General Assembly

The latest political news meme in Rhode Island has been the public declaration of 31 General Assembly legislators that they intend to forgo their scheduled salary increases: Starting this month, the annual salary for most members of the part-time state legislature rises from $14,185.96 to $14,639.90. The salaries for House Speaker Gordon D. Fox and…

No. In this week’s Valley Breeze, frequent columnist Arlene Violet wrote that she is now a convert and a support of a full-time General Assembly in Rhode Island. This sorry state of affairs has led me to reverse my long-term opposition to a full-time legislature. Now I think that we need to make that change…

I would expect that constituents on both sides of the aisle to be asking members of the General Assembly if they will be taking the same cuts* as eight of them have been reported to be doing. Today’s Providence Journal reports that eight members of the General Assembly, six in the Senate and two in…

One specific bill did not pass in this General Assembly session and it should have been a slam dunk. The bill would have moved the teacher layoff notices from March 1 to June 1. It was sponsored by Senator DiPalma, was last seen back in February by the Senate Labor Committee and you guessed it,…

According to multiple sources, State Representative Bob Watson will not be seeking re-election in November. Watson has been in the General Assembly for 20 years, and served from 1998 to 2011 as the House Minority Leader. Representative Watson was always known to be very vocal on many issues and was never afraid of a fight…

I’m not expecting much from these people, our General Assembly, but is it really too much to ask to have them be aware of the media around them? I don’t think anyone expects to be treated like Mick Jagger or something, but a minimal understanding of who media members are would be nice. It would…

Another amended version of the East Bay Energy Consortium bill has appeared on the General Assembly website. This latest version of S2870 would allow two (or more) town/city councils to get together and create a corporation for the newly defined “essential governmental function” of developing “renewable energy resources”. A corporation created under this law would…

8. H7173/S2052: A statutory “bill of rights” for homeless individuals (H Judiciary; Tue, Jun 12). The section guaranteeing a “right to fair, decent and affordable housing in the community of his or her choosing, and access to safe and proximate shelter until such housing can be attained”, noted previously in these updates, has been removed…

What is the legislature working on, in what is almost certain to be their final week in session? Well, for one thing, giving lots of bills getting House and Senate hearings at the same time: Local Impact: Cranston 2, Exeter, Glocester, Middletown, North Providence, Portsmouth, Providence. 16. H7026: Allows the State Insurance Commissioner to grant…

One of the underreported stories from Thursday night/Friday morning’s General Assembly budget session is how House Minor Leader Brian Newberry attempted to prevent the new tax on dog grooming and taxi rides. Any time a legislator wants to amend the budget in a way the removes taxes (income), the budget becomes unbalanced unless they can…