Learn about Rhode Island Investor Relations, including Featured News, 2021 State Bond Project Updates, and The Team.
The smallest state of the union, the State of Rhode Island, is one of the most densely populated and heavily industrialized for its size. For a state that is only 37 miles wide and 48 miles long, it is notable that its shoreline on Narragansett Bay in the Atlantic Ocean runs for 400 miles.
Rhode Island is known for sandy shores and seaside Colonial towns. It's home to several large cities, including Newport, which is famed for sailing and Gilded Age mansions, such as The Breakers. Providence, its capital, is home to Brown University, Roger Williams Park, Waterplace Park and Riverwalk, with the famed WaterFire art installation.
Legislation seeks $300-million bond to continue critical school construction progress
Rhode Island General Treasurer Seth Magaziner testified today before the Rhode Island House Finance Committee in favor of S2596, developed by his Office in partnership with sponsor Senator Hanna M. Gallo (D-Dist. 27, Cranston and West Warwick), which would extend and expand the once-in-a-generation investment in Rhode Island’s school buildings. As co-chair of the School Building Task Force, Treasurer Magaziner led the development of the State’s school construction plan that was overwhelmingly approved by Rhode Island voters in 2018. Treasurer Magaziner also provided testimony on the companion House Bill H7125 with bill sponsor Representative Brandon Potter (D-Dist. 16, Cranston).
The State School Construction Plan has since allocated more than $1.7 billion in funding to repair or replace 189 school buildings across 28 districts in Rhode Island. These schools serve more than 101,800 students annually and the projects to repair or replace the schools have created more than 28,000 jobs. School construction activity is well distributed across both urban and suburban school districts.
“Modern school facilities are vital to preparing students to succeed in our economy and to maintain Rhode Island’s competitiveness in the region and the country,” said General Treasurer Seth Magaziner. “Despite incredible progress in a short period of time, there are still thousands of children across Rhode Island attending schools that are old, unsafe, and poorly equipped. We need to continue prioritizing school modernization until all students in Rhode Island are attending schools that are safe, warm, and built for 21st-century learning.”
The legislation will include a $300 million statewide bond proposal for voters to consider on the 2022 ballot, to extend the availability of enhanced state funding for early childhood education facilities, career and technical education facilities, and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) facilities.
“This is an incredible opportunity, not only to invest in students and their education but to do so in a way that reflects our values and priorities. By incentivizing the hiring of minority enterprises to complete this work, we can provide opportunities to communities that have historically been especially neglected. By incentivizing energy-efficient, environmentally focused construction, we can play a part in meeting our state’s climate goals. These provisions ensure that we are leveraging all the benefits available to us while providing our students the facilities they need and deserve.”
The proposed legislation will also include significant new incentives for energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements to public school buildings, in keeping with the state’s Act on Climate goals to achieve a net-zero emission economy. The legislation will also include new incentives for school districts to employ local contractors and minority business enterprises on school construction projects.
“Our district has benefitted enormously from the state’s school construction plan,” said Superintendent of Cranston Public Schools Jeaninne Nota-Masse. “More of our students are now learning in educational environments designed to meet the needs of today’s learners. We could not make as much progress in improving our schools for so many of our students and our educators as we have without this increased state support.”
Rhode Island Outperforms 92% of Public Pension funds in 2021
Rhode Island General Treasurer Seth Magaziner today announced that the Rhode Island Pension Fund outperformed 92% of public pension plans in 2021, continuing the consistent outperformance the Rhode Island plan has achieved under the Treasurer’s ‘Back to Basics’ Investment Plan.
According to the InvMetrics Public DB Database, which tracks the performance of 594 public pension plans, Rhode Island’s performance among funds in the database was in the 8th percentile for 2021. In 2021, the Rhode Island pension plan achieved an annualized return of 17.3%, the highest in over a decade and significantly ahead of the median large public pension plan performance of 13.9%.
"My mission as Treasurer is to support economic opportunity and financial stability in Rhode Island by strengthening the pension fund that thousands of Rhode Island families rely on for retirement security," said Rhode Island General Treasurer Seth Magaziner. "Our ‘Back-to-Basics' Investment strategy is helping the pension fund to reach new all-time highs while consistently outperforming other public pension funds."
Rhode Island has achieved strong performance relative to other pension funds since Treasurer Magaziner launched the ‘Back to Basics’ strategy in 2017. According to InvMetrics, Rhode Island has outperformed a majority of public pension funds in three of the last four full fiscal years.
Additional information about the Rhode Island pension system, including the ‘Back to Basics’ investment strategy and performance, can be found online as part of Treasurer Magaziner's “Transparent Treasury” initiative at investments.treasury.ri.gov.
All performance is reported on a “net of fees” basis.
General Treasurer Seth Magaziner today released the Office of the General Treasurer's 2021 Annual Report, which provides an overview of the performance of the programs and initiatives of the office over the past year as Treasurer Magaziner and his team have worked to increase economic opportunity and financial stability for Rhode Islanders.
“Over the last year, our office has made significant progress towards our vision of building a stronger, more resilient economy in our state by fixing school buildings, putting Rhode Islanders to work on clean energy projects, supporting small businesses, and growing the state’s pension fund that thousands of Rhode Islanders and their families rely on for retirement security,” said General Treasurer Seth Magaziner. “The 2021 Annual Report provides a useful summary of the programs our office offers to help Rhode Island families become more financially secure, and our initiatives to build a stronger economy for Rhode Island.”
The 2021 Annual Report provides an overview of the many programs run by the Treasurer's office over the last year including:
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