Governor Carcieri, State Leaders Unveil Executive Order and Legislative Package Making it Easier to do Business in Rhode Island

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May 4, 2010 | Print this page | Share This |

Governor Donald L. Carcieri, House Speaker Gordon Fox, and President of the Senate M. Teresa Paiva Weed today joined the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (RIEDC) and the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce to unveil an Executive Order and package of legislation aimed at making it easy to do business in Rhode Island by cutting government red tape and removing barriers to the establishment and growth of small business.

The Executive Order and nine-bill legislative package are the result of many months of work between the Governor’s Office, the House Small Business Committee, the Senate’s Small Business Task Force, RIEDC, and the Governor’s Regulatory Review Task Force, and is a coordinated approach to meeting a unified goal: making it easy to do business in Rhode Island.

 “Rhode Island's small businesses are the backbone of the state's economy. While we've made progress on our path toward economic recovery – beginning with the restructuring of the leadership of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation and the passing of the IRBA legislation – it’s clear that we must do even more to support the state's small companies and strengthen our workforce," said Governor Donald L. Carcieri. 

He added, “It's critical that we revamp our approach to economic development by focusing on three initiatives that are critical to the state's economic recovery: improving access to capital; aligning our workforce-development efforts with the emerging job market; and removing regulatory burdens that hamper business growth. Today, we are taking another step forward in our ongoing efforts to make our state more competitive and business friendly by unveiling a comprehensive legislative package which will address the regulatory hurdles to establishing and growing small businesses in our state.” 

While the legislation makes its way through the legislative process, Governor Carcieri signed an Executive Order (“EO”) to facilitate the establishment of an Office of Regulatory Reform (“ORR”) within the RIEDC and to immediately start to implement some regulatory reforms within executive branch agencies and departments.  The ORR will perform the duties outlined in the companion legislation.   Specifically, the EO provides for the following:

o The Office of Regulatory Reform will be established with the consent of the Board of the RIEDC and will be charged with overseeing and streamlining the regulatory permitting process for the benefit of Rhode Island businesses.  As such, the ORR will gather and report statistics, recommend legislative and regulatory changes, develop and make uniform permitting processes that will be available on-line.  Additionally, the ORR will coordinate services and programs offered by the RIEDC more effectively and will intervene in the regulatory matters where necessary.

o The EO requires all executive branch agencies to calculate the average processing time for individual permits from time of application to the time of issuance to be reported quarterly online.

o DOA shall develop the necessary procedures by which all executive branch agencies and department rules, regulations and policies pertaining to the permitting and regulatory process may be available uniformly and electronically in a single location.

o All executive branch agencies and departments will develop emergency regulations for all regulatory and permitting matters for economic development projects deemed "Project of Critical Economic Concern."

o The EO encourages cities and towns to designate a liaison to coordinate the creation of an economic plan and to work with the ORR to develop regulatory reform policies and procedures.  

“Through their work in the community, the members of the House Small Business Committee heard the message loud and clear that Rhode Island’s regulatory process seems arbitrary and convoluted and often stands as a barrier to starting or expanding businesses,” said House Speaker Gordon Fox.  “This package of legislation will help smooth the process and open the door to assist small businesses in Rhode Island.”

President of the Senate Paiva Weed said, “The Senate’s Small Business Task Force listened to the concerns of small business owners and took specific steps to address those concerns. Rhode Island businesses told us ways that the state makes it hard to do business here. We worked closely with the administration in developing this very practical agenda to respond to their specific concerns, and to replace the hard with the easy.”

The legislation was shaped with the participation of the Economic Development Corporation, state departments, the fire marshal’s office, and the small business community.

It consists of nine parts:
•    Part One: Senate Resolution supporting electronic statewide master application system. Sponsored by Senator Elizabeth Crowley, this resolution declares that the Rhode Island regulatory structure must be reformed to make it easy to do business in Rhode Island. It supports funding of up to $250,000 for the establishment of a web-based system to eliminate repetitive processes by using a single, electronic front-page system to obtain information and populate all necessary forms and applications to satisfy various state agencies’ regulatory requirements.

•    Part Two: Expedite state licensure process. Sponsored by Senator Joshua Miller and Representative Frank Ferri, this legislation provides that any applicant for a license or occupational license identified by the Business Fast-Start Office shall be notified of the status of their application within 60 days of filing, and notified again should no determination be made after another 30 days have transpired. Any substantially completed application shall be deemed approved after 120 days if no determination is made prior to that date.

•    Part Three: Fire Code reforms. Submitted by Senate Small Business Task Force Chairwoman Erin P. Lynch and House Small Business Committee Chairwoman Patricia Serpa, this legislation provides that fire alarm, smoke detection and carbon monoxide plans would have to be approved or denied within 15 days, instead of the current 90 days. To ensure that the fire code is enforced consistently, all assistant and deputy fire marshals would be required to participate in standardized national training and certification as determined by the state fire marshal. Approval of plans and construction of some buildings could be expedited, with the approval of the State Fire Marshal, if prepared and supervised by a professional engineer or architect. All other inspections and approvals would be conducted within timeframes to be established by the State Fire Marshal, not to exceed 90 days.

•    Part Four: Small business representative on the state Apprenticeship Council. Sponsored by Task Force Chairwoman Lynch and Representative Kenneth Vaudreuil, this legislation requires the Director of the Department of Labor and Training to name a small business representative to the state Apprenticeship Council from among the current employer representatives.

•    Part Five: Facilitate collaboration among state agencies. Sponsored by Senator Harold M. Metts and Representative Deborah Ruggiero, this legislation provides a mechanism to allow more than one state agency to work simultaneously and together in rule making, decision making, and setting of procedures and practices. The legislation is designed to save time and money by allowing multiple state agencies to hold simultaneous hearings on rule-making and decision making, as well as other public meetings.

•    Part Six: Give Rhode Island firms preference in awarding of state contracts. This legislation, sponsored by Senator William A. Walaska and Representative Donna Walsh, would give Rhode Island architectural, engineering and consulting firms preference over out-of-state companies in the awarding of state contracts. While putting a preference on in-state employers and the provision of in-state jobs, the legislation still ensures quality and lowest cost remain the priority. This legislation would not apply to federally funded contracts.

•    Part Seven: Concurrent review. Sponsored by Senator James C. Sheehan and Representative Mary Ann Shallcross Smith, this legislation allows state agencies with regulatory or permitting authority over a business to establish a process for simultaneous review and approval with one or more state agencies. The legislation is designed to limit the delay for businesses waiting for one step to finish before moving on to the next step when there is no causal or safety relationship between the two steps. Businesses opting for simultaneous review may not recover the fees associated with the review if the business does not win approval.

•    Part Eight: Strengthen the small business presence on EDC Board. This legislation, submitted by Senate Majority Leader Daniel P. Connors and House Small Business Committee Chairwoman Patricia Serpa, provides that the Governor shall appoint representatives of small business to four of the 12 seats on the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation’s board of directors. This legislation is a result of the Small Business Administration’s 2010 legislative recommendations.

•    Part Nine: EDC Office of Regulatory Reform. This legislation, sponsored by Senator Walter S. Felag, Jr. and Representative Peter Martin, establishes the Office of Regulatory Reform within the EDC, to review Rhode Island’s regulatory processes and permitting procedures for businesses in an effort to further improve them. Each municipality would be granted the authority to appoint a liaison responsible for coordinating with the Office of Regulatory Reform. The Office will publish an annual report on the regulatory processes of state and municipal agencies and permitting authorities for the purpose of: encouraging agencies to improve procedures and reduce paperwork burdens impacting small business; making recommendations for simplification of regulatory processes, and making proposals to any agency for consideration of amendment or repeal of existing rules or procedures which may be obsolete, harmful or burdensome. The Office of Regulatory Reform would have the authority to intervene in regulatory or permitting matters before state agencies and municipal boards, commissions, agencies and subdivisions for the purpose of assuring efficient and consistent implementation of rules and regulations in order to foster the creation and retention of jobs in Rhode Island.

“A responsive, uniform and fair regulatory system is vital to advance a competitive Rhode Island economy and RIEDC is dedicated to supporting this regulatory reform initiative,” said Keith Stokes, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation.
   
The regulatory reform package unveiled today is part of a broader effort by the House, the Senate and the Carcieri Administration to make it easy to do business in Rhode Island. In addition to its many other efforts to improve the economic climate in Rhode Island, the state is targeting three key areas to help businesses establish here and grow jobs here. Those areas targeted for action are: cutting government red tape, improving the skills of the workforce, and providing access to capital.