CARI co-hosted a press event with Senator Meghan Kallman and Representative Rebecca Kislak, the co-sponsors of the Building Benchmarking and Reporting Act which was the only bill veto-ed by Gov. McKee this session.
We thought the legislative session ended with a big victory on June 4th, but we were in for a bit of a surprise, and not the good kind.
One of CARI’s top priority bills— the Large Building Benchmarking bill—passed both the House and the Senate and was sent to the Governor’s desk for his signature. Perhaps we shouldn’t have been surprised by the governor’s veto, given his past resistance to this legislation. But he used demonstrably false reasoning to justify his action. The governor’s veto was particularly egregious given that the legislation was passed by overwhelming majorities in both the House and the Senate. We are now pressing leadership in both chambers to overturn the veto and enact this important step in decarbonizing RI’s buildings.
Our biggest victory this year was defeating the Governor’s disastrous budget proposal which would have reduced energy efficiency programs, gutted the 100% Renewable Energy Standard, which requires our transition to clean electricity, and slashed incentives for large scale solar projects. We accomplished this with meticulous collaboration with other environmental and labor groups.
Although one of our endorsed bills, the Thermal Energy Network and Jobs Act (S3080/H7879) passed and was signed into law, the legislative session was another inadequate response to the escalating climate catastrophe. Until the final days of the session, it appeared that two of our other priority bills—Plug-in Solar and the Solar Cost Reduction Act—would become law. They both passed the House but died in the Senate without a vote and without any public explanation. This was particularly disturbing because they would have cost next to nothing to enact and would make solar energy more affordable for Rhode Islanders.
Preparation for the 2027 legislative session begins soon. Over the coming months, we’ll work with our environmental and labor partners and legislative allies to prepare a strong package of climate legislation. This year’s victories proved that organized advocacy works—but they also showed how much more remains to be done. With continued public engagement and the possibility of new leadership in the Governor’s office, we have an opportunity to make real progress next year. We’ll keep you informed every step of the way.
— Jeff Migneault & Bill Ibelle, CARI Politics Team Co-Leads