Legislative Leaders Fire Back at Raimondo’s Claim They Pressured Her on UHIP Launch

Legislative Leaders Fire Back at Raimondo’s Claim They Pressured Her on UHIP Launch

During Wednesday’s press conference on the failures of of the UHIP rollout, Governor Gina Raimondo said that one of the reasons the system was launched was because legislative leaders pressured her administration to launch the then-delayed project.

But both House and Senate leadership denied the claim and vehemently fired back at Raimondo’s statement.

“At no time did Speaker Mattiello ever speak to the Governor or her administration about the rollout of the UHIP computer system.  He feels strongly that the Governor is responsible and accountable for the administration of state government functions such as UHIP and he expects she will carry out these responsibilities in an efficient and appropriate manner.  He calls upon the Governor to name any officials who may have placed ‘pressure’ on her, as she contends, so this situation can be properly addressed,” said Larry Berman, spokesperson for the Speaker of the House.

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Greg Pare, Director of Communications for the Rhode Island Senate President denied the claim.

In an email to GoLocal, Pare wrote, “We did not push for UHIP's launch.”

Raimondo stated in the press conference that the contractor Deloitte and then-Chief Technology Officer of the State of Rhode Island assured her that the technology was ready to launch. In addition, she claimed that she was pressured by legislative leaders.  

Repeated requests to Raimondo’s office to identify the legislative leaders have not been responded to.