General Assembly
20. H5514: Grants “deputy sheriffs, capitol police officers, environmental police officers, juvenile program workers, shift coordinators, airport crash/rescue firefighters, airport police, and campus police officers employed by the state of Rhode Island or any Rhode Island quasi-public agency” retirement benefits equal to those of state police officers. (H Finance; Wed, Apr 3) Isn’t this the…
30. S0733: Places the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation in charge of funding “replacement projects” that make use of tax-credits that had been awarded to projects that were abandoned. Submitted at the request of the Governor. (S Finance; Tue, Apr 2) 29. Two agendas concerning multiple bills on insurance regulation will be heard by the…
Local Impact: Burrillville 2, Central Falls, Coventry 2, Glocester, North Kingstown, Pawtucket, Warwick, West Warwick 2. Inobvious Priorities: H5529 >> Ice cream vendors must purchase their ice cream from a licensed ice cream wholesaler. H5544 >> Removes Portuguese people from the list of people covered by the Minority Business Enterprise section of the law. 40C.…
14. Various proposed changes to campaign finance and expenditure laws; H5074 limits all campaign contributions to the General Assembly between January 1 and the passage of the state budget, H5187 limits campaign contributions from lobbyists between January 1 and July 1, H5385 requires disclosure of four year’s worth of political contributions by anyone hired by…
Inobvious Priorities: H5278 > Labeling of food products containing genetically modified organisms; H5280 > Standards for handling raw milk. 28. H5654: Calamari declared to be the state appetizer (H Health, Education & Welfare; Wed, Mar 27). 27. S0012: Father-daugther dance bill. (S Education; Wed, Mar 27) 26. On Tuesday, March 26, the Senate Judiciary Committee…
I try to be an equal-opportunity curmudgeon, but when the General Assembly does some good, it’s only fair to point that out as well. Referred by a tip from Ian Donnis’ twitter feed I found out that Capitol TV is now available online, both streaming and archived video on demand. This is great for someone…
Local Impact: Johnston, Middletown 2 Inobvious Priorities: S0513 > Requires school districts to develop plans to promote purchases of locally grown fruits, vegetables and dairy products. 20. S0012: The father-daughter dance bill. (S Education; Wed, Mar 20) 19. H5579: Changes to zoning regulations intended to facilitate the development of “small wind energy systems”. (H Municipal…
In a separation of powers system, the legislature is made to be the most powerful branch of government precisely because no one person is supposed to be able to easily dominate its proceedings. Rules of a legislative body are supposed to support this principle. Indeed, early on in the parliamentary manual used by the Rhode…
1. A great many Rhode Island legislators, along with their minions, supporters and enablers, are confused about the necessity of holding bills for further study. The specific process that is used at the RI General Assembly conflates two ideas that are not inextricably linked. That it can be prudent to delay action on a particular…
Paul Spetrini of GoLocalProv posted a story last night on the decision by the House Judiciary Chair to void the previous night’s vote that would have sent an Ethics amendment to the full House that contains this item of note…[Spokesman Larry Berman] added that Fox wants “more time” to review the bill. “Arguments were made…