Latest news with #MikeChippendale
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
RI Republicans propose cutting renewable energy programs to reduce utility bills
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — House Republicans have announced a suite of bills cutting back renewable energy programs they say are driving up Rhode Islanders' energy bills. 'Far too often, the utility is painted as the villain, but many of these cost increases stem from legislative mandates — laws passed by the General Assembly that forced utilities to buy expensive energy or fund inefficient programs,' House Minority Leader Mike Chippendale said at a news conference Thursday. The bills, proposed just before the legislative deadline, would do everything from ending solar and wind projects to eliminating the energy efficiency charge. ALSO READ: RI lawmaker wants to cut back on clean energy to lower utility bills One bill would put a pause on net metering, which offers credits to renewable energy customers. 'Right now, solar customers are credited at the full retail rate for energy,' Chippendale said. 'They produce up to 125% of their usage. That's not market-based. It's an inflated rate that gets passed on to every single ratepayer in this state.' Some Democrats at the State House argue renewable energy costs are not the problem — profits are. Legislation proposed by state Rep. Meghan Cotter instead aims to curb the profit margins of utility companies. A spokesperson for Rhode Island Energy said the company has met with leaders from both parties. READ MORE: Expensive electric bills put RI clean energy policies into spotlight 'We welcome smart legislation that prioritizes a balance between reliability and affordability, and look forward to continuing to work with those members of the General Assembly who are committed to that same goal,' Caroline Prettyman wrote. Conversations have gotten louder in Rhode Island as residents continue to share stories of high utility bills. RELATED: Rhode Islanders shred utility bills at State House to protest rising costs 'The money should come back to Rhode Islanders through the profits that Rhode Island Energy is bringing in, instead of by rolling back green energy initiatives that are aimed to make our state better for, you know, not just right now, but 100 years to come,' said Zach Mezera with the Working Families Party. He believes the conversation about utility reform shouldn't be a partisan issue. 'Rhode Island Energy has a lot of money for marketing,' he said. 'They know that this is an issue that wedges right into the middle of the public. So for our part, we think they're trying to pit us left and right, young and old, pro green and anti green against each other.' 12 RESPONDS: Getting answers to your utility bill questions Download the and apps to get breaking news and weather alerts. Watch or with the new . Follow us on social media: Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
RI GOP leader wants answers about pallet shelter costs
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Rhode Island House Minority Leader Mike Chippendale said on Wednesday that taxpayers deserve to know the full financial picture for the cost of the state's pallet shelters pilot program, known as ECHO Village. The shelters opened in February after months of delays. The R.I. Department of Housing said additional time was needed to install necessary utilities and to meet fire and building codes. The pilot program was designed to address the state's homelessness crisis and was paid for entirely with federal funds. The project was originally estimated to cost $3.3 million, but the final cost was $4.6 million. Chippendale said he wants to know why the cost went up. 'All I want, and all the taxpayers of Rhode Island deserve, is accountability,' he said. Two days after a ribbon cutting was held to celebrate the shelters opening, Chippendale said, he filed an Access to Public Records Act (APRA) request. It's a tool reporters and other members of the public use daily to request public information. The request asked the Department of Housing to provide a list of all contractors and subcontractors involved in the project; all contracts, purchase orders and invoices; any procurement or bidding documents; plus copies of any project budgets. Chippendale also asked for all correspondence related to permitting for ECHO Village and for a list of any financial sponsors of the project. He said he hit a snag in the early days of his records request, with the department seeking to charge him $495 to obtain the information, 'for which I am statutorily entitled to as a member of the House Finance Committee.' Chippendale explained that a compromise was reached, which resulted in the fee being waived. As a result, he agreed to wait for emails — which officials said had to be reviewed to protect certain personal information — but would accept the financial information he requested 'immediately.' Chippendale said those documents came last Thursday, a month after his initial request. 'These documents that they provided me did not paint any picture, let alone the full picture,' Chippendale said. 'It would be irresponsible for me to assert there was something nefarious going on. The entire point is we don't know until we have the information.' The Foster Republican also characterized the issue as reflecting a broader lack of transparency by the administration of Gov. Dan McKee, a Democrat who has faced repeated criticism on issues related to open records. Chippendale sent Target 12 the financial documents he had received, which comprised dozens of files. About an hour after the media briefing, Chippendale sent reporters a statement which said in part that a closer look at the records revealed additional invoices he had not previously seen, though 'the remaining assertions during the press conference remain relevant.' 'I consider my request for information on behalf of the taxpayers of Rhode Island incomplete and unfulfilled,' Chippendale said. Emily Marshall, a spokesperson for the Department of Housing, told Target 12 that Chippendale's outstanding request is comprised of about 1,300 emails which staff would need 33 hours to review in full. Chippendale told reporters: 'The 33 hours have long passed. They've come and gone.' Marshall also said the Housing Department did not have the list of any financial sponsors or other benefactors for the Echo Village, though House of Hope, which operates the shelters, would. Ben Smith, spokesperson for House of Hope, told Target 12 that the organization had not received Chippendale's records request until Wednesday. 'We will work with Leader Chippendale to provide any information or documentation he needs related to our role in operating Echo Village,' Smith said. Marshall explained that the project's total budget increased because of costs associated with getting the units up to code and said that those modifications 'were only finalized after the initial budget was contemplated.' Smith added that the final cost of ECHO Village was 'not only the construction,' but also accounted for the infrastructure needed to ensure residents have access to essential services, including case management, restrooms, showers and laundry facilities. 'Additionally, staffing and wraparound services play a critical role in the success of the project and its sustainability in serving those experiencing homelessness,' Smith said. Target 12 learned the pallet shelters were on track to reach full capacity within a month of opening, and that one guest has already moved into permanent supportive housing. Alexandra Leslie (aleslie@ is a Target 12 investigative reporter covering Providence and more for 12 News. Connect with her on Twitter and on Facebook. Download the and apps to get breaking news and weather alerts. Watch or with the new . Follow us on social media: Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
House GOP got the records they asked for after all. They just didn't unzip them.
Rhode Island House Minority Leader Mike Chippendale is shown with a photo of ECHO Village displayed on a posterboard on March 19, 2025. The GOP representative took aim Gov. Dan McKee and the Rhode Island Department of Housing over a public records request. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) Rhode Island House Minority Leader Mike Chippendale blasted the state's housing department at an early Wednesday afternoon press conference for not sending invoices detailing the $4.6 million spent on the ECHO Village pallet shelters in Providence. But the Foster Republican reversed course about an hour later even as he criticized the state's demand for $495 to collect and release emails relating to the project. The Rhode Island Department of Housing actually did send Chippendale the information he requested, the minority leader acknowledged in an email after the press conference at the Rhode Island State House. The files in question revolved around Chippendale's Access to Public Records Act (APRA) request for information on the 45-pallet shelter village that was approximately $1.3 million over budget when it opened in February. Curious as to why the project cost so much more than intended, Chippendale requested from housing officials the complete list of contractors and subcontractors involved in the construction, plus purchase orders, project budgets and any email correspondence from state officials relating to the project on Feb. 14. Chippendale said to reporters at the 1 p.m. press conference that the state had only sent over one invoice for electricity costs. But after the press conference, the Minority Office's legal counsel reexamined the files sent over by the housing department and found staff had not unzipped everything. 'It appears that I did receive a file from Housing that includes some invoices attached within it,' Daniel P. Reilly, a former state rep and the minority leader's legal counsel, wrote in an email to Chippendale Wednesday afternoon. 'It appears that the file did not transfer over initially when I received it via Dropbox from Housing and was not sent to you.' Reporters received the documents after Providence Journal reporter Katherine Gregg repeatedly asked Chippendale for the files he had received from the housing department. At the end of the press conference, around 2 p.m., Chippendale sent an email to all the reporters in the room with the folders, which were all compressed as ZIP files. The largest zipped folder was over 60 megabytes, which exceeds the attachment size limit for some email providers. Providers like Gmail automatically convert files that are too big to downloadable links. Other email providers may strip the attachments from an email if they're too large. 'While I asserted that no invoices were received other than the RI Energy invoice, I was clearly mistaken,' Chippendale wrote in a 3 p.m. email to six reporters with whom he shared the zipped files. The housing department had informed Chippendale that it would take 33 hours of labor to gather all the relevant correspondence — which would result in a $495 bill for the legislator, as APRA requests are charged at $15 an hour. Chippendale offered to pay the money, but rescinded the APRA and attempted to rely on his authority as a member of the House Committee on Finance. A housing department spokesperson said Chippendale's attempt to invoke statutory authority nullified the APRA rules. 'It is important to note that this change in request meant APRA requirements — including any time limits or extensions for gathering and reviewing the information — were no longer applicable,' spokesperson Emily Marshall wrote in an email Wednesday. Marshall said the state sent Chippendale the requested documents on March 13 — or, at least, what they were able to send the lawmaker, who had also asked for a 'list of any financial sponsors or other benefactors for the Echo Village project,' Marshall said. She added that the housing department does not possess such documents, as they belong to the project's main contractor House of Hope, which is 'a nonprofit entity, and…not obligated to provide this information to us.' Marshall did not immediately respond to a followup question about how the housing department sent the files to Chippendale. While Chippendale admitted the file confusion, that didn't absolve the state of its responsibility to be transparent, he thought. 'While I answered the question 'Did you receive any invoices?' with 'no' and I now realize that I was wrong, the remaining assertions during the press conference remain relevant,' Chippendale said in his followup email Wednesday. Despite her success in rallying for the documents, Gregg apparently never received them. 'Can you send the attachment again please. It did not arrive,' Gregg replied to all on the email thread in which Chippendale clarified that he had in fact received the documents. 'That's part of the problem Kathy, it's too big to transfer. It won't come over in an email,' Chippendale wrote back. The documents forwarded by Chippendale included at least three PDFs with meticulous itemizing of project costs. One PDF contained three pages fully redacted, but most pages are more revealing, including information on supplies, laborers and hours worked. The largest invoice was a 165-page PDF, 17 megabytes large. The file's size likely derives from the numerous full-page images it contains, like photocopied black and white photographs of supplies, scanned invoices on yellow paper, and even photos of Home Depot receipts on a laborer's work pants. Chippendale said after the press conference that the Minority Caucus will continue to review the documents. Meanwhile, the housing department is 'still reviewing the 1,320 emails to determine which can be released based on confidentiality,' Marshall said. The minority leader wrote in the email admitting the mistake that his main points about transparency in Gov. Dan McKee's administration remain relevant. Asked by reporters at the State House about his relationship with McKee, Chippendale characterized it as a constant cold shoulder. The minority leader said he's reached out to the governor's staff. He said he's tried to schedule meetings. 'And I've only been granted one meeting, and that was in 2020,' Chippendale said, trailing off and pausing as he tried to remember the date. '2021? Or [2022]-ish, and it wasn't a very productive meeting, and it was a frustrating meeting. Chippendale recounted the numerous scandals of McKee's tenure, like the ILO bid fixing and Washington Bridge sagas, as ample proof of the administration's tendency toward what he called 'opacity.' Chippendale said he didn't intend to discuss DOGE, but couldn't resist the temptation in the context of discussing scrutiny. 'We're living in a time now where there's this unique entity called DOGE in Washington, D.C., which is sending shivers through state governments across the country, because a lot of things are being looked into,' Chippendale said. 'In a time where a deep blue state like ours is potentially in the crosshairs of this presidential administration on conditional funds being withheld, you would think that this administration would not do anything that would further elevate their lack of concern for transparency, but evidently, that sort of savvy is not present right now with this administration.' Marshall offered an alternative take in the conclusion to her email. 'The department is cognizant of the importance of transparency and accountability in State government,' she wrote. 'We continually strive towards achieving our mission of solving the State's housing shortage and homelessness crisis, while also fulfilling the public's information requests.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Newsmakers 2/28/2025: Leaders de la Cruz, Chippendale
EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — This week on Newsmakers: Senate Minority Leader Jessica de la Cruz and House Minority Leader Mike Chippendale discuss their legislative priorities at the State House, the GOP's ongoing struggles in Assembly races, the first month of the new Trump administration and more. Prefer your Newsmakers on the go?Subscribe to our podcast!Apple | Spotify Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
R.I. House Republicans unveil legislative agenda
A close-up shows the distinctive red curtains in the Rhode Island House of Representatives. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) After receiving bipartisan support in 2024, the creation of an Office of the Inspector General once again tops the legislative wish list of Rhode Island House Republicans. The House Minority Caucus in the Rhode Island House of Representatives released its slate of policy wants and budget priorities Monday, with the stated goal of slimming down the state's proposed $14 billion spending plan for fiscal 2026, 'which is disproportionate to the state's size, economy and population,' according to the caucus' news release. 'The 'approach' to creating a budget, is just as important as what is put in the budget,' said House Minority Leader Mike Chippendale of Foster in a statement. Republican-led legislation calling for an inspector general has been thwarted by the House's Democratic majority before. Versions of the bill circulated in the State House for more than a decade, but the idea gained momentum and Democratic co-sponsors last year with increasing scrutiny of the state's management of construction work on the westbound Washington Bridge, which is now being demolished to be rebuilt. This year's bill will incorporate feedback from last year's version of the bill, which died in committee, said Sue Stenhouse, the House Minority spokesperson, in an email Monday. 'It will be introduced as soon as Rep. [George] Nardone has in hand,' Stenhouse wrote. Nardone, a Coventry Republican who is the House senior deputy minority leader, was lead sponsor on the bill last year. He received support from nine House Democrats, including those with typically progressive voting records, like Reps. Teresa Tanzi of Wakefield and Brandon Potter of Cranston But the inspector general is one part of alleviating the taxpayer burden for state initiatives, according to the GOP press release. That aligns with other thrifty proposals, like eliminating the state Department of Housing and consolidating municipal housing agencies to county-wide entities. The House Minority Caucus also called for narrowing Medicaid eligibility, which the federal government leaves up to states to determine, to more closely align with and serve 'the most vulnerable populations, the disabled and the elderly.' The goal is to sustain the state's Medicaid program in the long term. The hypothetical Medicaid savings would then be reinvested in other areas, like home- and community-based for elderly Rhode Islanders and people with disabilities. The caucus also wants to see an enrollment cap on charter schools so more students can be accommodated, as well as returning schools under state control to local administration. Both Providence's and Central Falls' public schools remain under state control. Mass. Inspector General makes his inaugural visit to the R.I. State House. Here's why. 'In the past, Republicans would offer 'good government' legislation and budget amendments to improve government efficiency, better leverage federal tax dollars, and fight inflation,' Chippendale continued in his statement. 'By outlining our legislative and fiscal priorities in a single comprehensive approach, we hope to showcase a thoughtful, viable alternative to the budgeting approach used by the Governor and our colleagues across the aisle.' The Republican budget is modeled after the House Fiscal Advisory Staff's annual report and analysis of the gubernatorial budget, which is divided into 14 sections, including major budget issues, transportation, health and other topics. The Republican budget offered a truncated analysis and the party's priorities for each section, with the proposed Office of the Inspector General topping the GOP list of 'General Issues' in state government. Neighboring Massachusetts has an inspector general, Jeffrey Shapiro, who visited a Rhode Island House committee hearing last May to testify on the 2024 iteration of the bill. The inspector general is charged with 'detect[ing] fraud, waste and abuse of public funds and public property and promot[ing] transparency and efficiency in government,' according to the office's website. Last year, a survey of likely voters by Salve Regina University found that nearly three-quarters of the 1,450 respondents supported the creation of a Rhode Island Office of the Inspector General. The inspector general legislation was also introduced this year in the Rhode Island Senate on Jan. 31, led by Democratic Sen. Leonidas Raptakis of Coventry. It now goes to the Senate Committee on Finance. A hearing has not yet been scheduled. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
