Legislative Oversight committees plan to hold a joint hearing Monday to examine the crisis involving the Washington Bridge. For now, motorists continue to wrestle with congested traffic at peak times and the ripple effect sometimes extends beyond Interstate 195 into the streets of Providence, East Providence and other communities. If the westbound Washington Bridge needs to be replaced, these problems could persist for at least a year or two. Can state lawmakers get answers on how Rhode Island got into this situation? Is RIDOT Director Peter Alviti the right person to chart the state’s transportation needs? And how is the shadow posed by the Washington Bridge playing in Governor Dan McKee’s hometown of Cumberland? I’m Ian Donnis and this week I’m going in depth with the number two Democrat in the Rhode Island Senate, Majority Leader Ryan Pearson.
This transcript has been edited for clarity.
Ian Donnis: Welcome back to The Public’s Radio.
Ryan Pearson: Thanks for having me, Ian.
Donnis: Legislative Oversight Committees plan to hold a joint hearing Monday to probe the crisis involving the Washington Bridge. Do you plan to use your ex-officio capacity as majority leader to sit in on or participate in that meeting?
Pearson: Not at this time, but I have a lot of confidence in both Chairman McKenney and Chairwoman Serpa and the members. I know they’ve been preparing for it and trying to make sure that they are well organized and they can get information for Rhode Islanders, and I’m confident they’re gonna do a great job.
Donnis: There’s a lot of mystery still about how this situation came about. Does it make sense to you that the west bound bridge was found to be okay during an inspection at midpoint last year and now is in such disrepair that it might need to be demolished and replaced?
Pearson: Yeah, it certainly doesn’t sound rational to a layperson like myself. I’m not an engineer by trade, but these are the exact questions that I know the committee is going to be getting into, with the director, with the engineers, and people who are experts in this space. And I know that’s going to be a question they’re pushing for, and I’m looking forward to finding out those answers myself.
Donnis: This has emerged as a major crisis for Governor McKee and Peter Alviti, director of the Rhode Island Department of Transportation. The Boston Globe reports that union officials accuse Alviti of creating a toxic work climate. Do you still have confidence in Peter Alviti as RIDOT director at this point?
Pearson: Yeah, I’ve talked to Chairman McKenney about that report since it came out, and I do know that he is going to make sure that that is included in what they’re looking at. I think part of, and a few of our members have raised this concern around you know, how much of the work is still being done internally versus how much is being pushed out by contractors. And I know that is an area they are going to be looking into and finding out more information. And so, I want to defer to the committee and to their process is the reason we’re doing it. I don’t want to prejudge anything, but I want to make sure that we’re getting the right facts and the right information to the committee and out to the public.
Donnis: So, for now, you still do have confidence in Peter Alviti, is that correct?
Pearson: I have no reason not to, but again, I want to look forward to what comes out in the hearings and certainly I think the hearings will either demonstrate the facts on that issue that can inform us.
Donnis: You are a lifelong resident of Cumberland. That’s the hometown of Governor Dan McKee. I wonder how this is playing there. Has Governor McKee’s standing taken a hit in his hometown due to this issue involving the Washington Bridge?
Pearson: Yeah, the bridge is impacting Rhode Islanders all across the state. You know, I obviously live in Cumberland and you know, commute to, to my offices, in Providence and Johnston, but, I don’t have to travel that bridge every day. That being said, when I came back, from a trip earlier this week, I got caught up on 95 myself, going through it. So, it’s impacted Rhode Islanders in every community, and I know that they share in that. And I think, you know, and I say this to folks often that, at the end of the day, the legislature’s role, is legislate and appropriate. And this is, this is the governor’s, standing. He really needs to execute on this one, and I know he’s putting a lot of attention and a lot of focus on it, and I think that Rhode Island voters from across the state are going to be paying attention. It’s impacting them greatly.
Donnis: How are people in Cumberland talking about this?
Pearson: In Cumberland, you know, I think people are aware of it, and I think just by the nature of where we’re located, we have, we don’t have the acuity that you’ll hear in East Providence or Barrington. But I’ll tell you when I talk to our East Bay legislators, you know, they are all over this. I have to give a lot of credit to Senator Lawson, Senators Britto, Lauria, Felag, you know, all of our senators from the East Bay, they have really, you know, paid a lot of attention to this, have really been thoughtful with Chairman McKenney and partnering on what the oversight topics would be, and I know they’re really concerned about their constituents. So, they hear about it a lot more than I do, I will admit that, but I also still hear from constituents all the time that are impacted.
Donnis: Let’s switch gears and talk about some other issues. Last year, the only bill [that failed] in a housing package backed by House Speaker Joe Shekarchi was one that would have promoted the development of accessory dwelling units, also known as granny flats. There was opposition to that in the Senate where the bill died. Do you support moving that bill forward this year?
Pearson: Yeah, I want to first start by congratulating the speaker. He put together 14 pieces of legislation on housing. And we were able to move 13 of them across the finish line. And so this one is the last one that was part of that package. And senators had concerns around, the language in the bill where it allows basically a by right, designed to create ADUs, and the sizes of those ADUs that by right you would have the ability to build. And so I definitely think there’s a workable path on this. I would imagine through some amendments to it, we can find a path and we’re committed to working with the Speaker to find a way forward on that legislation.
Donnis: Your colleague, Senate President Dominic Ruggerio, in his opening day speech last month, talked about the need to make changes to Medicaid reimbursement in the state. This is one of the challenges on health care that the state faces. The Executive Office of Health and Human Services recommended changing the reimbursement rate over two years. Governor McKee’s budget recommends changing that over three years. Can the state wait that long to deal with this?
Pearson: It’s a very good question. Chairman DiPalma and many members of the Senate have been pushing on this issue for a long time, and I think it is absolutely critical to the healthcare system. And, you know, Rhode Island is behind on rates that we pay, both commercial and Medicaid, to providers, which is driving a provider shortage in Rhode Island. So, I personally believe that we need to move as quickly as possible. I understand the governor’s timing and why he did it and the balance that he’s trying to do. But I also understand that, you know, if there is additional revenue open in May, when we get to the revenue estimating conference, it is going to be a top priority of the Senate to advance those Medicaid rates as quickly as we possibly can. It’s the right thing to do for Rhode Islanders who need the care. And it’s also critically important for us to maintain the financial stability and health of providers, networks, and the hospital systems
Donnis: On issues like Medicaid, a number of different state agencies are involved with the issue. The state Medicaid office, the office of health insurance commissioner, executive office of health and human services, et cetera. Is the healthcare bureaucracy too siloed in Rhode Island?
Pearson: Yeah, I think, you know, there is, there is some fair criticism I think there. Healthcare policy and healthcare leadership, are critical. And that because of the multi different folks that have responsibility that I can understand that. I will say though that the Executive Office of Health and Human Services was literally formed for this reason. And I’ve talked to Secretary Charest when we confirmed him and as recently as a few weeks ago to follow up. It is absolutely the Senate’s expectation that the executive office maintains a leadership role in coordinating health policy. That being said, I think there’s a lot of work to do. He is working on re-starting the health planning work that the department, the secretary used to do, at our urging, which I’m very happy to see that. And also, in about hopefully in the next month or so, the Senate, and senators Miller, DiMario, Lauria, Lawson, and many others have been working collaboratively with myself and the president on a healthcare package. One that we know will not be a solution to all of our problems, and because none of this is easy, especially on healthcare, but we are looking in the Senate to have a package that we can put forward that we believe will meaningfully improve the healthcare system of Rhode Island. And we look forward to sharing that with you, probably in a few weeks.
Donnis: Your colleague, Senate Finance Chairman Lou DiPalma, is the Senate sponsor of a bill this week to overhaul the state’s open records law. The idea is to increase transparency. Do you support that measure?
Pearson: Yeah, I haven’t read the exact bill, but I support the concept. I think we’re seeing, in Rhode Island, that the access to public records has been something that is being relied on more and more rather than departments and agencies just providing information. So I do think we need to make sure that transparency is easy. It’s accessible to Rhode Islanders and especially to the media. And so I support efforts in that direction. I haven’t honestly read through every piece of that bill, so I’d have to go through it, but I support the general theme.
Donnis: Gun issues are always hotly debated at the legislature, and one proposal that has not moved forward so far is one for so-called safe storage of weapons. We know that guns are a leading cause or a leading instrument in suicide. Do you think the safe storage bill will move forward this year?
Pearson: I certainly hope so. I noted it at the end of the year that this was going to be a personal priority of mine, to gain a consensus in our chamber and move this along. I have to give Senator Lauria a ton of credit. She has done a great job. I encourage you to go look at the co sponsors, on that legislation. She has really worked Senator by Senator to gain support and I’m happy to work with her on it. and I’m hopeful we can get it across the finish line, as soon as possible.
Donnis: Your colleagues, Senate President Dominic Ruggiero and RIDOT Director Peter Alviti have been very critical of Scott Avedisian’s leadership of RIPTA. It seems like the fundamental issue at RIPTA for a long time has been insufficient funding. So can you explain why they have such antagonism toward Scott Avedisian?
Pearson: Yeah, I mean, I’ll take it back to when I was the Senate Finance Chairman and we had influxes of federal money coming into RIPTA. And the hearings that we had at the time, we actually asked RIPTA, with this federal money, how are we using it to increase ridership, redesign the system, find more efficiency, because the money for the feds was just being used to plug operating holes. And unfortunately, the operating hole at RIPTA has been known for a very long time, and we haven’t had any sort of use of those funds that would have mitigated or changed the trajectory of that, of that operating deficit that they have, and quite frankly, haven’t seen a great, you know, financial plan for the agency. And so, I certainly agree with the president that there is more work to be done here, on planning and really thinking about how we get RIPTA to increase ridership and be a bigger service to Rhode Islanders rather than just, you know, dumping money into an operational hole.
Donnis: The stock market is up. Unemployment is low. The U. S. economy is growing with lots of jobs. Despite this, President Biden’s approval rating is very low. What’s your explanation for that as a Democrat?
Pearson: You know, it’s honestly something that perplexes me sometimes. You know, I work in financial services as a day job and, as you mentioned, all of the measures of the economy are doing incredibly well. I think inflation sticks in Rhode Islanders heads and Americans heads and for very good reason. It’s impacted every family and citizen in the state and I certainly know that nobody wants to see inflation at the levels that we did. You know, the reality of that is that’s, you know, we saw that globally, right? So it wasn’t just U. S. policy that drove inflation. Supply chains drove that. Global disruption drove that. I’m sure there might be some pieces of U. S. policy that have done that as well. But that U. S. policy also kept us out of going into a massive recession, you know, the likes of the Great Depression. and if you look, you know, the stories that are coming out now about the U.S. economy is one of the only ones that’s growing. And it’s the strongest economy in the world. And other countries went into recession or have gone through anemic paces of growth. and the United States isn’t doing that. And so, I think that Americans, you know, understandably have frustrations with inflation. And I think that’s stuck in their mind. But when you think about the fundamentals, if you think about wage growth, if you think about jobs, if you think about businesses, the economy is doing really, really well. and I think president Biden deserves reelection.
Donnis: Majority leader in the Rhode Island Senate, Ryan Pearson, Democrat of Cumberland. Thank you so much for joining us.
Pearson: Thank you, Ian. Good to be here.
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Elected officials in Rhode Island are starting to pay more attention to weaknesses in the local healthcare landscape. Some of these concerns, like a shortage of primary care doctors, are not limited to the state. Others, including how overlapping agencies have responsibility for programs like Medicaid, can make it more difficult to move forward. You can read more about that in my Friday TGIF column posting around 4 this afternoon on what used to be known as Twitter @IanDon and thepublicsradio.org.
That’s our show for this week. Our producer is James Baumgartner.
I’m Ian Donnis and I’ll see you on the radio.
