General Assembly
Underneath the regular countdown of General Assembly bills coming up for committee hearings this week, I am going to post a second, unordered list of bills, also scheduled to be heard this week, whose practical impact is not immediately obvious but might involve some significant changes to the law. There seemed to be an unusually…
S0353: Creates a business-entity called a “low-profit limited liability company”. The snarky angle on this bill would be to wonder why Rhode Island needs a separate category for low-profit ventures. (House Corporations, May 31) S0855: Projects “to be financed with bonds issued by an issuer that does not have jurisdiction over the location of those…
The bill being heard today by the House Finance Committee that would give municipal bondholders a “first lien” on local government treasuries (H5376), introduced on behalf of the Rhode Island Department of Revenue and already passed by the Senate Finance committee (S0614), should not be passed into law. Peder Schaefer of the Rhode Island League…
Noting that one of the North Providence councilmen who, in the words of U.S. District Judge Mary Lisi, ran the city as “nothing more than a criminal organization” was also among the state legislature’s crew of crack employees, Ed Achorn tells readers that he’s still waiting for substantive response regarding Senate Majority Leader Dominique Ruggerio’s…
My impression is that the General Assembly is finally beginning to get a little more focused on addressing the fiscal and governance problems of Rhode Island… 11. H5608: Dedicates 10% of state gambling revenue to the payment of debt service on state bonds. (House Finance, May 24) 10. H5368: Replaces the exemption on the first…
Because the RI General Assembly website was down all weekend and then again for at least some period of time of Monday night, I wasn’t able to produce my summary of bills on the usual schedule, and a few other commitments this week are preventing me from catching up in a timely fashion, so in…
For the benefit of those who’ve never done so, Harry Staley, Chairman of the Rhode Island Statewide Coalition, describes the experience of testifying (or trying to) before a General Assembly committee: Ask anyone, other than a union or welfare-industry lobbyist, who has testified on legislation of major statewide interest in the “people’s house,” also known…
An interesting feature in Monday’s Providence Journal came as four short reports about new legislators in the General Assembly: Rep. Dan Reilly (R, Portsmouth), Rep. Doreen Costa (R, North Kingstown), Sen. Nick Kettle (R, Coventry), and Rep. Chris Blazejewski (D, Providence). The way they’re framed from the beginning tells readers a great deal about the…
The Rhode Island Tea Party provides a late-breaking update on several state Senate bills, posted on Monday, coming up for hearings in the Senate Labor Committee on Wednesday (h/t Lisa Blais)…Senate Labor will entertain yet again bills to extend terms of unaffordable and unsustainable contracts, legislate an end-run around the unsettled matter of law regarding…
Here are a few of interesting bills scheduled, so far, to be heard by General Assembly committees this week. If any other interesting bills are posted for hearings during the day on Monday, I will run an updated post on Monday evening. 16. S0729: Vehicles with more than two axles may not cross the Pawtucket…
