General Assembly

Poker hand

Governor McKee can do better. We hope he does.

By Rhode Island House Republicans | June 1, 2021 |

Legislation to offer a 20-year deal to Rhode Island’s casino operators inexplicably leaves hundreds of millions of dollars on the table, and RI House Republicans hope the governor vetoes the bill.

Two seniors on a bench with a view

If you’re getting on in years, be worried that RI’s “Nursing Home Staffing and Quality Care Act” heralds socialist nursing homes.

By Justin Katz | May 28, 2021 |

Rhode Island’s politicians are happily proclaiming an ostensible gift that they are giving to Ocean State seniors with a law creating minimum staffing requirements for nursing homes.  Those who currently or may soon utilize such services have enough life experience to think more deeply about how the politicians are changing the terms of our representative…

A more-descriptive restroom sign

Sure we’re struggling and Providence schools are collapsing, but at least we’ll have non-gendered single-use bathrooms!

By Justin Katz | May 21, 2021 |

Seriously.  With all that is going on in the world and in Rhode Island, why would legislators wade into this degree of virtue signaling, as Christian Winthrop reports for The Newport Buzz? The House of Representatives today approved legislation introduced by Majority Floor Manager John G. Edwards (D-Dist. 70, Tiverton, Portsmouth), that would make single-user restrooms…

Tiara Mack talks with John DePetro

John DePetro’s interview with Sen. Tiara Mack on Providence violence should be a media example.

By Justin Katz | May 17, 2021 |

DePetro caught up with Mack on the streets of Providence while covering the recent spate of shootings there, and it’s a must-watch five minutes.  DePetro was respectful, but really pressed Mack on her beliefs about what’s going on in Providence and the effects of her own public statements. In a nutshell, to Tiara Mack, violence…

A drowning person's hand

How are businesses supposed to adjust to 6-8% increased labor costs every year for four years?

By Justin Katz | May 14, 2021 |

That’s not a question addressed by anybody whom Edward Fitzpatrick quotes in his Boston Globe article on the march of a $15 minimum wage bill in the General Assembly.  Although, Working Families Party director Georgia Hollister Isman does say that “small businesses should feel good that people will have money in their pockets.” Here are the…

John Edwards and Warwick Fire Department

Rep. Edwards did real harm to Rhode Island municipalities and wants to walk away from responsibility.

By Justin Katz | May 14, 2021 |

When Rhode Islanders hear about some government abuse or other — like firefighters alternating time off so that they are always paid overtime when they actually work, thus earning multiple times their salaries even if they only work a standard week — they shake their heads and marvel that things go so badly around here. …

Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung

People are noticing that Fenton-Fung has proven a far-left progressive.

By Justin Katz | April 30, 2021 |

The Cranston Herald has published a (shall we say) strongly worded letter by resident Suzanne Downing noting (as I did a few months ago) that Republican state representative Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung is not voting as one would expect a Republican to do: As a resident of District 15 in Cranston I was happy to support Barbara Ann…

In the Dugout, Apr 27, 2021

A Con-census That Rhode Island’s Got Problems

By Justin Katz | April 28, 2021 |

Mike Stenhouse went through the ins and outs of Rhode Island’s close-call with the Census for his In the Dugout show.  He also talked legislative shop with Republican Senator Jessica De La Cruz.

Mike Stenhouse and Rep. Brian Newberry on In the Dugout, 4/22/21

Funny how blame can shift from policy to implementation as needed.

By Justin Katz | April 22, 2021 |

Mike Stenhouse’s In the Dugout show today included guests Republican Representative Brian Newberry and Dr. Andrew Bostom, the first defending his civics education legislation and the second talking COVID matters.  Note, in particular Newberry’s defense of his bill on the grounds that concerns expressed on the show yesterday by Stanley Kurtz were about “implementation,” not the…

A Brief Primer on Gun-Permitting Laws in Rhode Island

By Carroll Andrew Morse | April 10, 2013 |

Commenter “Mike” noted that there is more to the Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Kilmartin’s proposed firearms permitting bill (h/t Providence Journal) than which office handles an application. Here is a basic outline of the set of overlapping provisions that form the basics of Rhode Island’s firearms law, and how the Attorney General’s bill might…