Today the General Assembly introduced a bipartisan package of legislation aimed at easing regulatory burdens on small businesses operating in Rhode Island.
We’ve talked about regulatory reform—now government is backing up the talk.
Measures tackled here range from limiting the time cities/towns have to complete fire code inspections to 15 days (down from 90 days), to bolstering the small business presence on the Economic Development Council, to several provisions meant to speed the licensing process for multiple permits.
I’m so glad the Senate has taken up, as part of this package, an issue that I’ve been advocating for some time: using our state dollars to "buy local" when it makes economic sense.
Even better: The measures are effective immediately, as the governor signed an executive order to get the ball rolling while the bills move through the legislative process at the state house.
The announcement of the legislation to help small businesses came as Business Expo 2010 opened at the RI Convention Center to the biggest group to attend the opening ceremony recent memory—perhaps another hopeful sign of a gradual economic recovery.
I was happy to see as exhibitors some Rhode Island businesses that had been affected by the floods—in some cases because other businesses had paid their exhibitor fee (another sign of neighbors helping neighbors). The Nylo Hotel in Warwick, located near the Warwick Mall, had in their exhibition booth a sign that said they would reopen for business in late summer—good news from a business that saw significant flood damage.