Supporting Small Businesses and Creating a Competitive Tax Environment

• Reduced unemployment insurance (UI) tax rates for employers in 2026 by moving down one tax schedule—saving Rhode Island businesses an estimated $20–$25 million in payroll taxes. While Rhode Island’s labor market and economy continue to grow, keeping employer costs down remains essential. The State’s earlier $100 million ARPA investment in the UI Trust Fund helped stabilize the system through the pandemic, avoid federal borrowing, and support businesses as they hire and increase wages for working Rhode Islanders.
• Upgraded Rhode Island’s credit rating to ‘AA+’ from Fitch Ratings in 2025, which credited the McKee Administration’s cautious and disciplined fiscal management, improved long-term liability outlook, and consistent use of conservative budgeting with strong spending controls. This higher rating reduces the state’s borrowing costs and reinforces investor confidence, helping to attract private investment and fuel long-term economic growth. Additionally, S&P affirmed Rhode Island’s AA rating/stable outlook and Moody’s affirmed the Aa2 rating/stable outlook.
• Achieved a 10-spot improvement in Rhode Island’s overall ranking in U.S. News & World Report’s “Best States,” rising from #34 in 2021 to #24 in 2025. The state’s Economy ranking climbed from #28 to #16 during that period, including a #8 ranking in Business Environment and an 18-spot leap to #14 in Growth over the past year. Rhode Island also improved its Opportunity ranking by nine places, from #33 to #24, and advanced 11 places in Short-Term Fiscal Stability within the last year.
• Ranked 14th in the nation for average private-sector hourly earnings, according to June 2025 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, highlighting Rhode Island’s continued progress toward higher wages and stronger economic opportunity for workers statewide.
• Expanded access to capital through continued investment in the Small Business Assistance Program (SBAP), which leverages state appropriations to capitalize third-party and microlenders and provide technical assistance for businesses with fewer than 200 employees; in FY 2025, SBAP supported 24 loans totaling $993,191 and helped create or retain 59 jobs, bringing lifetime program impacts to 312 loans totaling more than $37.4 million and over 2,300 jobs created or retained.

• Advanced the SupplyRI initiative, a program designed to increase in-state procurement by connecting large-scale purchasers  with local suppliers in Rhode Island and providing training to empower small suppliers to compete for business effectively.
  • Strengthened Rhode Island’s local supply chain through SupplyRI, reinvesting a cumulative $584 million into local communities by connecting small and medium-sized businesses with in-state contracting opportunities;
  • in FY 2025, facilitated more than 280 business connections and supported a network of over 900 active local members, while launching Ready to Supply RI to prepare Rhode Island businesses through targeted training and direct engagement with anchor institutions to win contracts and grow in-state jobs.

• Awarded $9.7 million through the Innovation Campus Grant Program in June 2025 to advance ocean technology commercialization and job creation in Rhode Island. The initiative brings together industry, academic, and research partners, with the latest grants projected to generate 425 new jobs and leverage significant private and federal investment.
  • Awarded $4 million to establish the Blue Robotics Lab—a nonprofit lab-to-market incubator accelerating the development and commercialization of undersea robotics, operated by MassRobotics.
  • Awarded $5.7 million to launch the Ocean Technology Innovation Center at URI’s Bay Campus in Narragansett—a collaborative maker space supporting startups and companies leveraging URI’s advanced ocean testing facilities.
• Launched the Invention Incentive Program, to support Rhode Island small businesses and individuals filing patent applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The program offered grants of up to $5,000 to reimburse eligible expenses such as application fees or services provided by a Rhode Island–licensed USPTO-registered patent practitioner. The first grants under this award were made in 2025 and supported 12 entities with $51,332.50 in funding.
• Supported job creation and economic growth through the Qualified Jobs Incentive program, including awards to Saab to create 45 new jobs at its new Autonomous Undersea Systems facility in Bristol; Blount Fine Foods Corp. to support at least 120 full-time jobs as it relocates its corporate headquarters back to Rhode Island; Anduril to create 133 new jobs; Organogenesis to create 103 new jobs; and VATN to create 228 new jobs statewide.
• Established the Rhode Island Venture Capital Fund to strengthen the state’s entrepreneurial ecosystem by supporting companies in the pre-seed and seed funding stages—addressing a common challenge cited by small businesses: limited access to early-stage capital for high-growth startups.
• Launched the Manufacturing Equipment Grant Program, which reimburses up to 50 percent of a cash purchase or 50 percent of a down payment for a financed purchase, with a cap of $25,000.
• Launched Rhode Island’s adult-use cannabis retail licensing process in September 2025, marking the largest expansion of the state’s cannabis industry to date by opening applications for up to 24 retail licenses statewide—structured across six geographic zones—and advancing a transparent, equitable marketplace that promotes new investment, job creation, public health, and consumer safety.
• Permanently eliminated the car tax in FY 2024.
• Championed reforming the tangible tax by signing legislation capping the rate at 2022 levels and creating a statewide exemption of $50,000, effectively eliminating the tax for 75 percent of Rhode Island businesses.
• Repealed various nuisance fees – such as the liquor manufacturers duplicate fee and the sales-and-use tax exemption fee – that are a burden to residents and businesses paying them.
• Ended the litter tax for small businesses.