Service was rewarding: "I felt I made a difference'

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When I first entered public service 22 years ago, I never imagined all that would be accomplished for the betterment of our Warwick community and the state of Rhode Island. I wrote then, in a letter to the editor to express my gratitude, that I sought to serve my district with honesty and accomplishment, and I believe that I've achieved that goal.

As my time in elected office comes to a close, I want to thank all of those who have supported me over the years, and everyone with whom I have had the privilege to work. I am truly humbled to have been able to serve as the State Senator from District 30. Governing is hard work, but I enjoyed every minute of it because I felt like I was able to make a difference for our state.

Among the important strides we made by working together were tremendous advances in renewable energy. As a New England Clean Energy Council "Clean Energy Champion," I am proud to have worked to put in place national-model renewable energy legislation, and to help remove bureaucratic roadblocks to energy sources such as solar. My efforts to preserve the environment, and to protect the cherished natural resource of Narragansett Bay, are tied in part to my efforts to increase renewable energy.

Port development was also an area of considerable focus throughout my time in public service. I co-chaired the Legislature's joint Senate-House commission exploring ways to maximize economic opportunities at the ports.

One result was the dredging of the Port of Davisville without the use of federal funds, which gives our port a significant competitive advantage: we are not subject to the federal Harbor Maintenance Tax. The ports have grown substantially and are poised for continued economic growth. They are a real bright spot for our state's economy.

The economy was always a top priority for me. I've worked throughout my time in office to make our business climate more competitive. In recent years, these efforts have borne fruit, with significant reductions in the corporate tax rate, minimum corporate tax, unemployment tax, estate tax, and energy tax. Legislation I sponsored modernized the fire code to make it

less costly to business.

I was also very proud to work on behalf of people with disabilities.

Whether working to expand closed captioning, increase wheelchair accessible taxis, or increase funding for ALS research, I took it as a matter of pride to give a strong voice to communities that were sometimes underrepresented.

This session, I also worked on a piece of legislation that is very personal to me. As I battled a recurrence of life threatening chronic lymphocytic leukemia last year, my doctors put me on a medication that gave me a new lease on life. Rhode Island law required insurers to cover "off label" uses of drugs for cancer patients if the medications had shown some promise in that treatment. Because I was a cancer patient, my insurance covered the medication, which is very expensive. However, patients facing other life threatening diseases were not so fortunate.

So we changed the law to give every Rhode Islander fighting a fatal disease access to potentially life-saving "off label" drugs. In all my years of service, never have I heard from so many Rhode Islanders about just how important a particular piece of legislation was to them. Governor Raimondo signed this bill into law in June.

Most of all, I was honored to serve as a strong voice for the people of District 30. Whether working to pass a bill, or simply to address a constituent's concern, I was humbled to have been entrusted with the responsibility of public service, and always worked to the best of my ability to live up to the trust placed in me.

I want to extend my congratulations to my opponent in the Democratic primary. I wish her well in office, and hope that she will always work for the betterment of Warwick, in collaboration with the terrific group of dedicated public servants from both parties who serve in the Rhode Island Senate.

The Senate is an institution I have grown to love, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to serve the people of District 30 as their state senator. I feel very blessed for their support over the years, and will continue to serve them in any way that I can.

William A. Walaska is the State Senator from District 30, Warwick.

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