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Priorities

Read about Senator Ujifusa's priorities below.

See sponsored legislation here.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

As shoreline communities, both Portsmouth and Bristol face significant threats from climate change and sea level rise.
We need to make sure the state continues to build on the Act On Climate and fund mitigation and resiliency work to protect our citizens.
We must also stop environmentally damaging actions, including building more fossil fuel infrastructure, burning plastics as "recycling," and ignoring plastic and PFAS contamination.
The costs of dealing with climate change should be shared by giant fossile fuel corporations. They profited most from creating and selling products they knew would cause enormous damage to public health and safety. Put simply, we must make polluters pay through a Climate Superfund Act.

UNIVERSAL COMPREHENSIVE AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE

Healthcare is a human right - it should not be available only to those who can afford it.
Pre-Covid, over 40,000 Rhode Islanders had no health insurance and many more had inadequate insurance; putting Rhode Islanders at serious risk of illness or death.
Covid clearly showed that health insurance should not be tied to employment.
Middlemen private insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are making enormous profits restricting your care (e.g., with step therapy requirements, while hospitals are closing due to financial pressures.
Medicare for All single payer is the only proven program that can secure universal, comprehensive, affordable care - which we are already paying for, but just not getting.
Read articles on Medicaid Managed Care Organizations and Pharmacy Benefit Managers. co-authored by Linda Ujifusa
Private equity firms have pushed Fatima and Roger Williams Hospitals to the brink of closing. We need to rein in private equity and corporate practice of medicine.
Mental health should have parity with physical health and that should mean limiting mental health prior authorizations.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Skyrocketing housing costs are pushing seniors, young people, and families out of Portsmouth and Bristol.
Many people who work locally—teachers, first responders, and other essential workers—can no longer afford to live locally.
People who treat housing purely as a financial investment, like some short-term rental owners, shouldn't be able to price out families looking for a place to live.
Tax breaks and reduced public oversight for wealthy private developers who aren't building low- and moderate-income (LMI) housing won't solve the affordability crisis.
In Portsmouth and Bristol, simply increasing supply may add density without improving affordability.
More state funding should go toward affordable housing projects like the Ade Bethune House in Portsmouth.

STRONG PUBLIC EDUCATION

Every student should have a right to a quality education that teaches them basic skills needed to accomplish their future goals and be critical thinkers - regardless of their family income or whether they choose an academic or vocational path.
The most important factor influencing businesses to locate in a state is whether there is an available educated and qualified workforce.
We must increase investments in public schools, continue to limit charter school funding, stop unfunded mandates, and make sure the school funding formula is re-drafted to fairly distribute state aid.

SAFER ROADS

East Main Road (RI-138) and West Main Road (RI-114) have been on RIDOT's resurfacing list for years. Residents and the Town Council have repeatedly raised concerns about their condition, but each new State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) draft has pushed these projects back one to four years.
Portsmouth's other priority projects, including Town Center and Sprague Street improvements, have also slipped three to six years between STIP drafts. Legislators and residents have formally asked RIDOT to clarify how it prioritizes and schedules projects.
I have been in contact with new interim leadership at RIDOT to learn more about how the agency will move the Washington Bridge project forward and urge them to bring renewed attention to road and bridge maintenance in District 11.
While I'm grateful for the $19.25 million Safe Streets and Roads for All grant our federal delegation just secured for sidewalk, crosswalk, and safety upgrades for towns across Aquidneck Island, we must keep urging Congress to protect and reauthorize the Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP), including its dedicated pedestrian and bicycle funding, which is currently at risk.

GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

The Washington Bridge failure and Rhode Island's UHIP contract with Deloitte both show what happens when private contractors aren't properly overseen.
I supported the bill creating an Inspector General. We need to make sure this new office doesn't duplicate work already done by the Auditor General and the Attorney General.
I introduced legislation to create and fund a performance audit division within the Office of the Auditor General. I also introduced a bill directing the Auditor General to examine Medicaid, the largest part of the state budget, for savings similar to those found in Ohio and Connecticut, which audited their managed care contracts and pharmacy benefit managers.
The state needs to stop shortchanging oversight. Too much money goes to privatized work and not enough to the state employees needed to supervise it.
The public needs more meaningful opportunities to weigh in on legislation and budget proposals, so that big donors and lobbyists don't have outsized influence over what passes.
Information about legislation, and about where legislators stand on it, should be easier for the public to find.

FAIRER TAXES

Since 2006, Rhode Island's top tax rate was slashed from 9.99% to 5.99%, shifting costs onto property taxes and working families
Today our lowest earners pay 13.3% of income in state and local taxes; the top 1% pay just 8.6% (Economic Progress Institute/ITEP)
We must resist "business flight" scare tactics: Massachusetts has collected billions more than projected since its 2022 millionaire's tax, with no exodus of high earners

Progress to reverse our unfair system has begun:
- A new millionaire's surtax (3% on income over $1 million, phasing in through 2027) brings the top rate to 8.99% and is projected to raise roughly $135 million a year.
- A new tax on part-time residents' vacation homes assessed over $1 million, is projected to raise $24.5 million a year for affordable housing.
- An expanded Social Security tax exemption targeted to low-income seniors who claimed benefits early due to job loss, disability, or caregiving has passed.
More work remains:
- The 2025 federal tax laws delivered its largest benefits to high earners and corporations while cutting Medicaid and other safety-net programs
- Rather than tax breaks for wealthy corporations, we should Invest the revenue in schools, transit, and infrastructure, the things that actually draw employers
- We must continue to push back at the state level against federal cost-shifting

PROTECTION FROM FEDERAL ACTIONS AND U.S. SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

I support bills spearheaded by colleagues to fight the many harms imposed by arbitrary federal actions — including those that unfairly target immigrants, people of color, seniors, low-income and disabled individuals, LGBTQ+ people, and peaceful protesters. She also supported bills that tried to counter federal tax cuts for billionaires and multinational corporations paid for by gutting vital safety net programs, scientific research, and public protections.
In addition, recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions limit a women's right to choose (Dobbs), state gun safety laws (New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen) and the federal government's ability to combat climate change (West Virginia et al. v. U.S. EPA).
It is imperative that the RI General Assembly pass legislation that counteracts these federal mandates and decisions to protect the health and safety of Rhode Islanders.

MORE RELIABLE AND AFFORDABLE INTERNET SERVICES

For 17 years, Rhode Island law has prohibited the state from regulating broadband. Rhode Island is one of only a few states with no standing commission or board overseeing broadband development and access.
I'm a lead Senate sponsor of the Rhode Island Broadband Oversight and Accountability Act (S. 2345, with House companion H. 7333 sponsored by Rep. Michelle McGaw). It repeals that prohibition and directs the RI Commerce Corporation to submit a plan within one year for a permanent broadband oversight authority, covering statewide planning, deployment coordination, performance monitoring, consumer protection, and equitable access.
The state's Broadband Advisory Council, created in 2022, can only make recommendations to Commerce. It has no regulatory authority. Every other utility Rhode Islanders depend on is regulated for safety, fair access, and consumer protection. Broadband should be no different.
Rhode Island has received substantial federal broadband funding through BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment), ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act), and the Capital Projects Fund. That money needs ongoing oversight to ensure it's used prudently and reaches all Rhode Islanders, not just the most profitable markets.