Student tax
Rep. John Carnevale, D-Providence and Johnston, introduced legislation in the General Assembly that would require out-of-state college students in Providence to pay $50 per semester for three years to fund the development of the land cleared by the relocation of the I-195 highway.
Carnevale argued in a press release that students from Brown, the Rhode Island School of Design and Johnson and Wales University should cover the costs of the area’s development because each school has expressed interest in expanding into the area.
The city has promoted the new land, as well as some surrounding areas, with the moniker “the Knowledge District” as part of its efforts to attract high tech companies, medical technology businesses and universities to the area. Carnevale said in the same press release that he supports the initiative but hates “to think of using any more tax money for a project — worthwhile as it may be — that will benefit a small group of landholders.”
“If one of those schools buys some land today, relatively cheap, and sells it five years from now when the area is active and thriving, who will reap the profit?” Carnevale said. “Not the taxpayers.”
Plastic bags
Rep. Maria Cimini, D-Providence, is trying to make Rhode Island the first state in the country to ban the use of plastic bags in the state’s stores. The legislation, introduced in the House of Representatives last week, comes in the wake of passage of similar legislation in cities like San Francisco, Seattle and Los Angeles.
Barrington became the first town in Rhode Island to ban plastic bags when a recently approved law came into effect in January.
Since every county in Hawaii has individually banned plastic bags, Rhode Island would not be the first state to offer only paper bags. But if the proposed bill passes, the state would be the first to pass statewide legislation preventing the use of plastic bags.
Advocates of the ban argue that modern consumers use more plastic bags than they need and that the environmental effects of the overuse can be devastating. One billion discarded plastic bags cause environmental damage equivalent to burning 12 million gallons of gasoline, according to an article on environmentalist blog EcoRI News. Rhode Islanders consume 192 million plastic bags every year, according to a 2006 University study, EcoRI News reported.
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