An Update from the Government Affairs Committee

The Chamber works on behalf of the business community to advocate for and promote economic health, diversity, growth and prosperity in the Greater Newport area. This is an essential part of the services and benefits that we provide to our membership and the broader business community. In addition to the many events we host throughout the year to inform the business community of best practices and market trends, we also focus a lot of our efforts on the laws and regulations that impact businesses, the policy makers impacting the business climate, and by weighing in on important issues that would impact your businesses, at the local, state and federal levels.

 

We do this through educational and informative workshops and our very successful Politics and Pancakes series, which has brought the Governor, General Assembly leaders, Congressional delegation and political pundits to the Greater Newport region. We have also been very active this past legislative session by inviting municipal leaders and legislators to our Government Affairs Committee meetings, testifying at the General Assembly for and against important policy initiatives, and meeting with statewide officials on programs that impact business. A summary of our 2018 Policy Platform, identifying the issues we paid close attention to, can be found HERE. 

 

We have been working closely with the RI Business Coalition and the RI Chamber Coalition to ensure the strength of the business voice is enhanced and that our issues are brought to the forefront in a cohesive manner. As you know, we send out and post the Under the Dome weekly legislative update for the State House, which can all be found on our blog that aims to keep members current on legislative activity throughout the session. A legislative summary and list of all of the bills that we lent our voice to can be found HERE.

 

As you know, this is an election year and it is an extremely important one for the business community. A website has been established by some in the business community identifying some key candidates from around the state that are pro-business, whose opponents are not business-friendly. While our Chamber does not endorse candidates, we felt it important to inform you that this information has been coordinated by many leading business organizations around the state. If you would like to view that site, it can be found by going to this link Local Biz 4 RI.

 

 

Another important resource to help inform your voting decisions would be on the General Assembly web site, where you can research your legislators’ voting history on important issues that impact your business. That information can be found HERE.

 

And finally, we will be hosting a Candidate Meet and Greet on October 4, 2018 from 6:00-8:00 PM at The Atlantic Resort.  All candidates for offices in the Newport and Bristol Counties have been invited, including those running for U.S. Senate, statewide offices, General Assembly, Town and City Councils and School Committee. This is a great way to meet your candidates and have casual conversations about the issues you care about. We hope you will join us. If you are interested, please go HERE to register.

 

Again, we understand how important our government advocacy efforts are to our members and we are committed to enhancing our voice and influence on this front. If you would like to become more involved with these efforts, please join the Government Affairs Committee or reach out to us directly to learn more about our initiatives.