General Assembly
A source who was at Tuesday’s night hearing of the Labor Committee of the Rhode Island House of Representatives informs me that the decision “to hold for further study” the bill that would write former Governor Donald Carcieri’s illegal immigration executive order into law passed by a vote of only 8 – 4 (one committee…
Three high-profile bills go before their Rhode Island House of Representatives committees this week, 1) the bill, referred to the Labor Committee to be heard today, that would make the provisions of former Governor Carcieri’s executive order on illegal immigration into law, and 2 and 3) bills, referred to the Judiciary Committee to be heard…
Because of the snowstorms, the Rhode Island General Assembly has only been in session for three days over the past two weeks, just one legislative week in official “calendar time”, but allowing plenty of time for bills to be introduced and processed. In addition to regular legislation, three Constitutional Amendments on high-profile topics were introduced…
Katherine Gregg has checked in on the latest tally of RI legislators’ voluntary healthcare contributions: More and more of the state’s 113 legislators have “volunteered” over the years to pay a portion of the premiums for the health, dental and vision benefits they receive, which currently cost the state $19,004 a year for a family…
Matt gave Andrew some running room, on last night’s Matt Allen Show, to explain his findings on how the General Assembly can be made to operate a bit more like a real legislature. Stream by clicking here, or download it. Imagine how much more of this sort of thing we could do if we didn’t…
It is essential, not only for new but for all Rhode Island legislators, as well as for Rhode Island citizens, to understand that the ability of the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Senate President to exercise near-total control over which bills receive hearings and make it to the floor is not something…
We may look back at the fifth day of January as the first instance of Education Commissioner Deborah Gist’s changed work environment, thanks to a press release by Sen. James Sheehan (D, Narragansett, North Kingstown): “If good teachers are the most important element to education, the Department of Education shouldn’t allow uncertified individuals to teach…
Here’s a worrying tidbit about a frontrunner for the open House Finance Committee chairmanship in the General Assembly: [Rep. Helio Melo (D, East Providence)] is the current deputy Finance Committee chairman, and House leaders signaled their confidence in him by letting him take the lead on last year’s big end-of-session, income-tax overhaul. I suppose that…
In response to my post about Democrat RI House Speaker Gordon Fox’s reshuffling of General Assembly staff, a legislator whom I’d count among the good guys emails a mitigating consideration: I see the budget is projected to increase by $1.6 million over last year. However, I also understand that the re-districting process is slated to…
Anybody who wonders what lesson the General Assembly’s Democrats took from the last election need only read this: “In our effort to achieve savings, we have worked diligently to manage the legislative department within the enacted budget levels without seriously impacting day-to-day operations,” wrote [House Speaker Gordon] Fox in a cover letter that also spelled…
