in RI shooting; suspect involved in Mass. car crash that killed 2 others
A man has died after a shooting in Cranston, Rhode Island, and investigators say a suspect was later involved in a car crash in Swansea, Massachusetts, that killed two other people.
The shooting victim was found Thursday on Legion Way, shot multiple times in the chest, Cranston police told NBC affiliate WJAR-TV. He was taken to Rhode Island Hospital where he later died. His name has not been released.
The suspect initially fled on foot, setting off a shelter-in-place order while investigators searched the area.
Police said Friday that investigators identified a suspect vehicle, which was later spotted by Massachusetts State Police. A trooper followed the car down Route 6 and Interstate 195, but stopped when it crossed back into Rhode Island. The car was later involved in a crash on Route 136 in Swansea, Mass.
Swansea police say that crash on Route 136 (James Reynolds Road) resulted in the deaths of two other people.
According to the Swansea Police Department, two officers saw a white Infinity G37 speed past them around 12:18 a.m. Friday on Route 6, otherwise known as Grand Army of the Republic Highway. Moments later, officers observed that the vehicle had crashed into the side of a blue Subaru Ascent that had been traveling southbound on Route 136.
Both vehicles sustained catastrophic damage, police said.
The vehicle that was struck was fully engulfed in flames. First responders and bystanders tried to extinguish the fire, but both occupants — a man and a woman — were pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Their names have not been released.
The 28-year-old Infinity driver, who struck the victims’ Subaru, was taken to Rhode Island Hospital with serious injuries and later into custody by Cranston Police. They have not been publicly identified at this time.
Swansea police said they are aware that the Infinity was the subject of a police pursuit, and know the driver was wanted in connection to the Rhode Island homicide investigation. While Swansea police had been alerted to be on the lookout for the suspect’s vehicle, however, they say they were not involved in the pursuit and were not pursuing the vehicle at the time of the deadly crash.
The crash in Swansea is under investigation by Massachusetts authorities, including state police and the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office. Meanwhile, Cranston police said they would give an update on their investigation around 1 p.m.
Rhode Island
RI House speaker unveils housing bills for 2026. What to know
House Speaker Shekarchi unveils 2026 RI housing legislative package
House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi’s nine-bill package for 2026 seeks to cut red tape and relax rules on parking, dividing lots and staircases.
House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi is once again taking aim at the regulations he says are stifling new homebuilding.
The Warwick Democrat unveiled his sixth annual suite of housing legislation on Thursday, Feb. 26, a few weeks after announcing he would not be running for governor this year.
“We are still trying to play catch-up for all the years that Rhode Island was dead last in the country for new housing starts,” Shekarchi said. “While Rhode Island remains a relatively affordable option for people moving here from other states, our own residents are too often priced out of the neighborhoods they grew up in.”
The legislative text of the nine-bill housing package, and with it the specifics of how it would work, were not available for Thursday’s news conference.
But highlights of the package, according to summaries, include:
- Infill housing. Allow property owners to divide lots in single-family zoning districts, creating multiple dwellings instead of one, provided they have water and sewer service.
- Parking maximums. Put new limits on how much off-street parking communities require for new apartment buildings.
- Homeless Bill of Rights. Expand the state’s Homeless Bill of Rights to require 15-day notice to the occupants of encampments before local authorities clear them.
- Emergency shelters. Let communities build temporary shelters, such as the ECHO Village Pallet shelter in Providence, during a state of emergency.
- Stairs. Legalize the construction of four-story apartment buildings with a single staircase.
- Affordable housing taxes. Overhaul the tax system for income-restricted housing covered by the state’s “8 Law.”
Is land-use reform working?
Since Shekarchi was elected speaker in 2021, the General Assembly has passed dozens of bills he backed that tweaked state land-use statutes or streamlined the process for building.
How successful this approach has been is subject to debate.
Many local elected officials wary of development in their communities continue to rail against efforts to erode their power over construction.
Others in the growing Yes In My Back Yard movement see Rhode Island’s piecemeal approach as inadequate in comparison with the scale of the affordability problem and what other states are doing.
As evidence that his changes are making a difference, Shekarchi said Rhode Island saw a 70% increase in building permits in 2023 and a more modest increase in 2024. (Statistics for last year were not immediately available.)
Gov. Dan McKee’s 2030 plan calls for 15,000 new housing units built by that year.
Democratic primary challenger Helena Foulkes is slated to roll out her housing plan on Monday.
It is expected to include a millionaires tax to fund affordable housing, a revolving fund and target of 20,000 new homes.
What would the new laws do?
Letting property owners put multiple homes on a plot of land is one of the most direct ways that lawmakers can encourage the construction of more homes, but it is also one of the most controversial.
That’s especially true in areas zoned for large lots and single-family homes.
How far the new bill allowing lots to be subdivided in single-family zones goes is unclear. It is sponsored by Rep. Stephen Casey, D-Woonsocket.
Legislation setting maximum parking requirements for new developments, introduced by Rep. Joshua Giraldo, D-Central Falls, would apply to areas accessible by public transit.
Critics of off-street parking requirements say they make it harder to build new apartments and make the units that are built more expensive.
Shekarchi proposed the emergency shelter bill last year. It passed the House and died in the Senate.
It was the result of how long it took state officials to navigate Rhode Island’s building code and open the ECHO Village Pallet shelter in Providence.
The staircase bill, sponsored by Rep. June Speakman, a Warren Democrat and chair of the House’s home affordability study commission, follows a wave of cities and states relaxing rules on how many exits are required in new construction.
Currently, the state building code requires two stairways in buildings with more than three stories, and fire officials have opposed all efforts to change that.
Speakman’s bill would allow four-story buildings with a maximum of 16 units with a single staircase.
Supporters of single-stair buildings say they allow development of small sites that would otherwise sit vacant and allow family-sized units with more light and better ventilation.
A previous Rhode Island single-stair bill would have allowed six stories, but it died in committee.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey signed an executive order in mid-February to study the idea.
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