Apparently, the state is having a budget crisis.
Its Governor maybe a Republican, but the state legislature is Democrat controlled, both U.S. Congressional Reps are Democrats, both U.S. Senators are Democrats, and Rhode Island has some of the highest taxes in the country, particularly its property taxes, ranking seventh in local and state taxes, and sixth in real estate taxes.
Of course, that has nothing to do with Rhode Island's current business crushing, lack of tax revenue problems. Just ask any Democrat.
Naturally, none of this stuff happens rapidly or in a vacuum, as witnessed by the Governor's call for drastic action back in November 2008 when Rhode Island's unemployment rate was the highest in the country, at 8.8 percent, just ahead of Michigan's, and the state lost close to 16,000 payroll jobs since the first quarter of 2007.
But, judging from the current action, my guess is the Republican governor didn't get much cooperation from the Democratic legislature.