RI 2030 Priorities

Affordability for All  

Lowering Costs for Rhode Island Families  

For the past few years, Rhode Islanders – like families across the country – have faced rising costs for everyday goods, housing, health care, and utilities. Those pressures have only grown under President Trump’s tariff policies and federal budget changes, which are driving up prices and squeezing household budgets. In response, Governor McKee’s FY 2027 budget is squarely focused on affordability—putting more money back in the pockets of seniors and working families by lowering bills, delivering targeted tax relief, and curbing the fastest-growing costs facing Rhode Islanders today. 

Providing Tax Relief for Families and Seniors:  

• Eliminate the state income tax on Social Security benefits.  

• Create the state’s first-ever permanent Rhode Island Child Tax Credit.   

• Create the state’s first-ever premium assistance program to fully replace the Affordable Care Act’s Enhanced Advance Premium Tax Credit for individuals who earn less than 200% of the federal poverty level, keeping coverage affordable for approximately 20,000 Rhode Islanders.  

• Reverse the General Assembly’s FY 2026 gas tax increase.  

Lowering Energy Costs for Ratepayers:  

• Provide Rhode Island ratepayers with more than $150 million in savings in the first year and over $1 billion across five years by: (1) aligning the Renewable Energy Standard with neighboring states by aligning the schedule with the Act on Climate and expanding eligibility to include other low-cost zero-emission resources, (2) renewing and capping the state Energy Efficiency Program, and (3) lowering net-metering costs. These reforms will reduce charges on utility bills while creating a more affordable path to decarbonization. 

• Advance an all of the above energy strategy that lowers costs through expanding baseload and intermittent energy supply and advocate for Jones Act reform at the federal level to lower winter costs.  

Controlling Health Care Costs  

• Curb health care spending growth by requiring carriers and large providers exceeding the 3.2% cost-growth target to enter performance improvement plans with enforceable penalties.  

• Expand supply of low-cost care options by modernizing certificate of need laws, joining the physician assistant licensure compact, and expanding scope-of-practice authority for pharmacists and dental hygienists.  

• Require Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) transparency by mandating detailed reporting to the Health Insurance Commissioner on rebates, spread pricing, fees, and business practices, with public disclosure and a benchmarking study to inform evidence-based reforms aimed at lowering prescription drug costs. 

Reducing Homeownership Costs and Expanding Housing Opportunity  

• In alignment with Housing 2030, accelerate housing production—15,000 new homes produced or in the pipeline by 2030—using the 2024 bond and the proposed 2026 bond.  

• Prioritize new homeownership opportunities, including expanding affordable manufactured homes for young families and first-time buyers.  

Higher Education 

• Transition the Hope Scholarship at Rhode Island College (RIC), which provides in-state students their junior and senior years tuition free at RIC, from a pilot program to a permanent one. 

Protecting Taxpayers and Strengthening Fiscal Discipline  

• Place a 2026 ballot question granting the Governor line-item veto authority, aligning RI with 434 other states and improving spending control. 

   

Keep Rhode Island Building 

Under the McKee administration, Rhode Island has more public and private infrastructure in the pipeline than at any point in our state’s history—investments that will pay dividends for generations and make our state more competitive and more attractive to live, work, and invest.  Governor McKee’s FY 2027 budget builds on that momentum by recommending six general obligation bond questions totaling $600 million on the November ballot.  

Higher Education Facilities – $215.0 million  

• University of Rhode Island Integrated Health Building: Provides $105.0 million to build a facility on the Kingston Campus to advance health education, clinical training, and workforce development. The building would primarily house the College of Nursing and support interdisciplinary education with the Colleges of Health Sciences and Pharmacy.   

• Community College of Rhode Island Workforce Innovation Center: Provides $65.0 million to build a workforce innovation center on the Warwick Campus designed to address critical workforce shortages, support local industry, and provide training in high-demand sectors, such as healthcare, advanced manufacturing, information technology, construction, and renewable energy.  

• Rhode Island College Adams Library: Provides $50.0 million to construct a student success and career readiness center within Adams Library to integrate high-impact services, such as academic advising, tutoring, digital learning resources, and employer engagement, in a central location.  

Housing and Homeownership – $120.0 million  

• Increases and preserves the State’s affordable housing portfolio through redevelopment, new construction, property acquisition, and infrastructure improvements. Of the $120.0 million in funding, $25.0 million would go toward producing housing units intended for homeownership.  

Economic Development – $115.0 million  

• Industrial Site Development: Provides $70.0 million to acquire land, make infrastructure improvements, and prepare sites for development. Eligible uses include large-scale industrial site developments in the Quonset Development Park and investments in the I-195 District. 

• Growth Industry Infrastructure: Provides $45.0 million to finance infrastructure, facilities, projects, and investments that support Rhode Island’s ocean, defense, life sciences, and related industries.  

Career and Technical Education – $50.0 million  

• Finances the creation of new— and improvement of existing — career and technical education programs statewide, helping districts close facility-equity gaps, expand access to 21st-century workforce training, and remove barriers so every district can offer programs that meet student and employer needs.  

Green Economy and Clean Energy Bonds – $50.0 million  

• Resilient Rhody Infrastructure Fund: Provides $20.0 million to assist municipalities in improving the resiliency of infrastructure and vulnerable coastal habitats and restoring river and stream floodplains.   

• Energy Efficiency: Provides $10.0 million to finance energy efficiency infrastructure.  

• Natural and recreational assets: Provides $8.0 million for recreational facility improvements and new parks; $7.0 million to restore and protect water quality in the Narragansett Bay watershed; $3.0 million in 80-percent matching grants for brownfield remediation; $1.0 million in 80-percent matching grants for local recreation projects; and $1.0 million to protect and repair marine infrastructure and piers. 

Cultural Economy – $50.0 million  

• State History Center and State Preservation Grants Program: Provides $45.0 million to construct a facility with an exhibit gallery to permanently display the State’s founding documents and space for rotating exhibits; and $5 million in grants to be administered by the RI Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission for municipalities and nonprofits to preserve, renovate, and improve historic sites, museums, and cultural art centers.   

Protecting the Most Vulnerable 

Recent federal policy changes under H.R. 1 significantly reshape Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — two core programs that help hundreds of thousands of Rhode Islanders access health care and afford food. While no state can fully replace these lost federal supports, Governor McKee is committed to using limited state resources strategically to soften the impact and protect the most vulnerable. 

Launching a Targeted Affordability Program to Keep Rhode Islanders Insured  

The recent expiration of the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies impacts approximately 40,000 Rhode Islanders insured through HealthSource RI (HSRI). These individuals and families are seeing their premium costs double on average. HSRI estimates that approximately 13,000 customers will forgo coverage by 2027 because of this steep cost increase.   

To ensure that as many individuals and families as possible remain insured, Governor McKee proposes a targeted affordability program that will replace the expired subsidies for all households under 200 percent of the federal poverty level (e.g., $42,300 for a household of two and $64,300 for a household of four in the current calendar year). The program, which would be funded with $9.9 million in Fiscal Year 2027, is projected to keep health insurance more affordable for over 20,000 Rhode Islanders.    

Investing in Technology and Personnel to Navigate Federal Changes  

Beginning December 31, 2026, approximately 24,600 Medicaid beneficiaries are projected to be at risk for Medicaid disenrollment because of a new work requirement. Similarly, a SNAP work requirement, which was expanded to new populations effective July 4, 2025, impacts about 9,000 households.   

In addition, H.R. 1 creates a new state cost-sharing structure tied to each state’s SNAP payment error rate (PER) — with states required to contribute up to 15% of total SNAP benefit costs if their PER exceeds federal thresholds beginning in Federal Fiscal Year 2028.  

To respond effectively and ensure eligible Rhode Islanders receive the full benefits they are entitled to, the State will invest approximately $20 million in upgraded eligibility systems, staffing, and operational tools. These investments will help prevent wrongful terminations, reduce SNAP error rates, and preserve as much federal funding as possible. 

Rural Health Transformation Program 

To strengthen access to care in underserved communities, Rhode Island secured more than $156 million in first-year funding through the federal Rural Health Transformation Program. These investments will expand access to care through Federally Qualified Health Centers, make significant new investments in primary care and preventive services, support hospital-level care delivered safely in patients’ homes, advance value-based care models that reward quality and outcomes, expand behavioral health and addiction-treatment capacity, modernize health IT systems, grow the health-care workforce, strengthen mobile health and emergency medical services, support local health systems such as Block Island and the Narragansett Indian Tribe, and build integrated community-based care so Rhode Islanders in rural areas can access coordinated, affordable services closer to home. 

The program will pursue targeted policy reforms to expand access and strengthen the health care workforce, including scaling back certificate-of-need laws, joining the physician assistant licensure compact, and expanding scope-of-practice authority to support a more competitive, patient-centered system. 

Uncompensated Care Support  

In response to federal cuts under H.R. 1, the Governor proposes increasing state support for uncompensated care by delivering approximately $10 million in new funding to help offset hospital losses.  

Doubling the Rhode Island Community Food Bank Grant  

Demand for food assistance remains high — particularly following the federal shutdown and SNAP policy changes under H.R. 1. To help meet this growing need, the Governor proposes doubling the State’s annual grant to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank from $1 million to $2 million in FY 2027, ensuring families continue to have access to nutritious food during this period of federal uncertainty.  

Supporting Planned Parenthood  

To help preserve access to essential preventive and reproductive health services amid federal funding reductions, the Governor proposes a $600,000 direct state grant to Planned Parenthood of Southern New England.