How Your Representative Voted on Violating Multiple Principles of Democratic Governance All at Once

The final vote taken by the RI House of Representatives considered in this series is the January vote to override the Governor’s veto of a bill which created a new state board to design health plan options for Rhode Island teachers (see pg. 396). The law which resulted from this bill is a simultaneous affront to principles of local control, separation-of-powers, and general democratic governance, granting labor unions and certain other private organizations the power to directly appoint members of a government panel with the power to impose binding constraints on elected local governments. Further detail about what is wrong with the law is available here, here, here, and here.

Positions on this bill are captured by a single vote, with no combinations of amendments that need to be worried about. 47 Reps voted in favor of overriding the Governor’s veto and to restrict the fiscal options of local government, to trample separation of powers, and to bypass democracy...

The Honorable Speaker Murphy, Ajello, Almeida, Azzinaro, Caprio, Carnevale, Coderre, Costantino, DaSilva, DeSimone, Diaz, Fellela, Ferri, Flaherty, Fox, Gallison, Giannini, Guthrie, Handy, Kilmartin, Lally, Lima, MacBeth, Martin, Mattiello, McNamara, Menard, Messier, Naughton, O'Neill, Pacheco, Palumbo, Rice M., San Bento, Savage, Schadone, Segal, Shallcross-Smith, Silva, Slater, Sullivan, Ucci, Vaudreuil, Walsh, Wasylyk, Williams, Winfield.

...while 22 reps voted against...

Baldelli-Hunt, Brien, Corvese, Driver, Edwards, Ehrhardt, Fierro, Gablinske, Gemma, Hearn, Jackson, Loughlin, Malik, Marcello, Melo, Newberry, Pollard, Rice A., Ruggiero, Serpa, Trillo, Watson.

It wouldn’t be outrageous to suggest that this bill is a bellwether for positions on binding arbitration.

BONUS COVERAGE:

• Moderate Party Gubernatorial candidate Ken Block’s thoughts on the Teachers’ Health Insurance Board are available here.
• Republican Party Gubernatorial candidate John Robitaille’s thoughts on the Teachers’ Health Insurance Board are available here.