I really like the redesign. Although the flag is already good, removing the hope banner was definitely necessary. I like the blue background but honestly I think I like the white one more for some reason. Maybe the white conjures more of a state flag look than a random flag you'd see on the water. The maritime connotation was definitely intentional and this is just one person's opinion. Great work, hopefully you make some more of these.
Glad you liked it! I think I see where you're coming from on the background. Yellow on white is pretty rare due to the colors having less contrast — in fact, yellow on white violates the heraldic rule of tincture, which states that "metals" (yellow & white) should not go on each other. This makes Rhode Island's use of yellow on white a lot more unique than yellow on blue, even if I feel the latter looks better.
Also, thinking about this had made me realize that this is eerily similar to the EU flag).
Since I already like Rhode Island's flag a lot, I didn't want to go too far from the original design. I decided to make the following three changes:
