Ian Donnis: Rhode Island Senate Majority Leader Ryan Pearson, welcome back to the public’s radio.
Ryan Pearson: Thanks so much for having me, Ian.
Ian Donnis: You were elected by your peers to your leadership post in November. not uncommonly, majority leaders in Rhode Island go on to lead their chambers. Is it your aspiration to one day be the president of the Rhode Island Senate?
Ryan Pearson: Well, I just became majority leader, and I’m enjoying it. I’ve enjoyed my time in the Senate, both in non leadership positions as Finance Chair now as Majority Leader. And of course, I’m always looking to find ways to serve the Senate more. I’m happy where I am right now. And I think President Ruggerio was doing a fantastic job leading the chamber. But someday Sure, I’d love to succeed him.
Ian Donnis: President Ruggerio is 74 years young. He is suggested he will seek another term as senator in 2024. What is your sense of how long he hopes to remain in the state senate?
Ryan Pearson: I don’t know. You probably have to ask the President that but I think he’s certainly enjoying it. And it’s got a lot of a lot of energy left in him and a lot of things he wants to get done.
Ian Donnis: Your leadership team has expressed a plan to review the state’s education funding formula this year. We know in Rhode Island that the state spends massive amounts on public education this year, and doesn’t get very good results. Generally, this has been an ongoing issue. So is the funding formula really more of a peripheral issue.
Ryan Pearson: So there’s no silver bullet. And I think the Senate has done a lot of work over the last several years. In 2019, we passed a series of accountability measures providing more power to teachers and principals, we also mandated a high quality curriculum. And those laws are now taking effect. And that curriculum is reaching students. And it will take some time for that to burn in. Related to the funding formula, the formula has, you know, been around for over a decade, I think a little over 12 years. And we haven’t meaningfully adjusted it for the times and what’s changed. And while we spend a lot, we don’t spend a lot in every community per student, and so the statewide number can be deceiving. And we spend a lot more in some communities than we do the others. And the key thing of the funding form is we really have to ensure that that equity is there, across the board. And that’s something that I know my colleagues in the assembly and the governor share, and we’re gonna be working on that.
Ian Donnis: Back around 2006, the state moved ahead with a plan to combine a series of state health care and social service agencies under the umbrella of a new super agency, the Executive Office of Health and Human Services. Now your leadership team says it’s time to undo EOHHS. Is this just kind of lurching around with different state officials over time favoring different approaches to the same problem?
Ryan Pearson: I think what we really need to think about is what are our goals with the healthcare system, especially post the merger of Lifespan and Care New England failing. And you certainly heard Attorney General Neronha during the inauguration really highlighting the risks to our healthcare system, which is very, very real. And I think as policymakers, we have to address it. I think we really need to think through what are our goals that we want to accomplish in the healthcare system. And that’s something that I know, Chairman Miller and the members of the health committee have been very focused on, we want to have that conversation with the governor and see how we can work together and then figure out the roles that should fit it. And I don’t think that we should ascribe to one particular, you know, set or way it’s structure today, whether that be the structure EOHHS. And I think we want to look at a blank canvas and see what’s really going to allow us to meet the healthcare goals for Rhode Islanders.
Ian Donnis: Another critical issue for Rhode Island is housing. The state has suffered from a housing crisis for a long time. Last year, your legislative colleagues and you backed $250 million in funding for an array of housing programs, it seems like implementation is moving slowly or not at all. What is the holdup from your perspective?
Ryan Pearson: Yeah, so I do know that the governor and Secretary Saal have been working, they just recently issued an RFP to complete some of the studies and the work that needs to be done. I think, you know, I certainly share the President’s sentiment and the speakers that we would like it to go faster. We would like the implementation to go much faster than it is going and we’re gonna be looking to work with administration to see whatever is getting in their way. Working to clear those hurdles. Rhode Islanders need housing at every price point and in every community. And we have to work together with the administration to make sure that we get any of those roadblocks out of the way and get and get it done.
Ian Donnis: We’re talking here with Rhode Island Senate Majority Leader Ryan Pearson, a Cumberland Democrat, and Cumberland seems like in some ways the political epicenter of Rhode Island these days. Governor McKee is a Cumberlander — if such a word exists. You are.. But there is a key difference between you and Governor McKee. He’s the architect of the Mayoral Academies. You’ve been critical of charter schools and mayoral academies. How do you reconcile the difference between the two of you on that issue?
Ryan Pearson: Yeah. The governor and I have worked together for a very long time and work together on many, many issues. This is an issue we don’t agree. And sometimes, you know, friends don’t agree on every issue and that’s okay. You know, my view on charters has been from the beginning that we need to ensure that education, high quality education is available to every student. And the only way to do that is to make sure that we’re not detracting resources, or detracting funding from the larger school systems to be able to provide those opportunities. If there is more money that wants to be invested to set up and pay for a dual school system without taking dollars away from the students that remain in the underlying system, then, you know, I’m all ears to listen to that. But I think the key issue that we’ve had over and over again, is we allow charters to grow without thinking about the financial ramifications that impact the districts that send them. And then even in some areas where we’ve allowed these charters to grow, we’re literally taking students out of higher performing district schools and putting them into lower performing charter schools. And that really is not what we should be doing. And something that we need to we need to be better about our strategy.
Ian Donnis: What are your top priorities beyond what we’ve already discussed for the 2023 session?
Ryan Pearson: Yeah, I think doubling up on the health care front a little bit the Senate, particularly with leadership of Senator Palma, Senator D’Amario and the Health Committee, really focused in last year on Medicaid and our reimbursement rates. We’ve been thinking about that for a bit. And we finally have a rate review process beginning. Some of these rates have not been updated in many, many years. And it’s really making an imbalance in the healthcare system, making the hospitals and providers in financial jeopardy and denying people services. And so absolutely, that is an area that we want to continue moving down on. Others include on the education front, the senate president has been a major pusher of both pre K and child care. Those things are important for our economy. And as far as the development of individuals, but also as an economic issue to relieve some of those costs for daycare from young families.
Ian Donnis: On that rate reimbursement issue. If those rates are adjusted, how far would that go in addressing the fiscal concerns that are plaguing the state’s two largest hospital groups lifespan and care New England?
Ryan Pearson: It will help a lot it will also help the average Rhode Islander and so one of the things that we don’t like to talk about is that when the state doesn’t invest in Medicaid, that doesn’t mean that those those residents aren’t showing up for health care. And that doesn’t mean that those costs aren’t being borne. All it does is it actually creates a hidden tax in private health insurance premiums. So by the state investing and paying providers what they should be paid for Medicaid, it will relieve private health care cost, provide better services to Rhode Islanders and also better stabilize the hospital systems. And so it really is a win across the board. But it takes dedication and commitment to finding those resources and getting them into those rates.
Ian Donnis: The Senate leadership has expressed concern about the pace and aspect of development and I-195 district. Initially the vision was this would be supposed to be a catalyst for jobs with innovative industries, but most of the development there has been housing. From your perspective, what has gone wrong?
Ryan Pearson: Well, I think a couple of things, we certainly think that Brown’s investments in the area and the continued innovation in the CIC building are going to be good catalysts that continue to drive. We just moved the health lab there. And so we’re continuing to try to drive you know the meds and eds into that district. And I also think it’s okay for us to have housing and other mixed use development in the area, again, to that early conversation we had around, we need housing in every neighborhood at every price point. And so I think continued mixed use in that area is going to be important, some of it anchored by housing, some of it anchored by meds and eds. And I’m very, you know, encouraged and looking forward to having a new partner in that work with Mayor Smiley, I think he’s going to be laser focused on it. And I know President Ruggerio remains committed to do whatever he can to help the city and to help that district thrive.
Ian Donnis: Your predecessor as Majority Leader, Michael McCaffrey of Warwick supported raising taxes on upper income Rhode Islanders that did not go anywhere in the legislature where leaders have mostly supported holding the line against tax increases. How do you come down on whether rich people in Rhode Island should pay more taxes?
Ryan Pearson: Yeah, I think that at the end of the day, you know, everything has timing. And right now, as we’re having these very large surpluses, it’s probably not the time to explore, you know, taxing Rhode Islanders more and in fact, our agenda has been getting more relief into Rhode Islanders pockets. We’ve worked to make sure that we eliminate the car tax, we got rid of taxes on military pensions, we’ve raised the exemption on retirement income. All of these things were very intentional to try to help Rhode Islanders you know, have more dollars in their pocket as they see the inflationary pressures that we see. And I think that’s where our focus is going to remain.
Ian Donnis: You can make some news here by confirming the expectation that your colleagues senators Lou DiPalma of Middletown, and Dawn Euer will get the nod respectively as the new chairs of the Senate Finance and Judiciary Committees.
Ryan Pearson: I would never presume to get ahead of the senate president. Those are appointments that he will be making. And I think we have a lot of colleagues that are very well qualified, I’m sure the President will make great appointments.
Ian Donnis: In terms of the state’s appeal of the truck toll decision in federal court that’s costing millions of dollars as channel 10 reported this week. Do you support that appeal?
Ryan Pearson: I do. I think at the end of the day, we believe we have a strong legal case on that appeal. And I think we owe it to Rhode Islanders to pursue it. You know, and I would remind Rhode Islanders, the reason for the truck tolls, we have few options on how to continue to pay for roads and bridges as our gas tax collections continue to go down. Because cars are getting more efficient, and we’re going more electric, we have to find new ways to fund road and bridge repair. And we had some options. And one of the options was to pass you know, more cost on the gas tax that hits the average everyday Rhode Islander the hardest, or to be able to spread that burden to some of the commercial users who really do a lot of the damage on the roads. And so we owe it to Rhode Islanders to see it through to fix the roads and bridges and to do it in a way without putting the entire burden on their backs like many other states do.
Ian Donnis: Leader Pearson you represent Cumberland which neighbors Central Falls that was the native city of former governor Lincoln Almond who died this week at age 86. I don’t know if you personally knew former Governor Almond but what are your remembrances of him?
Ryan Pearson: I didn’t personally know Governor Almond. I was a bit young when he was the governor. But you know, I remember him being a man of great integrity, a man who served as a prosecutor and a leader in the state. And I know from those who did work with them, they found him to be someone that was, you know, an honest and truthful negotiator and worked for the people of Rhode Island and we join the Almond family and certainly offer our thoughts and sympathies to them.
Ian Donnis: We’ve got to leave it there. Thank you for joining us Rhode Island’s Senate Majority Leader Ryan Pearson, a Cumberland Democrat.
Ryan Pearson: Thank you so much, Ian.
Ian: Also this week … I spoke with Second District Congressman-elect Seth Magaziner about the disarray among House Republicans that was delaying the start of the new session of Congress.
Magaziner: It’s concerning. We are not able to introduce bills or start our committee work until a speaker is elected. I do worry that if this small group of radicals is able to succeed in mucking up the speaker vote, that they will try to do the same thing over the next two years on a lot of other issues — that they’ll come after Social Security or Medicare, that they’ll come after abortion rights and try to hold the House hostage in service to an extreme agenda.
Ian: You can find my full interview with Magaziner here … Also on our web: watch this afternoon for my first Friday TGIF column of the new year. I’ll have some highlights from the inauguration of Governor Dan McKee and other top state officials, and we salute former Governor Lincoln Almond, who died this week at age 86. He had a distinguished career as a federal prosecutor and elected official, although Almond is also remembered for his big laugh and a common touch. As one former staffer, Joe Larisa, tweeted, Almond was more comfortable at Gregg’s than at the Capital Grille.
Thanks for listening. I’m Ian Donnis, and I’ll see you on the radio.
