Don’t miss my essay on so-called “equal pay” legislation in the Providence Journal this week:

The corruption is twofold. First, many political leaders understand the danger to business, yet they may advance the legislation anyway — fearful of being tagged as “anti-woman” from petulant progressives. Worse, to remain in the good graces of the political elite, many prominent insider business groups, who pretend they represent the overall business community, are providing cover for lawmakers, making believe that their negotiated watered-down version is somehow acceptable to other employers across the state. It is not. This is exactly what happened last year with the free-paid-time-off legislation. And this repeated corruption is exactly why Rhode Island suffers one of the worst business climates in the country.

We are also fed the bogus argument that other states have passed similar laws, so Rhode Island must follow suit to remain competitive. False. To gain a competitive advantage, Rhode Island employers should have more freedom than their counterparts to hire workers on mutually agreeable terms, rather than have their hands tied with more government-imposed red-tape.