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6/8/2026
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House budget includes Rep. Tanzi priorities to audit RIDOT, ensure independence of RIPTA board
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STATE HOUSE — Rep. Teresa A. Tanzi’s proposals to conduct an independent efficiency and performance audit of the Rhode Island Department of Transportation and to allow the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority board to elect its own chair were included in the amended budget bill approved by a vote of the full House of Representatives Friday, June 5.
“From high-profile failures like the Washington Bridge to the persistent fact that we have had the worst state roads in the country for at least a decade, Rhode Islanders have good reason to question whether RIDOT’s $1 billion annual budget is being spent efficiently,” said Representative Tanzi (D-Dist. 34, South Kingstown, Narragansett). “Thanks to Speaker Blazejewski and my colleagues in the House, we will finally get some answers on how the maintenance program for our roads and bridges is run.”
The budget (2026-H 7127Aaa) includes an audit of the efficiency and performance of RIDOT to be conducted by the Office of Internal Audit and Program Integrity of the Rhode Island Department of Administration. The audit will be completed by Jan. 1, 2027, and will be made publicly available. Representative Tanzi introduced legislation (2026-H 7984) requiring a similar efficiency and performance audit on Feb. 17.
Earlier this year an investigation found that Rhode Island ranked dead last in percentage of state roads in poor condition.
The budget also includes a provision that rather than having the RIDOT director serve as chair, the RIPTA board shall elect its own chair, as Representative Tanzi proposed in her bill (2026-H 8127). The budget goes further and forbids the director from serving as chair of the board, though they will remain a member.
“The director of RIDOT and the chair of the RIPTA board are positions with an inherent conflict of interest,” said Representative Tanzi. “Both positions have a responsibility to their own agencies, which not only have different aims and goals actively compete for sources of state funding. Over the last two years, having the chair be the RIDOT director has prevented RIPTA from having the authority to effectively advocate for its own best interests. The result has been the most devastating service cuts in RIPTA’s history. I am happy that we are ending this experiment and giving RIPTA back its ability to fully advocate for effective statewide public transit.”
For more information, contact:
Tristan Grau, Publicist
State House Room B20
Providence, RI 02903
401.222.4935
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