Rhode Island Senate

RE: DCYF’s Problems

By Marc Comtois | July 3, 2007 |

Pat Crowley–who throws ad hominem attacks around like a Fenway Park Vendor throws peanuts (though they’re more accurate)–has peeked in to drop a couple bombs concerning my DCYF post. However, he did attempt a more substantive critique at Kmareka (a post which Justin already mentioned). Crowley thinks that my calculations don’t take into account compounding…

Ethics Complaint Round-Up

By Marc Comtois | May 16, 2007 |

An update on the status of two old and one new ethics complaints, both reported by the ProJo’s Bruce Landis. First the new, from the ProJo’s : State Sen. Frank A. Ciccone III yesterday denied parts of the ethics complaint filed against him the day before and said that one element of it, his failure…

RI Senate Voting on Various Election Reform Bills

By Marc Comtois | May 1, 2007 |

Perhaps I should say “election change”…? Today, the RI Senate is supposed to discuss and vote on: S0020 – “This act would reduce the waiting period required for disaffiliation with a political party from 90 days to 29 days.” S0760 – “…an individual cannot file a declaration of candidacy for more than one elected public…

Watching the Senate: Recapturing Charitable Giving

By Marc Comtois | February 13, 2007 |

On the face of it, the concurrent efforts of Senate Majority Leader Paiva-Weed (PDF) and House Speaker Gordon Fox (PDF) to promote charitable giving by ex-pat Rhode Islanders is a good bit of pragmatic lawmaking: The legislation would prevent the state from considering a person’s charitable donations as evidence when determining for tax purposes whether…

Watching the Senate: Election Reform

By Marc Comtois | February 11, 2007 |

The Senate appears to be willing to tackle a couple issues that certainly seem to foster political corruption. S 0283, proposed by Senators Gibbs, Bates, Cote, Blais, and Breene, would amend the currently defined procedure for voting: Each person desiring to vote shall, before receiving his or her ballot, state his or her name and…

Watching the Senate: Illegal Immigration Relief Act

By Marc Comtois | February 11, 2007 |

S 0271, proposed by Senators Maselli, Cote, Raptakis, and Felag, seeks to establish the Illegal Immigration Relief Act: It is hereby found and declared as follows: (a) That state and federal law require that certain conditions be met before a person may be authorized to work or reside in this country. (b) The unlawful workers…

Watching the Senate: Charter Schools

By Marc Comtois | February 11, 2007 |

It looks like the Senate is where momentum is building towards a decision on whether or not to allow more charter schools in the state. Right now, there are three bills on the table (that I’ve found, anyway). S 0238 was proposed by Senator Leo R. Blais (Deputy Senate Pro-Tempore) and simply seeks to revoke…