"The State of Rhode Island must seek to protect both the strong states' rights issues at stake, and the legitimacy of its longstanding public policy against the death penalty." Chafee championed a bill that legalized same-sex marriage in Rhode Island, signing it into law on May 2, 2013. Chafee has shown some willingness to deviate from strict "War on Drugs" policies, in favor of alternative approaches to America's drug-crime problem. Education On "education reform" in general, Chafee does not believe the politically and publicly popular presumption that America's schools are failing, saying: This notion of all these failing schools, if this were true, how did America get to be at the status where we are in the world if it were that bad? So I don't buy into the trashing of our public school system. Somehow Brown University, and University of Rhode Island and Bryant University, Providence College are full of public school students that are doing very, very well and leading America in many fields. Yes, there's room for improvement, I don't deny that and I want to be part of the improvement. But the notion that our public school systems are in disarray and failing, I don't buy that. 38 Studios Chafee was the only public figure in Rhode Island to vigorously oppose an ill-fated deal in which the previous Governor committed an unsecured $75 million loan to a former baseball star, Curt Schilling, to develop a new video game, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. The first payments started two months before he took office in January 2011. The game was released in February 2012 to moderate critical success, but failed commercially. 38 Studios ended up laying off their staff and filed for bankruptcy. According to Schilling, Chafee's public comments calling the game a "failure" caused a publisher to pull out of a $35 million deal that could have paid for a sequel. In response, Chafee said he would need to "verify" Schilling's claim, saying that he couldn't "just take it as a leap of faith." He added that it "isn't accurate" to blame the state for the company's collapse. As chair of the agency securing the loan, Chafee initiated a lawsuit to recover lost funds for Rhode Island taxpayers. To date, about $17 million has been recovered through settlements. Christmas tree controversy In 2011, Fox News and local conservatives and pundits stirred up controversy over the Christmas tree