Governor Dan McKee has nominated the state’s top cannabis administrator to chair the panel that oversees Rhode Island’s cannabis industry, which has not been without a leader for over seven months.

McKee on Tuesday nominated Michelle Reddish to the Cannabis Control Commission seat left vacant last October after then-Chairperson Kim Ahern resigned to pursue a run for state attorney general. Reddish has served as administrator of the Rhode Island Cannabis Office since her appointment by the governor in 2024.

“In just two years, Michelle has demonstrated a deep understanding of Rhode Island’s cannabis landscape and how we can continue to effectively and safely regulate it,” McKee said in a statement. “I’m confident her time leading the state’s Cannabis Office — combined with her significant expertise in regulatory compliance, development, and technological advancement — will serve her well in this new role.”

Reddish’s nomination for the $204,069-a-year post now heads to the Rhode Island Senate for consideration. She thanked the governor for her appointment.

“I’m proud to continue contributing to the growth and success of Rhode Island and its cannabis industry,” Reddish said in a statement.

McKee’s office credited Reddish with helping build Rhode Island’s cannabis regulatory framework, including developing rules surrounding retail pot and establishing the Cannabis Office as the operational arm of the Cannabis Control Commission.

The announcement from the governor’s office also highlighted Reddish’s administration of the initial application process for cannabis retail licenses. Applications are now in limbo after a federal judge in April ordered the process halted amid three lawsuits challenging Rhode Island’s requirement that cannabis license holders be majority-owned by state residents.

The state has since appealed the ruling, though the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston has not yet taken up the case. A hearing to establish a briefing schedule is set for June 23.

Before the halt, regulators were in the midst of reviewing 97 applications vying for one of 20 new retail licenses as soon as this month.

Still, Reddish said she’s ready for the work ahead if confirmed by the Senate.

“I remain committed to supporting safety, transparency, and equity, and I’m sincerely thankful for the trust placed in me,” she said.

Before coming to Rhode Island, Reddish was the chief operating officer for the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority — a position she took on after serving more than a year as its chief regulatory officer.

From April 2021 to March 2022, Reddish was the director of compliance for C3 industries — a Michigan-based cannabis grower and retailer with facilities in Massachusetts and Missouri. She was also a regulatory compliance officer for Orlando-based Ravago Chemicals and SLB, a Houston-based global technology company.

Reddish holds two master’s degrees from Tulane University — one in occupational health and safety and the other in cell and molecular biology. Reddish has a third master’s degree from the University of New Orleans in health care management.

Christopher Shea covers politics, the criminal justice system and transportation for the Rhode Island Current.

Rhode Island Current is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

• Rhode Island homeowners face costly delays for solar panel installation due to slow and inconsistent permitting processes.
• The proposed Solar Cost Reduction Act aims to streamline permitting for residential solar systems without changing safety standards.
• This legislation would introduce automated tools and clear timelines, similar to systems used in over 300 other jurisdictions.
• Streamlining the process is expected to lower costs for consumers, save time for building departments, and has no impact on the state budget.

A Rhode Island homeowner who decides to put solar on their roof this spring can end up waiting weeks for the installer to receive a permit on a system that already meets every applicable code. The hardware and the installer are ready to go. The paperwork isn’t.

Those delays are not free. They add thousands of dollars to the cost of a typical installation, a cost that gets passed straight to the homeowner. With energy bills climbing, this is the kind of friction Rhode Island can’t afford and should not accept.

The Solar Cost Reduction Act, introduced to the General Assembly this session by Rep. Jennifer Boylan and Sen. Bridget Valverde, is a practical reform that updates how Rhode Island permits residential solar. It doesn’t change what gets built or weaken any safety standards. It fixes a process that can be slow, inconsistent and unnecessarily expensive.

The solution is straightforward. For routine, code-compliant systems, the state can provide automated tools to check compliance and issue permits quickly. We can set clear timelines for inspections so projects don’t sit idle. And we can make requirements transparent and consistent across municipalities so everyone knows what to expect.

The proof that this works is already in. Projects permitted through SolarAPP+, the automated platform developed by the U.S. Department of Energy, are 37% less likely to failinspection than traditionally permitted projects, and they get installed and inspected 12 days faster.

More than 300 jurisdictions across 17 states are already using automated platforms. And this is not just a blue-state idea. Texas and Florida have both passed legislation universalizing access to instant permitting. Massachusetts and Connecticut are advancing similar bills. There’s no reason Rhode Island should be the place where rooftop solar costs more simply because the paperwork takes longer.

This is also a rare opportunity to make progress without new spending. The bill has no impact on the state budget and no cost to ratepayers. Simply streamlining the process will reduce costs for consumers, save time for local building departments, and help small businesses and nonprofits lower energy bills by going solar for less.

That combination of benefits is why the bill has drawn such broad support, including from the Greater Newport Chamber of Commerce, the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns, the Acadia Center, Climate Action Rhode Island, and others. Business, municipal and environmental voices do not often line up behind the same policy unless it is practical, balanced and worth doing.

At the Ocean State Climate Alliance, we focus on climate solutions informed by the people doing the work to advance practical steps that lower energy costs, support economic growth, and actually get implemented.

Rhode Island doesn’t need to wait for federal funding or weaken its climate goals to make progress. We can move forward by improving the systems we control.

The Solar Cost Reduction Act is a smart place to start.

Michael Kadish is co-founder and executive director of Ocean State Climate Alliance. 

One weekend this month, Centreville Bank Stadium in Rhode Island took center stage to make history with the Women’s Lacrosse League kicking off its first season of full-field play.

A week later, the soccer stadium on the banks of the Seekonk River welcomed Boston Legacy FC for the first in a seven-game stint in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

The back-to-back women’s sports weekends represent an intentional strategy for the year-old venue, one that is creating space for women’s games and events while serving as home to the USL’s Rhode Island FC. Stadium management built it that way from the start, welcoming Women’s Elite Rugby in last May the day after the stadium opened.

“We’ve established ourselves as the place to be,” Paul Byrne, general manager of Centreville Bank Stadium, told me. “We still have some work to do, but we also established ourselves as a stadium that can host really big events.”

The venue’s early run offers a lesson to the market — those big events are women’s sports events.

Boston Legacy FC kicked off its run of games in front of 9,141 fans Saturday.

“One of the things that fans love about football soccer is the intimacy and the intensity of the experience, and you can get that at Centerville Bank Stadium,” Legacy CRO Amina Bulman told me last week.

Paul Rabil, co-founder and president of the WLL and Premier Lacrosse League, said they drew about 7,000 in attendance for five total games (four men’s and one women’s) there earlier this month, with the bulk of that during the women’s game May 16.

It served as a launch point of sorts for the league, which began play with a championship series last year in the sixes format that will be included in LA28. The WLL’s kickoff at Centreville Bank Stadium serves as the first in a 10-city tour this season.

“Rhode Island’s new venue ownership group was very cooperative and very excited about the future of the PLL and the WLL,” Rabil told me.

New England teamwork

While the nation’s smallest state doesn’t have a pro women’s sports team, Rabil said youth clubs in Massachusetts pushed for Rhode Island’s inclusion as a tour stop.

“This was a great opportunity for us to learn about the other side of New England,” he said.

That regional appeal certainly helped Legacy FC, which will play at Centreville Bank Stadium while the FIFA Men’s World Cup takes over its temporary home in Gillette Stadium.

Bulman said having a purpose-built soccer stadium that’s accessible via public transit in Boston made it an obvious fit for the club.

“In many ways, Centerville Bank Stadium is a much closer model for White Stadium, which will be our forever home,” she said.

Gillette Stadium has filled in as the team works with the city on Boston’s White Stadium, which is being renovated as part of a public-private partnership. While the NWSL expansion team set a then-record for an inaugural home opener with 30,207 at Gillette (one that would be quickly surpassed by the Denver Summit’s record 63,004 crowd), Centreville Bank Stadium is a better fit than a cavernous football venue.

Capable of holding 10,500 fans, Centreville Bank is close to what the Legacy will have with White Stadium’s planned 11,000 capacity.

Bulman said stadium leadership has been flexible to accommodate fan and sponsor activations and are working with the Legacy to work on joint social promotion and ticket packages with Rhode Island FC.

“Seeing us be back-to-back right after the WLL, it is very cool to me that they are extending that to women’s teams in particular,” she said. “You notice that as a tenant when a partner wants to go above and beyond, and it creates a good experience for you and your fans.”

That experience is one Byrne and the stadium leadership would love to see include a women’s pro team, and they’d like to work with an investor to bring in one from the Gainbridge Super League.

Until that happens, they’re very happy to continue their strategy of courting women’s sports teams.

“We’ve really hit a niche sweet spot for up-and-coming leagues,” Byrne said. “It is a unique subset that I do feel we’re a template now for future building throughout the country.”