Latest news with #ValarieLawson
Boston Globe
2 days ago
- Health
- Boston Globe
In R.I., approximately 700 enrolled in Medicaid may lose coverage due to error
Advertisement At Get Rhode Island News Alerts Sign up to get breaking news and interesting stories from Rhode Island in your inbox each weekday. Enter Email Sign Up Beginning this month, Medicaid will begin using the correct income limit to determine eligibility for new applicants, White wrote. The corrected income limit will apply to current beneficiaries when their eligibility is reviewed 'either during the person's annual Medicaid redetermination (or Medicaid renewal) or during a quarterly post-eligibility verification (PEV) process.' 'Roughly 700 parents/caretakers currently enrolled in Medicaid fall between 138 percent and 141 percent FPL and are expected to be impacted by this update,' White wrote. 'These members will retain their Medicaid benefits until their cases are reviewed for eligibility.' Advertisement During the 2023 state fiscal year, Rhode Island's Medicaid program provided full medical coverage to 389,000 people at some point during the year, and another 12,000 residents received limited benefits from Medicaid, according to the state's The income limit error was discovered during a review of the Medicaid program to ensure it complies with federal and state regulations, according to White. The EOHHS 'believes the initial error predates the McKee Administration and likely occurred in 2014,' White wrote. 'Staff originally identified the issue as we prepared for the [state fiscal year] 2025 budget and took time over the proceeding months to fully understand and interpret the relevant documents, to conduct data analysis to understand the member impact, and to ensure that a clear transition pathway would be in place to mitigate harm to those losing coverage,' White wrote. The income limit correction is necessary because state Medicaid programs must be administered according to federal rules and the agreements the state has made with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, according to White. The state is not allowed to spend Medicaid money 'for a certain group at a certain income level' without federal approval, White wrote. 'All Rhode Islanders deserve access to affordable health insurance,' Senate President Valarie Lawson said in a statement on Tuesday. 'My understanding is that EOHHS will allow coverage to continue for those enrolled in error until the expiration period. We hope and expect that they will review every circumstance and provide the assistance necessary to avoid disruptions in coverage.' Advertisement House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi called the matter 'an example of why administrative departments need to do the fundamental things right the first time.' 'Errors like these have real consequences,' Shekarchi said in a statement. Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha, who has been a 'These are working people that are struggling to make ends meet every single day,' Neronha said in a statement. 'Mind you, this is happening as the federal government is moving to make massive cuts to Medicaid, and our state government is scrambling to find solutions to a health care crisis that we've known about for quite some time. 'We must fix health care in Rhode Island now, and that obviously includes keeping Rhode Islanders insured,' Neronha added. Those who are impacted by the income limit correction will receive a 'benefits decision notice' informing them they are no longer eligible and whether they are eligible for a Qualified Health Plan through HealthSource RI, the state's health care exchange, according to White. Some, White said, may qualify for auto-enrollment through HealthSource RI. According to White, individuals at the corrected income level who are eligible for Advanced Premium Tax Credits can enroll in 'some' silver-level health plans 'with a small monthly premium cost,' thanks to federal subsidies. White noted, however, that after this year it is 'very likely that federal subsidies will reduce, meaning that the monthly premium would increase.' Advertisement Yet, 'plans available to this group also have reduced cost-sharing, making out-of-pocket costs much more affordable for medical services,' White wrote. Christopher Gavin can be reached at
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ethics panel says R.I. Senate President Valarie Lawson can lead chamber despite union day job
Rhode Island Senate President Valarie Lawson sought an opinion from the State's Ethics Commission. She got it on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, when the panel voted 7-1 that the ethics code does not prevent her from leading the chamber while also heading one of the state's teachers unions. (Photo by Michael Salerno/Rhode Island Current) Rhode Island's ethics code does not explicitly prevent Senate President Valarie Lawson from leading the chamber while also heading one of the state teachers unions. That's why the Rhode Island Ethics Commission saw no conflict for Lawson to continue both jobs, affirming the recommendation of its staff in a 7-1 vote Tuesday. The six-page advisory opinion comes in response to a May 23 request by Lawson. Since she was elected Senate president on April 29, Lawson, an East Providence Democrat, has been dogged by doubts over potential conflicts between the legislative power position and her day job as president of the National Education Association of Rhode Island. Senate President Valarie Lawson seeks opinion on ethical conflicts with teachers union job Lawson attended the meeting with her attorney, Nicole Benjamin of Adler Pollock & Sheehan, but did not speak. In a subsequent emailed statement Tuesday, Lawson described the ethics panel's decision as confirmation of what she has previously insisted — that she can hold both positions. 'It helps to distinguish between a vague notion of a perceived, general conflict and an actual, specific conflict requiring recusal under the Code of Ethics,' Lawson said of the opinion. 'Further, it ensures that one does not have to be retired or independently wealthy to serve in this role. This decision supports the operation of our legislative body as the framers intended: a part-time, citizen legislature comprised of a diverse membership from all walks of life, who can draw from their varied experiences to best serve the public.' All members of the Rhode Island General Assembly, including those in leadership positions, earn $19,817 a year. Lawson also earned a $167,869 salary as teachers union vice president in 2022, the most recent data available based on Internal Revenue Service filings from the National Education Association of Rhode Island. She was elected union president in 2023, after more than 30 years teaching in East Providence Public Schools. But it's probably too soon for Lawson to take a victory lap. The ethics opinion offers several caveats, noting that its recommendation cannot be tailored to any specific legislation, since Lawson's request did not reference any bills being considered or discussed. If and when the Senate considers any policy or funding changes that could financially benefit Lawson, her family, or her fellow teachers union members and administrators, she must recuse herself, the opinion states. Recusal is also required on any discussions or votes in which NEARI is involved in lobbying or through verbal or written testimony. Lawson had previously pledged in her May 23 letter to step aside when potential conflicts arise, a promise she followed through on when the Senate took up two labor-backed bills on June 4. The legislation from which Lawson abstained had proposed extending organizing rights to college graduate students and bolstering information-sharing between collective bargaining units and their members' employers. John Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, expects the conflicts to continue to crop up given the wide scope of education and labor bills still pending before the chamber this year — and in future sessions. 'Our comments have never been that it's illegal to hold both positions,' Marion said in an interview after the meeting. 'It's just that it's perilous to hold both positions because it's difficult to manage the conflicts.' Lawson is no stranger to the overlap between legislative office and teachers union priorities. Indeed, her ascension through the ranks of the Senate, starting as majority whip in 2023, and in 2024, as majority leader, came months into her role as president of the 12,000-member state teachers union. Last year, she sought ethics advice on potential conflicts between her teachers union job and proposed pension changes under consideration by lawmakers; the commission gave her the go-ahead to vote on the bills in question, invoking the class exception of the state ethics code, which lets elected officials participate in discussions or decisions that benefit themselves within the context of a larger group of people. But the Senate president has outsized influence, setting the daily calendars for the upper chamber, participating as an ex-officio member on every Senate committee, and most importantly, leading behind-the-scenes negotiations to determine which pieces of legislation advance to a vote. Ethics Commissioner Hugo Ricci Jr., who cast the only vote against the opinion Tuesday, cited concerns with Lawson's new 'undeniable power,' as Senate president. Lawson's predecessor, the late Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, left his own union job when he was elected to the president position, Ricci noted. 'What I am trying to say is, could mere recusal be sufficient?' Ricci asked. 'She is in a class of one. She is not a general member of the Senate anymore. She is president of the Senate. With that comes mass powers.' Ricci's line of questioning set off a brief but testy exchange with fellow commissioners, who insisted that they were limited to Lawson's specific request, as well as state ethics regulations. 'We must accept the good faith of a recusal until a complaint is filed,' Commission Chairman Lauren Jones said. 'If the president is saying, for the record, as she has in her application, that she will appropriately recuse herself when matters come before her, we have to take that.' Commissioner Frank Cenerini agreed, invoking a baseball analogy. 'We have all been appointed by the governor, yet we have no problems reviewing complaints against the person who appointed us,' Cenerini said of the nine-member panel. 'It comes down to an issue of character. You've got to call the balls and strikes as you see them. Ricci proposed delaying a decision to give ethics staff more time to review the potential conflict, including considering what other states have done in similar situations. But his motion failed with no secondary support. Marion, however, acknowledged Ricci's concerns in a later interview. The staff report recommending Lawson could preside over the Senate while keeping her union job was 'somewhat naive' in its consideration of the unique powers bestowed upon the top chamber leader, he said. 'It talked about how she sets the consent calendar, but not the floor calendar,' Marion said. 'It mentioned she is not on any one committee but failed to say she can participate on any committee.' Marion continued, 'I think she'll be back before the commission on specific bills and on actions that she takes that they didn't cover.' Ethics Commissioner Matthew Strauss was absent from the meeting Tuesday. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Senate President Valarie Lawson seeks opinion on ethical conflicts with teachers union job
Rhode Island Senate President Valarie Lawson is pictured in the Senate chamber ahead of the May 13, 2025, floor session. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) Rhode Island Senate President Valarie Lawson quietly recused herself from two labor bills decided Wednesday. The reason: She's awaiting the advice of a state ethics panel on conflicts of interest with her job as head of one of the state's two largest teachers unions. Despite Lawson's abstention, two union-backed bills secured approval with decisive majorities of the 37-member chamber. One would extend organizing rights to university graduate students; the other enhances information-sharing about union members between their employers and local bargaining units. As the end of session looms, with hundreds of bills expected to be considered by both chambers in the final weeks, it's still unclear when and whether Lawson should be participating in discussions and decisions that overlap with her day job as president of the National Education Association of Rhode Island. Lawson, an East Providence Democrat, was elected Senate president on April 29, filling the opening left after the death of former Senate President Dominick Ruggerio. She requested an advisory opinion from the Rhode Island Ethics Commission on May 23, according to a letter obtained by Rhode Island Current. The commission, which last met on May 20, has not set a date to consider a recommendation from its staff on Lawson's request. Lawson in the letter referred to a June 2024 ethics recommendation, when she was majority leader, determining that she could still vote on a swath of proposed changes to the state pension system despite being a retired teacher and head of the teachers union. The ethics panel concluded that Lawson would not benefit from the proposed changes any more than the 68,000 retirees and active state workers and teachers, including 400 of her co-workers at the state teachers' union. Lawson sought to distinguish between actual conflicts of interest, rooted in financial gain, and a 'subjective perception of bias' — the latter of which is not addressed by the state ethics code. 'The Code of Ethics does not address perceived general biases, political views or personal opinions unless they intersect with financial interests,' Lawson wrote. 'This is intentional as the Code of Ethics may not infringe upon either legislative or executive powers.' Lawson also pledged in the letter to recuse herself from any discussions and votes on bills related to pension benefits that would affect her 'rights or entitlements as a participant in the state's Pension system.' Her letter does not mention potential conflicts on labor bills, including the two she abstained from Wednesday. Greg Paré, a Senate spokesperson, downplayed Lawson's recusals. 'In any part-time legislature, most members will have full-time jobs as well, and it is inevitable that potential conflicts will arise,' Pare said in an emailed response Thursday. 'The members of the Senate recuse themselves in these situations. Throughout her tenure in the Senate, President Lawson has recused out of an abundance of caution when a potential conflict arises, and she did so yesterday as well.' The precautionary measure did not put Sen. Ana Quezada at ease. Quezada, a Providence Democrat, did not vote for Lawson for Senate president because she worried over the conflicts of interest with her union job. 'For me, it is still a concern,' Quezada said in an interview Thursday. 'Even if she recuses herself from voting on the floor, what happens behind closed doors?' Indeed, it was behind-the-scenes negotiations, not public votes, that prompted the first Senate president, East Providence Democrat, Billy Irons, to resign. Irons abruptly left the leadership post at the end of his first year, in 2003, amid news reports he accepted payouts from insurance companies in exchange for defeating legislation the industry opposed. 'Recusing from a vote is only part of the actions as Senate president,' John Marion, executive director for Common Cause Rhode Island, said. 'Lawson is also the person who decides if a committee can move forward with a vote on the legislation.' Exercising caution might sound like the best choice amid uncertainty. But her constituents, and the 12,000 teachers she leads, could lose out if she recuses herself unnecessarily, too. This was the conclusion of a pair of Brown University professors in a paper in the 2024 Roger Williams University Law Review in examining non-judicial recusals from 2006 to 2018. 'Recusing might make political sense,' the authors stated. 'Stepping aside makes it impossible for political opponents to claim that voting was improper. But this is where the phrase 'out of an abundance of caution' falls apart. That phrase implies that there are no costs to recusing, just possible benefits. But there are real costs—direct and indirect—to this kind of 'abundance of caution.' The direct cost of legislative recusal is the disenfranchisement of constituents.' Without an ethics opinion on the bills up for a vote Wednesday, it's unclear whether Lawson could have participated in the decisions. Recusing from a vote is only part of the actions as Senate president. Lawson is also the person who decides if a committee can move forward with a vote on the legislation. – John Marion, executive director for Common Cause Rhode Island Marion acknowledged the timing of the state ethics reviews and meetings – typically once per month — made it difficult for Lawson to get timely advice in the end-of-session scramble. But the proposals themselves were introduced on Jan. 31, giving Lawson ample time to ask for more general input from the ethics panel. Senate Majority Leader Frank Ciccone requested an advisory opinion from the Ethics Commission on his ability to discuss and vote on gun-related legislation immediately after he was elected the Senate's no. 2. The commission approved its staff recommendation at its May 20 meeting. Lawson waited more than three weeks after she was tapped as president to ask for an ethics opinion. 'It's surprising given the scrutiny on her dual roles that she isn't doing more publicly to make sure that she's getting sound advice on what she can and can't do in her role as Senate president,' Marion said. 'The next few weeks are going to highlight that challenge.' Companion legislation in the House to Ciccone's bill expanding organizing rights to college graduate students remains held in committee following an initial Feb. 12 hearing. The House Committee on Labor is scheduled to vote Thursday night on a companion to the other union bill, requiring regular updates from union employers to the local bargaining units. House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi remained noncommittal when asked for comment Thursday, only saying that both bills were 'under consideration.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What slowdown? RI revenues revised up $80M despite recession fears.
Despite concern that the national economy is at risk of a recession, Rhode Island revenue collections have been revised up nearly $80 million for this year and next, according to new projections from state fiscal analysts. The latest projections, released Friday, May 9, show state revenue for the year ending June exceeding expectations by $60.7 million. And they predict revenue in the fiscal year starting July 1 to be $19.3 million higher than they expected last November. The rosier-than-expected revenue forecast will take some pressure off House Democratic leaders writing a state budget for next year by eating into what had been a projected $250 million budget deficit. Despite state revenues continuing to climb, General Assembly leaders remained downbeat, at least in part to discourage their members from demanding lots of new state spending. "The revenue results preview the effects of the weakening U.S. economy linked to turmoil in Washington, D.C., House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi said in an email. "Any short-term positive news is overshadowed by the magnitude of that uncertainty and the many related or unsolved budget issues." New Senate President Valarie Lawson and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Louis DiPalma said: "While we are pleased that revenue and caseload estimates remain relatively stable compared to the estimates made in November, we are experiencing a more challenging budget, and more difficult choices, than in recent years." The new numbers from the twice-a-year Revenue Estimating Conference expect current-year revenue to reach $5.6 billion on increases in personal income tax, corporate tax, utility tax, insurance premium tax, cigarette tax, alcohol tax, estate tax and lottery profit. The major exceptions to the upward tax revisions were sales tax, which is now expected to come in $22 million short of the November estimate, and bank tax, which is now expected to come in $27.3 million short of the November estimate. It was not immediately clear how much of the decline in bank tax collections, if any, were the result of changes made by lawmakers last year to help keep Citizens Bank in Rhode Island. At the end of April, economists from Moody's Analytics told the Revenue Estimating Conference that they expect the economy to slow in the years ahead and unemployment to rise, but stopped short of predicting recession. Looking forward to next year, the revenue estimators predict collections of $5.7 billion on a modest increase in personal income tax, insurance tax and lottery collections. They expect sales tax to continue to slide back next year. This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: What slowdown? RI revenues revised up $80M despite recession concerns Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
What comes next for the Rhode Island Senate?
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — The Rhode Island Senate is set to reconvene Tuesday afternoon to elect a new president following the death of Dominick Ruggerio. Majority Leader Valarie Lawson is seeking the top leadership spot, but she is facing pushback for selecting longtime Sen. Frank Ciccone as her number two. Senate President Ruggerio laid to rest In the video above, Boston Globe columnist Dan McGowan joined Kait Walsh on 12 News This Morning to go in-depth about the future of the Rhode Island Senate. MORE: Globe RI & 12 News Stories Globe RI on » Globe RI & 12 News Partnership: WPRI 12 partners with The Boston Globe Rhode Island to deliver unmatched local news coverage MORE: Globe RI & 12 News Stories 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.
