R.I. Voters Approve New Bonds for Public Projects, but Nix Constitutional Convention

The bonds will fund projects ranging from an indigenous culture museum to an expansion of port facilities for the offshore wind industry to a cybersecurity training center at Rhode Island College

People walk past a sign that points the direction toward a voting location during early voting in the general election, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, at City Hall in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
People walk past a sign that points the direction toward a voting location during early voting in the general election, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, at City Hall in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Steven Senne/AP
Share
People walk past a sign that points the direction toward a voting location during early voting in the general election, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, at City Hall in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
People walk past a sign that points the direction toward a voting location during early voting in the general election, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, at City Hall in Providence, R.I. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Steven Senne/AP
R.I. Voters Approve New Bonds for Public Projects, but Nix Constitutional Convention
Copy

Faced with five ballot questions in a high-turnout election, Rhode Islanders authorized more than $343 million in new bonds to fund a broad swath of public projects and declined the opportunity to host a constitutional convention to revise the state’s constitution.

Factoring in the interest the state will pay on the bonds over their 20-year lifetime, the full amount of spending voters authorized is expected to be about $550 million, according to the office of Secretary of State Gregg Amore.

The bonds will fund projects ranging from an indigenous culture museum to an expansion of port facilities for the offshore wind industry to a cybersecurity training center at Rhode Island College. The bond measures were broken up into four separate ballot questions, all of which passed.

This story was reported by The Public’s Radio. You can read the entire story here.

Federal cuts to Medicaid could leave up to 50,000 Rhode Islanders without health insurance, straining the state’s already limited primary care system and putting communities like Central Falls - where half the population relies on Medicaid - at particular risk, according to Dr. Michael Fine
Gov. Dan McKee says the state will shift $6 million from other federal programs to help feed Rhode Islanders as SNAP benefits run out — while Attorney General Peter Neronha joins a multistate lawsuit against the Trump administration to restore funding
The R/V Endeavor, which spent the last 49 years operating out of URI’s Narragansett Bay Campus, was retired last month. Possibly took a tour of the vessel before it’s decommissioned
New protections for federal workers, credits for low-income customers on the way
Rescheduling after federal stop-work order puts two dozen laborers out of work