Advocates and members of the press march around the first floor of the State House following the ‘People’s State of the State’ that coincided with Gov. Dan McKee’s speech on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
Progressive advocates organized by Black Lives Matter RI PAC had planned to gather in the Rotunda at the State House an hour before Gov. Dan McKee’s 7 p.m. State of the State speech Tuesday to paint their own picture of Rhode Island.
But when they arrived at the State House just after 5:30 p.m., the Rotunda was roped off and guarded by Capitol Police and Rhode Island State Police. Along the divider were pieces of paper saying the area had been reserved through 10 p.m. by the Department of Administration for the governor’s speech.
The rally went ahead instead in the Bell Room on the first floor. Black Lives Matter RI PAC Director Harrison Tuttle lamented the move, but also saw it as a badge of honor.
“Because we organized together, the governor had to stop us from speaking our truth in the Rotunda,” Tuttle said before the crowd of over 200 people.
The rally, dubbed the “People’s State of the State,” highlighted growing economic disparities and social challenges facing Rhode Island communities. Organizers warned the disparities will only worsen if the state makes any cuts to stave off a projected $330 million budget deficit for the fiscal year starting July 1, 2025.
“People are trying to survive,” Providence community organizer Terri Wright told the crowd. “We lift from the bottom up — that’s what the folks in this building should be doing.”
Advocates are once again calling on state leaders to raise taxes on Rhode Island’s highest earners — similar to the 4% tax Massachusetts voters approved in 2022 on income over $1 million — to plug some of the gap.
“We shouldn’t even be in a structural deficit,” Tuttle said in an interview. “Decades of tax cuts for the rich have resulted in billions of dollars in lost revenue.”
McKee in his speech ruled out any broad-based tax increases in his proposed budget, which he is slated to release Thursday. The governor told the Providence Journal he was especially against adopting a millionaires tax to boost revenue, saying not having such a tax gives the state a competitive edge over its neighbor.
House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi said he is keeping an open mind. “It’s important to note that while Massachusetts did generate significant revenue by implementing the so-called millionaire’s tax, I understand that the increased tax also caused an exodus of business leaders to other states,” he said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.
Still, Shekarchi said “all options are on the table in this very challenging budget year.”
Senate President Dominick Ruggerio did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Advocates also called on McKee to declare a public health emergency to shelter the state’s growing homeless population this winter, joining a growing list of critics who have urged the governor to use executive action.
McKee has pushed back against such calls, contending that an emergency declaration would not yield any federal funds toward the issue and could create potential problems should regulations be relaxed.
Don King, an unhoused man who is a member of the Mathewson Street United Methodist Church in Providence, asked what it would take for the governor to see the state’s rising homeless population as an emergency to address.
There are at least 2,442 unhoused people across the state, according to an annual survey conducted last January by the Rhode Island Coalition to End Homelessness— representing a 35% increase from 2023’s count.
Fifty four people died in Rhode Island last year from living outdoors, according to a statement Senate leadership shared with McKee Monday.
“People are dying,” King said. “Isn’t that statement urgency enough?”
After sharing their stories and proposals, advocates marched around the first floor of the State House alternating between chants, including “One: we are the people. Two: we won’t be silent. Three: We want housing now.”
As McKee launched into his hour long speech, the chanting was heard within the House chamber.
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