Essay
Paul Spetrini of GoLocalProv posted a story last night on the decision by the House Judiciary Chair to void the previous night’s vote that would have sent an Ethics amendment to the full House that contains this item of note…[Spokesman Larry Berman] added that Fox wants “more time” to review the bill. “Arguments were made…
Rules of procedure are a sore spot for me. For several years, now, I’ve been watching at the state and local levels (especially the local level) as laws and procedural rules have been distorted beyond recognition. On Monday, in fact, I presented a case in a four hour hearing before the Tiverton Town Council, making…
Yesterday’s meeting of the Rhode Island House of Representatives Judiciary Committee began with the surprise move of Representative Christopher Blazejewski asking Chair Edith Ajello to void the reconsideration of a further study vote from yesterday that had resulted in a proposed Constitutional amendment on the Ethics commission being sent to the House floor. The Chair…
[7:30] One more: For the record, Reps still present: Ajello, Costa, Marcello, Almeida, Walsh, Martin. [7:23] Testimony on the Master lever has concluded. On to a bill requiring board of canvassers to report on provisional ballots. Signing off, for the moment… [7:20] Margaret Kane: Eliminating the Master lever requires voters to read the ballot and…
According to the Waste and Fraud Report formulated by Ken Block and released in a redacted version by Governor Chafee this afternoon (pdf), there’s a whole lotta Oxy and Vike on the market thanks to Food Stamps: We performed a study where we looked at Medicaid drug utilizations for Vicodin and Oxycontin (and all of…
With Governor Lincoln Chafee planning a “media availability” at 2:30 this afternoon related to an analysis by Ken Block’s Simpatico Software to find waste, fraud, and abuse in Rhode Island’s social services programs, many residents are wondering whether he’s been hoping to hide something. Governor Chafee has excused his early decision not to release the…
UPDATE @ 4:30 PM: Kathy Gregg at the ProJo tweeted out: Hear that right? Did Speaker [F]ox just publicly remove J Patrick O’Neill from house judiciary after last nights ethics bill coup. Yes. Thus does O’Neill become the object lesson for what happens when you move to vote a bill out of committee without Speakah…
The movement to abolish the master lever, or more accurately in Rhode Island, abolish straight party voting (SPV) seems to be gaining steam. A couple days ago, Andrew wrote about the majority of the House Judiciary Committee is also in favor. Tomorrow night (Wednesday) at 4:30, the committee will hear public testimony on the bill.…
10. H5760: Allows all Rhode Island school departments to accept “donations, gifts and grants of money, equipment, supplies, materials and services, conditional or otherwise, from any state, the federal government, or any governmental entity or agency; or from any person, firm, association, foundation or corporation”. (H House, Education and Welfare; Wed, Mar 13) Right now,…
20. H5300: Creates an underground utility contractor licensing process (and fee) where, apparently, none currently exists. (H Corporations; Wed, Mar 13) 19. S0212: Allows “mobile and manufactured homes within a mobile and manufactured home park” to count towards a city or town’s low or moderate income housing requirements. (Senate Housing and Municipal Government; Thu, Mar…