General Assembly

Live from Rhode Island Budget Day, It’s Justin Katz!

By Carroll Andrew Morse | June 7, 2012 |

Justin is liveblogging the Rhode Island House of Representatives’ budget deliberations at the Ocean State Current. He’s in the media section on the House floor, allowing him to immediately read (and blog about) floor amendments, as they are presented to the legislators.

Why the Move to Put the East Bay Energy Consortium Under the Economic Development Corporation and into the Wind Farm Business Should Be Rejected by the General Assembly this Session

By Carroll Andrew Morse | June 5, 2012 |

Some Rhode Island General Assembly members want to take the state into the wind farm business. They want to make an already-existing body called the “East Bay Energy Consortium” into a subsidiary of the RI Economic Development Corporation, so that the governmental parts of the EDC’s quasi-governmental authority can be leveraged by the EBEC, so…

Coming up in Committee: Thirteen Sets of Bills Scheduled to be Heard by the RI General Assembly, June 4 – June 8

By Carroll Andrew Morse | June 4, 2012 |

Usually, there’s a pretty clear most important bill of the week that gets the top slot, but this week, cases could be made that any of the top 5 or 6 bills could be number one, depending on which issue areas an individual thinks are most important… Local Impact: Bristol, Central Falls 2, Central Falls/Cumberland…

Coming up in Committee: Thirteen Sets of Bills Scheduled to be Heard by the RI General Assembly, May 29 – May 31

By Carroll Andrew Morse | May 29, 2012 |

Getting up to speed after the long weekend… Local Impact: Barrington

Coming up in Committee: Ten Sets of Bills Scheduled to be Heard by the RI General Assembly, May 22 – May 24

By Carroll Andrew Morse | May 21, 2012 |

Local Impact: Coventry, Cumberland, Foster 2, North Kingstown, Richmond 2 3, Smithfield, Warwick. 10. H7866: A package of zoning law changes, including a cap on the minimum allowed size for buildable lots, an exclusion on considering slope as a development potential criteria, and the addition of “protecting natural resources and promoting efficient use of land”…

Coming up in Committee: Thirteen Sets of Bills Scheduled to be Heard by the RI General Assembly, May 15 – May 17

By Carroll Andrew Morse | May 15, 2012 |

Local Impact: Central Falls, Coventry 2, Cranston, Glocester, Narragansett, Middletown/Newport 2, Newport 2, North Providence 2, Pawtucket, Tiverton, Warren, Warwick, West Greenwich, West Warwick 2. 13. S2883: A capital gains tax exemption for “new investments in Rhode Island businesses” that meet certain conditions (S Finance; Thu, May 17). 12. S2631: Adds to the state’s payment-in-lieu-of-taxes…

You Can Lead a Horse to Water…

By Patrick Laverty | May 8, 2012 |

It seems that locally some people are on a “Full Time Assembly” kick and I’m not sure why. I don’t see how this is possibly a good idea. One of the latest people to suggest it is URI Professor Len Lardaro in an On Politics blog post with Ian Donnis today. Ian lists out Lardaro’s…

State Budget on the Horizon?

By Carroll Andrew Morse | May 8, 2012 |

It’s not surprising that, in an election year, the Rhode Island General Assembly would like to finish up as quickly as possible and free themselves up for the campaigning phase of the political cycle. A few folks familiar with the budgetary process believe that the schedule will be as aggressive as the House Finance Committee…

Coming up in Committee: Seventeen Sets of Bills Scheduled to be Heard by the RI General Assembly, May 8 – May 10

By Carroll Andrew Morse | May 7, 2012 |

Local Impact: Barrington, Central Falls, Coventry 2, Exeter, I’m pretty sure, Middletown, Newport, North Providence 2 3, Providence, Smithfield, Warren, West Greenwich. 17. H8084/S2905: In the same week, both chambers of the state legislature will hear a bill to approve $250,000 in new “Promotional Points” for the state’s slot parlors (H Finance; Tue, May 8…

Coming up in Committee: Nine More Sets of Bills Being Heard by the RI General Assembly, May 2 – May 3

By Carroll Andrew Morse | May 2, 2012 |

Local Impact: Central Falls/Cumberland 2, Cumberland, Newport, Warwick. 9. H7197: “The general assembly shall not authorize, award or allow legislative grants. For the purposes of this chapter legislative grants are hereby defined as monetary award to nongovernmental, or nonquasi-governmental entities” (H Finance; Thu, May 3). 8. S2473: Makes explicit that municipal fiscal stabilization procedures relating…