Rhode Island Politics
The ProJo provides a helpful list of what passed and what didn’t in the General Assembly this session. PASSED $6.9 billion state budget 24-hour gambling weekends and holidays Automatic destruction of certain criminal records Repeal mandatory minimum drug sentences Early prison release Pre-voter registration by teens Renewable energy bonus to National Grid Close teen-drinking loophole…
Governor Carcieri and his administration is remaining tight-lipped concerning a potential state worker contract proposal negotiated with several union leaders. Instead, we’re finding out the information from union leaders who don’t like the plan. According to the ProJo: The agreement was reportedly negotiated by Council 94 executive director Dennis Grilli, AFL-CIO secretary treasurer George Nee…
I went to the State House tonight (yes, on one of the last nights of the 2008 session) to ask Senate Majority Leader Teresa Paiva-Weed the following questions. Why, with twenty seven Senate sponsors, had she prevented the E-Verify bill from going to the floor for a vote? And because she did so, it is…
A recent post, Lessons for Rhode Island from Silicon Valley: An historical reflection on an actual innovation economy, discussed what made Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurial culture so unique and what some of its economic growth policy lessons are for Rhode Island. In the latest edition of The Weekly Standard, Thomas Hazlett has written about the book,…
Rhode Island Future‘s Matt Jerzyk recently placed Democratic State Representative John Patrick Shanley of South Kingstown (District 35) on his list of state legislators who “may not be seeking re-election”. According to Liz Boardman of the South County Independent, Rep. Shanley still hasn’t made up his mind…At press time, Shanley said he was focused on…
According to Elizabeth Seal of the Cranston Herald, it is now almost certain that former City Councilwoman Cynthia Fogarty will be the sole Democratic candidate for Mayor of Cranston…With former City Councilman Mario Carlino pulling out of the race for mayor, former Councilwoman Cynthia Fogarty has stepped up as the heir-presumptive for the Democrat City…
The RI Senate has passed the budget 36 to 2. Again, “the plan softens the blows to some programs hit hard under the governor’s original budget proposal.” How’s that? The Providence Journal report on last night’s House offered this noteworthy commentary: Indeed, lawmakers couldn’t recall another budget vote that passed without a single “No” vote.…
Perhaps the feeling isn’t as common as I implied last night on the Matt Allen Show (segment streamable by clicking here, or download), but I can’t shake a feeling of creepy serenity around the budget battle. Thus far, the legislature hasn’t changed anything dramatic from the governor’s proposal that would fire us up on the…
Hot in the emailbox: The House of Representatives voted unanimously today to approve a $6.89 billion budget for the 2009 fiscal year. The proposal, which will now head to the Senate, will reduce state spending by $85 million from the current year to address the state’s deficit. The savings will be achieved without raising citizens’…
Let me float this by you. As the law pertaining to RIte Care has read for some time, citizenship is not one of the qualifications for pregnant women to participate in the program (as well as several others, according to Rep Peter Palumbo on the Helen Glover Show this morning). Today at the General Assembly,…