EDITORIAL: Time to End a Corporate Payoff in RI That Costs Taxpayers Millions
EDITORIAL
EDITORIAL: Time to End a Corporate Payoff in RI That Costs Taxpayers Millions
Lobbyist Mark Ryan and then Speaker Nick Mattiello having lunch at the Capital Grille in February 2020.For decades, there has been a requirement in Rhode Island that cities and towns, state government, companies, and individuals publish legal notices at a premium cost in the “newspaper of record.”
Can you be the newspaper of record when you are subscribed to by less than 3% of the state’s population? The corporately owned Providence Journal now has a weekday paid circulation of less than 30,000.
To translate, this law requires ads have to be placed by governmental agencies in the Providence Journal for everything from tax liens, to DEM hearings, and zoning changes.
The cost is millions, according to an analysis by former Governor Lincoln Chafee’s administration in 2014 — just the cost to the state and local government exceeded $1.5 million annually. The additional legal notices have cost Rhode Islanders millions more.
That's right, millions of dollars that leave Rhode Island for a corporation located in Virginia that has slashed the staff of thousands of local journalists across the country.
Chafee and former Governor Gina Raimondo both tried to get the antiquated and costly law removed. They included in proposed state budget provisions to eliminate the nearly 70-year-old-law.
But, when Chafee and Raimondo tried to push for the change — then-Speaker Nick Mattiello blocked the reform.
One of Mattiello’s closest lobbyists — Mark Ryan — is a consultant to the corporation and has been a is paid lobbyist hired to protect this antiquated law.
GoLocal is asking that this law be changed. Is there a benefit to GoLocal? Yes, a level playing field. Why should anyone be paying for this outdated and costly special-interest law?
These notices should be available for all to find and the requirement should be that they are posted to the Secretary of State's office. They should be free and available to all.
Nearly 90 percent of Rhode Islanders are online — thus, an online free database would be 2,900% more accessible than the ancient newspaper requirement.
Today, grandmothers Zoom.
It is time to save millions in tax dollars, modernize Rhode Island and stop the corporate scheme.
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