Entries by Carroll Andrew Morse

Coming up in Committee: Seventeen Sets of Bills Being Heard by the RI General Assembly, Today, May 27

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1. H5790: From the official description: “This act would provide parents of K-12 students in Rhode Island with an opportunity to enroll their child in an educational program of their choosing, either via open enrollment in a traditional public school in their own district or any other public school district, or by receiving a scholarship, with designated public monies to follow the student to a participating private school or private curriculum program selected by the parent”. Scholarships can be up to $6000 and are income adjusted. (H Finance; Wed, May 27)

2A. H5795: Permanent moratorium on establishing or expanding charter schools in Rhode Island. (H Finance; Wed, May 27)

2B. H5794: From the official description: “This act would remove a city or town’s financial obligation to contribute to their resident students who enroll in charter schools, William M. Davies, Jr. Career and Technical High School or the Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center”. (H Finance; Wed, May 27)

2C. H5834: Change in the formula for capital aid for charter public school building construction, in particular, capping aid at the same percentage of the municipality where the school is located, even if the average based on all sending communities would result in a higher amount. (H Finance; Wed, May 27)

3. S0194: A minimum wage bill is scheduled to get a vote today. The bill officially in committee raises it to $10.10 per hour starting in 2016, though Jennifer Bogdan of the Projo is reporting a deal has been agreed to by leadership for $9.60 per hour. (S Labor; Wed, May 27)

4. H5083: Relief for municipalities from unfunded mandates, i.e. “If during any fiscal year the state reimbursement to cities and towns and school districts is insufficient to cover the costs of state mandates as reported by the department of revenue, the affected cities, towns and school districts may cease implementation of the state mandates at their discretion up to 50% of the value of the reimbursement shortfall, provided that: (1) Existing personnel contracts are honored in their entirety or renegotiated to the 1 satisfaction of both parties; and (2) Implementation of state mandates is restored upon the full restoration of state reimbursements”. (H Finance; Wed, May 27)

Coming up in Committee: Twenty-One Sets of Bills Being Heard by the RI General Assembly, Today, May 26

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1. H6174 “The division of motor vehicles is authorized to issue driving privilege licenses and driving privilege permits to any applicant who meets the licensure requirements of this chapter but is unable to establish legal presence in the United States”. The bill then lists an extensive set of documents, two of which must be provided to establish eligibility for a “driving privilege license”. (H Judiciary; Tue, May 26)  Issue 1: If “undocumented immigrants” are expected to have documents before they get their driving privilege license, then add said license as an additional document to the documents they already have, does it seem honest at any time to refer to a status of “undocumented”?  Issue 2: The archaic, one-off legal concept that being able to drive is a privilege and not a right — indeed, that there is any broad class of human activities that fall into a category of government-granted “privileges” — should be should be resisted and ultimately rejected whenever it appears.

2. H5387: Government takeover of healthcare, creating a state-run insurance plan, and prohibiting providers who accept the state insurance from billing “any patient for any covered benefit” while also subjecting the providers to comprehensive price controls. (H Finance; Tue, May 26)

3A. H5104: Requires that a photo ID be presented when a person between the ages of 18 and 60 who is not blind, disabled or a victim of domestic violence uses an EBT card. (H Finance; Tue, May 26)

3B. H5347: Requires school-aged children of families receiving welfare benefits through the Rhode Island Works program to have an 80% attendance rate at school. (H Finance; Tue, May 26)

4. S0610: Allows a municipal economic development zone (where qualifying businesses are “exempt from the requirement to charge and collect fifty percent (50%) of the current sales and use tax…for a period of ten years”) to be established “in a municipally designated and state-approved ‘growth center’ in accordance with the Land-Use 2025 element of the state guide plan”. (S Finance; Tue, May 26)

5. S0348: Prohibits condominium associations from making up rules that “shall prohibit any reasonable accommodation for religious practices, including the attachment of religiously mandated objects to the front door of a condominium unit”. (S Judiciary; Tue, May 26) Recent events in Cranston, where the school committee took it upon itself to decree that people aren’t required to go to church during school hours on Good Friday, raise a question about this bill: Is the reference to “religiously mandated objects” something narrower than “religious objects”, i.e. does this bill put condominium associations in the position of being able to decide that yes that’s a religious object on your door, but you still have to take it down because we don’t think your religion requires you to put it there.

Rhode Islanders Killed Serving in Afghanistan and Iraq

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Late Additions to the Week’s General Assembly Committee Calendars

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A number of major bills in the policy areas of education, state “planning”, and illegal immigration were added to this week’s General Assembly committee calendars at the start of the week…

S0607: From the official description: “This act would provide parents of K-12 students in Rhode Island with an opportunity to enroll their child in an educational program of their choosing, either via open enrollment in a traditional public school in their own district or any other public school district, or by receiving a scholarship, with designated public monies to follow the student to a participating private school or private curriculum program selected by the parent”. Scholarships can be up to $6000 and are income adjusted. (S Education; Wed, May 20)

H5644/H6041/H6042: Allows cities and towns to decline to “comply with any provision” related to local planning laws or with “the state guide plan relating to affordable housing programs” by filing a notice with the chief state planner. (H Finance; Thu, May 21)

Other bills on state “planning” below the fold…

S0391: “The division of motor vehicles is authorized to issue driving privilege licenses and driving privilege permits to any applicant who meets the licensure requirements of this chapter but is unable to establish legal presence in the United States”. The bill then lists an extensive set of documents, two of which must be provided to establish eligibility for a “driving privilege license”. (S Judiciary; Thu, May 21)

Other bills on illegal immigration below the fold…

Coming up in Committee: Thirteen Sets of Bills Being Heard by the RI General Assembly, May 19 – May 21

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1. H5553/H5793: Repeals the sections of the law allowing “deferred deposit” loans to be made. (H Finance; Wed, May 20) According to the official description, this bill disallows pay-day lenders in Rhode Island.

2. S0574: Allows anyone who has been convicted of a crime and sentenced “to file a petition with the superior court requesting the forensic DNA testing of any evidence that is in the possession or control of the prosecution, law enforcement, laboratory, or court”; currently this law only applies to individuals who are imprisoned. (H Judiciary; Tue, May 19)

3. On Tuesday, May 19, the House Finance Committee will hear the department budget for the single largest major division in the state budget, $2.4B for the Executive Office Of Health and Human Services. (H Finance; Tue, May 19)

4. S0044: Provides a $13.97-per-hour subsidy (to be adjusted for inflation going forward) to “direct support professionals employed by private development disability organizations”. (S Finance; Tue, May 19) 1) It’s not clear from the bill whether this is an entirely new subsidy, or directly legislating something that’s annually done by the department of behavioral healthcare, developmental disabilities and hospitals. 2) As written, this seems to make state government partially responsible for paying the wages/salaries of every direct support professional employed by a private development disability organization in the state of Rhode Island; 3) Under some interpretations of current RI law, doesn’t this potentially become a “contract” that can never be changed?

5. Bud. Art. 14 sec.1: Blocks the legally mandated transfer of excess general revenue to the pension system, if the director of the office of management and budget determines there is a projected deficit for the current fiscal year. (S Finance; Tue, May 19)

The House Finance Agenda for Wednesday, May 13, Posted with Minimum Notice

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Some important bills for a Wednesday House Finance Committee meeting were posted on Monday afternoon, i.e. with about as little notice as is legally required:

The most important of the bills concern moral obligation bonds:

  • H5443: Restrictions on the issuing of moral obligation bonds, requiring them to be put to the voters for approval, unless 1) they will be entirely funded by the Federal government, 2) they are issued after the General Assembly has adjourned, and “the governor certifies that action is necessary, because of events occurring after the general assembly has adjourned, to protect the physical integrity of an essential public facility, to ensure the continued delivery of essential public services, or to maintain the credit worthiness of the state in the financial markets” or 3) they fall under the “borrowing in anticipation of receipts” process described in Article VI section 17 of the state constitution.
  • H5566: An almost total ban on the issuing of moral obligation bonds, unless they will be entirely funded by the federal government, or fall under the “borrowing in anticipation of receipts” process described in Article VI section 17 of the state constitution. This bill also repeals the bonding and long-term debt issuing authority not requiring specific General Assembly action that has been granted to a large number of Rhode Island quasi-public agencies; that authority is formally, at least, left in place in H5443.

A few more bills are described, below the fold.

Coming up in Committee: Twenty-Two Sets of Bills Being Heard by the RI General Assembly, May 12 – May 14

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1. S0132: Establishes minimum amounts of time served, before a prisoner is eligible for parole; 50% of a non-life sentence for 1st or 2nd degree murder, 25 years for a life-sentence for 1st or 2nd degree murder, and 20 years for a life sentence for any crime other than 1st or 2nd degree murder. (H Judiciary; Tue, May 12)

2. S0624: Creates a Joint Committee of the Repealer within the legislature, composed of six members from both houses, to “compile suggestions for repeal of statutes, regulations, and executive orders received from citizens, businesses, and government agencies”. (S Judiciary; Tue, May 12)

3A. H6145: Requires that redevelopment agencies in Providence and only Providence (i.e. in “any city or town with more than one hundred thousand residents”) “be permitted to construct new buildings for commercial or industrial uses contemplated by its redevelopment plan”. (H Municipal Government; Thu, May 14) It’s not immediately clear from the language in the bill whether “be permitted” means “be allowed” or “be automatically given permits”.

3B. Bud. Art. 29: Gives the Commerce Corporation power to issue tax-credits for large construction projects, with special provisions allowing projects in Providence — oh, excuse me; in communities with 150,000 or more in population — to be fast-tracked, allowing them to bypass local building and inspection requirements. (S Finance; Thu, May 14)

4. On Wednesday, May 13, the House Finance Committee will hear the department budget for the single largest major division in the state budget, $2.4B for the Executive Office Of Health and Human Services.

5. H6026: Removes the requirement that someone overdue on their court fines be given 30 days notice before their name is published. (H Judiciary; Tue, May 12)

Coming up in Committee: Twenty-Eight Sets of Bills Being Heard by the RI General Assembly, May 5 – May 7

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1. H5819: 1) Outlaws stop-and-frisk police procedures by extending the current requirement that motor vehicle stops be predicated on “reasonable suspicion or probable cause of criminal activity” to pedestrians, 2) requires that, whenever possible, motor vehicle stops be recorded (but not making the recordings part of the public record), and 3) mandates that the department of transportation gather data on whether “racial disparities in traffic stops exist”. (H Judiciary; Tue, May 5)

2A. S0739: 1) Requires that the local share of funding for school districts and charter schools (i.e. the non-state aid share) of be provided by the “the local district from local resources”, 2) freezes the number of students used for the state education “funding formula” calculation for public charter schools at their 2015 values and 3) requires the town/city council or school committee of every community to be served by a mayoral academy to give its approval before a charter school can increase its enrollment. (S Education; Wed, May 6) This looks to be the major anti-education-reform bill for this session, but also pay attention to some of the “smaller” ones in section 2B of the main post.

3. S0210: Exempts “any income from social security benefits” and “up to twenty-five thousand dollars of income received from public and private pensions, interest income, 401K plans and individual retirement accounts” from the state income tax. (S Finance; Tue, May 5)

4A. S0541: Authorizes the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority to issue $65M in bonds, without voter approval, resulting in $152M in debt to paid out over 30 years, “for the purpose of providing funds to finance the renovation, renewal, repair, rehabilitation, retrofitting, upgrading and improvement of the Pell Bridge, the Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge, the Sakonnet River Bridge, Mount Hope Bridge, and other projects authorized under the Act, replacement of the components thereof, working capital, capitalized interest, a debt service reserve and the costs of issuing and insuring the Bonds”. The bonds don’t need voter approval, because the resolution says “that the Bonds will not constitute indebtedness of the State or any of its subdivisions or a debt for which the full faith and credit of the State or any of its subdivisions is pledged”. (S Finance; Tue, May 5)

5. S0433: Prohibits non-compete agreements for licensed physicians. (S Judiciary; Tue, May 5)

Riots, Regimentation and Rhetoric

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I am afraid that the third paragraph from the bottom of Wednesday’s E.J. Dionne column on the riots in Baltimore all-too-accurately reflects the state of elite thinking in America, and not in a good way…

[William Julius Wilson] offered a central truth: “Regular employment provides the anchor for the spatial and temporal aspects of daily life. It determines where you are going to be and when you are going to be there. In the absence of regular employment, life, including family life, becomes less coherent.”

Unfortunately, this kind of thinking, where the idea that people who agree upon some bigger meanings in life can work together to build something is replaced by an idea that people cannot find meaning until they’ve first been regimented, seems to have become the dominant philosophy of a wide swath of a “respectable” political elite who, for various reasons, are unable to articulate anything beyond a few economic platitudes when discussing what a society should aspire to (e.g. “Let’s get Rhode Island back to work“), and who assume everything else takes care of itself, if government can be made to function as the comprehensive human-resources bureaucracy for everyone.

Or am I reading to much into E.J. Dionne seeing something profound in William Julius Wilson’s statement above?

Coming up in Committee: Twenty-Four Sets of Bills Being Heard by the RI General Assembly, April 28 – April 30

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1. S0795: Resolution calling for a Constitutional Convention to propose amendments to the Federal Constitution (requiring 2/3 of state legislatures to agree), with an initial scope of narrowing First Amendment protections for political speech. (S Special Legislation and Veterans Affairs; Wed, Apr 29) Half of convention would be drawn exclusively from individuals “currently elected to state and local office” — so this would basically be a convention skewed towards political incumbents, for the purpose of restricting political speech. What could possibly go wrong?

2A. S0382: Government takeover of the siting and management of health provider networks in Rhode Island, giving the state health commissioner authority in such areas as hours of operation, staffing placement, criteria for evaluating doctor performance, approval of contract terms between health insurers and providers, etc. (S Health and Human Services; Tue, Apr 28)

2B. S0619: Charges the state health commissioner with “monitoring a transition away” from the use of private health insurance for primary care medicine and replacing it with a single-payer system. (S Health and Human Services; Tue, Apr 28)

2C. Bud. Art. 5: Some seemingly rigid medicaid price controls, e.g. “for the twelve (12) month period beginning July 1, 2015, Medicaid fee-for-service outpatient rates shall not exceed ninety-five percent (95.0%) of the rates in effect as of July 1, 2014. Also, amongst other items, Bud. Art. 4 sets a limit of $136.8 million to be paid out in “disproportionate share hospital payments” under the “uncompensated care” section of the law. (H Finance; Thu, Apr 30)

2D and 3A. Bud. Art. 28: Allows the secretary of Health and Human Services to directly impose taxes on the sale of small employer and individual health plans without General Assembly approval, with revenues earmarked for the Rhode Island health benefits exchange. (H Finance; Wed, Apr 29)

3B. H6095: Establishes a “Sustainable packaging advisory council…as a public body corporate and politic, constituting an instrument of the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation and exercising essential governmental functions”, and grants the council power to assess taxes on the owners of businesses with gross sales of more than $1M that sell products or materials in RI that result in waste packaging — “whether or not the producer is located in the state”(!). (H Environment and Natural Resources; Thu, Apr 30)

4. H6080: Creates a statewide individual retirement account program, that RI workers will be automatically enrolled into (and have at least 3% of their paychecks put into) unless they specifically opt-out. (H Labor; Thu, Apr 30)

5. S0816: Prohibits the “state guide plan” from establishing any affordable housing provisions beyond those already set in state law, and removes federal government officials from eligibility to serve on the state planning council. S0818 exempts municipal plans from having to comply with the state guide plan. S0819 requires that the state guide plan be approved by the General Assembly. S0820 allows cities and towns to opt-out of the affordable housing programs contained in the state guide plan. (S Housing and Municipal Government; Wed, Apr 29)

Coming up in Committee: Proposed Constitutional Amendments Being Heard by the RI General Assembly, April 14 – April 15

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1. Proposed constitutional amendments, requiring voter approval if passed by the legislature, being heard in the Rhode Island General Assembly this week:

  • S0173: Subjects the General Assembly to the state Ethics Commission, while changing the composition of the commission so that 6 of its 11 members are appointed by the Governor from lists of candidates submitted by “the speaker of the house of representatives, the majority leader of the house of representatives, the minority leader of the house of representatives, the president of the senate, the majority leader of the senate, and the minority leader of the senate”, and allows Ethics Commission decisions to be appealed to the courts. (S Judiciary; Tue, Apr 14)
  • S0056: Subjects the General Assembly to the state Ethics Commission and that’s it. (S Judiciary; Tue, Apr 14)
  • S0057/S0059: Line-item veto for the Governor of Rhode Island. (S Judiciary; Tue, Apr 14)
  • S0062: Extends state Senator and state Representative terms to four years, in return for creating a term-limit of three terms. (S Judiciary; Tue, Apr 14)
  • S0436: Mandates instant-runoff voting for the state’s general officers (but doesn’t specify the details of the process, though that could reasonably left to legislation). (S Judiciary; Tue, Apr 14)
  • H6027: Eliminates the requirement of 30 days of residency at an address, before being allowed to vote in an election as a registered voter at that address. (H Judiciary; Wed, Apr 15)

Coming up in Committee: Gun Rights/Gun Control Bills Being Heard by the RI General Assembly, April 14 – April 15

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2. Of this year’s raft of gun rights/gun-control bills, this one is the most significant:

  • H6017: Changes concealed carry permitting authority for the RI Attorney General from a “may issue” basis, to a “shall issue” basis, provided that the permit applicant passes a background check, and meets all criteria laid out in a detailed application specified in the law. (H Judiciary; Wed, Apr 15)

The other bills being heard are:

  • H5872: Extends the ban on individuals convicted of committing crimes of violence “purchasing, owning, carrying, transporting, or having in his or her possession any firearm” to individuals convicted of domestic violence misdemeanors. (H Judiciary; Tue, Apr 14)

Coming up in Committee: Twenty-Five Sets of Bills Being Heard by the RI General Assembly, April 14 – April 16

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3. H5819: 1) Outlaws stop-and-frisk police procedures by extending the current requirement that motor vehicle stops be predicated on “reasonable suspicion or probable cause of criminal activity” to pedestrians, 2) requires that, whenever possible, motor vehicle stops be recorded (but not making the recordings part of the public record), and 3) mandates that the department of transportation gather data on whether “racial disparities in traffic stops exist”. (H Judiciary; Tue, Apr 14)

4. Bud. Art. 11, sec 15: Creates a statewide property tax on non-owner occupied residential property, applied to properties valued at $1M or more.(S Finance; Tue, Apr 14) The odd construction regarding taxing the privilege of owning property rather than the property itself is slated to be removed by amendment (h/t Katherine Gregg).

5. S0296: Repeals the section of the law allowing “deferred deposit” loans, i.e. “pay-day” loans, also eliminating the provisions in the law that allow check-cashing businesses to automatically operate as pay-day lenders. (S Commerce; Tue, Apr 14) According to the official description, this is a complete repeal of pay-day lending.

6. Bud. Art. 29: Gives the Commerce Corporation power to issue tax-credits for large construction projects, with special provisions allowing projects in Providence — oh, excuse me; in communities with 150,000 or more in population — to be fast-tracked, allowing them to bypass local building and inspection requirements. (H Finance; Wed, Apr 15)

Coming up in Committee: Ten Sets of Bills to be Heard by the RI General Assembly, Today, April 9

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1. H5563: Inter-district school choice plan for Rhode Island public schools, where “any child may attend a public school, in a city or town where he/she does not reside, as provided for in this chapter”. (H Finance; Thu, Apr 9)

2. H5956: Bans union versus non-union status from being used as a criterion for the awarding of public contracts, and prohibits public-works contracting provisions requiring utilization of specific unions, or requiring that a union be recognized as an exclusive bargaining representative. (H Labor; Thu, Apr 9)

3. H5962: Extends the authority of the Director of Environment Management to regulate construction near freshwater wetlands, to include granting building approvals over “areas subject to flooding”, “contiguous areas that extend outward”, or land “two hundred feet from the edge”. (H Environment and Natural Resources; Thu, Apr 9)

Coming up in Committee: Nineteen Sets of Bills to be Heard by the RI General Assembly, Today, April 8

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1. H5507: Establishes a legal regime for physician assisted suicide in Rhode Island. (H Health, Education and Welfare; Wed, Apr 8)

2. H5708: Bans non-competition agreements in Rhode Island “unless the non-competition agreement is integral to, and part of the consideration for the sale of the stock or assets of a business, or the dissolution of a partnership or the withdrawal of a partner from a partnership”. (H Corporations; Wed, Apr 8)

3. Bud. Art. 17: Limits General Assembly budgetary authority over the Department of Children, Youth and Families to authorizing a total amount, giving the director the power to spend his or her budget without regard to any specific allocations. (S Finance; Wed, Apr 8)

4. H5576: Requires that a photo-ID be shown when using an EBT card. (H Health, Education and Welfare; Wed, Apr 8)

5. Bud. Art. 11, sec 5: Allows the division of taxation to enter into contracts with private parties that can take a cut of “taxes, interest, or penalty or the reduction of refunds claimed” that they recover for the state. (H Corporations; Wed, Apr 8) Are these kinds of tax-privateering arrangements common in other states, or is this a Rhode Island thing?

Coming up in Committee: Twenty-Two Bills to be Heard by the RI General Assembly, Today, April 7

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1. Bud. Art. 11, sec 15: The oddly-constructed statewide property tax, written not as a tax on property but on “the privilege of utilizing property as non-owner occupied residential property within the state during any privilege year commencing with the privilege year beginning July 1, 2015”, which applies to non-owner occupied properties valued at $1M or more. (H Finance; Tue, Apr 7) A tax on the “privilege” of owning property is very difficult to justify (using earth logic) from the perspective of trying to writing laws that are clear and fair, as a tax on a “privilege” can be assessed whether the privilege is exercised or not. But here’s an interesting question: Is a tax on “privilege” versus actual property deductible from Federal income tax? There are ramifications either way…

2. H5784: Requires that at least one health plan offered to individuals and small businesses by the Rhode Island health benefits exchange exclude “coverage for induced abortions”, with exceptions for cases involving rape and the life of the mother. (H Corporations; Tue, Apr 7)

3. H5903: Salary controls for hospital administrative staff, limiting non-health care professionals to “a rate of compensation [not] greater than one hundred and ten percent (110%) of the amount determined annually by the director to constitute the northeast regional average compensation level for comparable personnel serving in comparable hospitals”. (H Corporations; Tue, Apr 7)

4. S0620: Centralizes healthcare decision making in government in a new “office of health policy”, whose powers include the power to cap the amount of healthcare in RI paid for with commercial insurance. (S Health and Human Services; Tue, Apr 7)

5. H5374: Constitutional amendment (requiring voter approval) restoring Ethics Commission jurisdiction over the legislature. (H Judiciary; Tue, Apr 7)

The Continuing Easter

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We cannot live Easter without entering into the mystery. It is not something intellectual, something we only know or read about… It is more, much more!

“To enter into the mystery” means the ability to wonder, to contemplate; the ability to listen to the silence and to hear the tiny whisper amid great silence by which God speaks to us (cf 1 Kgs 19:12).

To enter into the mystery demands that we not be afraid of reality: that we not be locked into ourselves, that we not flee from what we fail to understand, that we not close our eyes to problems or deny them, that we not dismiss our questions.

To enter into the mystery means going beyond our own comfort zone, beyond the laziness and indifference which hold us back, and going out in search of truth, beauty and love. It is seeking a deeper meaning, an answer, and not an easy one, to the questions which challenge our faith, our fidelity and our very existence.

Fish on Fridays

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Nothing symbolizes the supposed arbitrariness of religion to those predisposed towards skepticism towards religious belief more than does the Catholic practice of abstaining from meat on Fridays during the season of Lent. I’ll admit to having asked myself, especially on Good Friday, what connection is there really, between not eating meat and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. And then there is the philosophical paradox. If my soul is lost after I’ve eaten meat on a Lenten Friday, does that mean I’m free to commit worse sins without making my situation worse? But if the rule doesn’t really matter, then why follow it? And on and on and on and on…

Here’s what I do know. With the wide variety of fish and other meatless options available to a 21st century American, abstaining from meat on Fridays is about as small a “sacrifice” in a material sense as can be asked for. But honoring the rule does require me to make some conscious choices that run contrary to what the surrounding culture tells me are cool and sensible. And if I am unable to make this small sacrifice, because I find it too inconvenient, or because I’m afraid to explain myself to others who don’t share my belief or who might think that I’m being just plain silly, then on what basis can I believe myself to be capable of taking a stand in more serious situations, when the choices might be a little harder and the stakes a bit higher?

Coming up in Committee: The Top Three Sets of Bills to be Heard by the RI General Assembly, March 31 – April 2

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The top 3 issue areas being heard by the Rhode Island General Assembly deserve their own post…

1A. H5704: Allows Rhode Islanders to buy insurance policies provided by out-of-state insurers, “provided that the insurer conforms to requirements imposed upon insurers licensed to do business in this state”. (H Corporations; Tue, Mar 31)

1B. Bud. Art. 28: Allows the secretary of Health and Human Services to directly impose taxes on the sale of small employer and individual health plans without General Assembly approval, with revenues earmarked for the Rhode Island health benefits exchange. (S Finance; Wed, Apr 1)

1C. H5597: Government takeover of the siting and management of health provider networks in Rhode Island, giving the state health commissioner authority in such areas as hours of operation, staffing placement, criteria for evaluating doctor performance, approval of contract terms between health insurers and providers, etc. (H Corporations; Tue, Mar 31)

2A. H5845: Requires that Rhode Island students be able to opt-out of “the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for Colleges and Careers (‘PARCC’) assessment”. (H Health, Education and Welfare; Wed, Apr 1) Given that there is no time-limit on this bill, it basically assumes that a standardized test will never be a graduation requirement for Rhode Island public schools.

2B. Meanwhile, H5814 asks (via a non-binding resolution) for the Department of Education “to require all Rhode Island school districts to submit each district’s minimum high school graduation requirements” . (H Health, Education and Welfare; Wed, Apr 1). The resolution begins by saying “in 1999, in his State of the Union Address, former President Clinton stated ‘No child should graduate from high school with a diploma he or she can’t read'” — but will this General Assembly ever allow the state to make a direct assessment of whether students can read a part of earning their diplomas?

3. H5688: Requires that assigning students to Mayoral Academies be done by a random lottery involving all students in a participating district, with selected students able to opt out if they so choose. (H Health, Education and Welfare; Wed, Apr 1) I’m not sure what’s worse about this bill: the conscious lengths that progressive education reform opponents go to to show that they believe that government and not families should control the lives of children, or the unconscious bias amongst progressive education reform opponents it reveals, that life is just a big lottery that education cannot change..

Coming up in Committee: Bill Sets 4 thru 35 to be Heard by the RI General Assembly, March 31 – April 2

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4. H5631: Allows individuals who have property confiscated as part of a civil forfeiture proceeding to “seek a court determination as to whether the forfeiture is disproportionately excessive to the gravity of the offense giving rise to the forfeiture”. (H Judiciary; Tue, Mar 31)

5A. H5610: Mandates that the Department of Public Safety begin “to implement an electronic automobile and commercial vehicle liability insurance confirmation and compliance system” that includes “an automatic license plate recognition system to electronically capture license plate images in two seconds or less and noninvasively attempt verification of the insurance and when possible, the registration status of the vehicle”. (H Finance; Wed, Apr 1)

5B. H5606: Requires that applicants for operators and chauffeur licenses have a valid social security number. (H Finance; Wed, Apr 1) It will be interesting to see how many legislators end up taking the position that requiring social security numbers for operators and chauffeur’s licenses is unreasonable, while supporting an electronic system that is supposed to watch every automobile in the state.

6. H5495: Minimum-manning for social workers at public schools, one per 400 students. (H Health, Education and Welfare; Wed, Apr 1)

7. H5961: Unambiguously establishes that holding a seat on the Cumberland Fire District board is holding public office — and that “members shall hold no other public office”. (H Judiciary; Wed, Apr 1) I understand and agree with the spirit of this bill: it’s crazy that here in Rhode Island, we pretend that there’s ambiguity about whether Fire Districts are part of the government or not. However, 1) a bill like this shouldn’t be confined to one community and 2) the authors of the bill need to carefully review the law in this area, to make sure there aren’t potential problems (legal and ethical) with burdening Cumberland Fire District Board members more than other local officials.

Coming up in Committee: Thirty-Five Sets of Bills Being Heard by the RI General Assembly, March 24 – March 26

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1. H5621: Resolution calling for a Constitutional Convention to propose amendments to the Federal Constitution (requiring 2/3 of state legislatures to agree), with the initial scope of the Convention limited to narrowing First Amendment protections for political speech. (H Judiciary; Wed, Mar 25) Also, the article of describing the proposed make-up of the convention is grammatically awkward: “That this House hereby respectfully requests that the delegates to said convention be comprised equally of individuals currently elected to state and local office, or be selected by election, in each Congressional district for the purpose of serving as delegates”. Formally that could say we either get a split between state and local officials or a special election. Is that what’s meant?

2. Series of anti-Uber bills, H5808 prohibits non-taxicab rides from being arranged less than 2 hours in advance. H5809 requires non-taxicabs used for transporting passengers to obtain a “vehicle identification device” from the state. H5811 subjects “public motor vehicles” to the Public Utilities Commission. (H Corporations; Tue, Mar 24) A government that wants to tell people they can’t schedule rides with one another less than two hours in advance needs some deeper thought on the fundamental limits it should be allowed to place on its citizens, just because an activity is considered “commercial”.

3. S0488: Moratorium on opening new “licensed home care, home nursing care, inpatient hospice care, and outpatient hospice care agencies” in Rhode Island, and creates a “home healthcare system planning task force” that will lift the moratorium at some time in the future. Also, S0486 gives the Department of health new powers for shutting down unlicensed home healthcare agencies. (S Health and Human Services; Thu, Mar 26)

4. H5455: Anti patent trolling legislation. (H Judiciary; Tue, Mar 24) This seems to be as good a place as any for actual bi-partisan agreement in Rhode Island.

Coming up in Committee: Twenty-Nine Sets of Bills Being Heard by the RI General Assembly, March 17 – March 19

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1. S0593: Eliminates the up-to six month prison sentence for instances of disorderly conduct — including for “obstruct[ing] a highway…to which the public or a substantial group of the public has access or any other place ordinarily used for the passage of persons, vehicles, or conveyances” — unless the case involves domestic violence. (S Judiciary; Tue, Mar 17)

2. H5589: Phases in a requirement that employers apply to participate in e-verify, with the last wave of employers,those with less than 50 employees, required to apply no later than January 1, 2017. (H Labor; Thu, Mar 19)

3. S0650: Imposes an additional $46 fee for a marriage license, $44 of which is to be administrated by the Rhode Island Coalition against Domestic Violence to fund domestic violence prevention programs. (S Judiciary; Tue, Mar 17) The Department of Justice reports that “intimate partner violence” rates for married women are significantly lower than are the rates for never married or divorced/widowed women, yet a group of RI legislators think it’s a good idea to make couples who are taking basic steps towards responsible commitment pay for the bad acts of everyone. This bill creates the impression that Rhode Island’s dour progressives really don’t like marriage very much.

Coming up in Committee: Twenty-Six Sets of Bills Being Heard by the RI General Assembly, March 10 – March 12

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1A. H5343: Sensible fiscal rules for fire-districts, including a 4% annual cap on tax-increases, limitation of debt to 5% of annual operating budgets, a ban on tax-classification plans, and a ban on assessing supplemental taxes “without conducting a properly advertised special meeting which satisfies the annual budget meetings notice and attendance provisions”. (H Finance; Wed, Mar 11)

1B. H5344: Requires “2% of of the total registered and qualified voting members of the fire district” to be present at a fire-district financial meeting to establish a quorum. Also, H5345 establishes new notice requirements for fire-district meetings, including a minimum 60-day notice period for the annual budget meeting (H Finance; Wed, Mar 11)

2. H5519: Constitutional amendment (to be ratified by the voters) giving the Governor a line-item veto power over appropriations. (H Finance; Wed, Mar 11) I understand the desire to express this as a short amendment, but given the way the RI budget process works, given the currently proposed form, what’s to stop the GA from conducting a single en masse override of everything that was vetoed?

3. H5329: Terminates the “the Rhode Island health benefits exchange, known under the name ‘HealthSourceRI’, and the unified health infrastructure project” and transfers “all management and operation of the Rhode Island health benefits exchange to the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U. S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services”. (H Finance; Tue, Mar 10)

4. H5329: Exempts “Coventry, East Greenwich and West Greenwich from all the terms and provisions” of the “written long-term economic development vision and policy for the state of Rhode Island” and the “strategic plan for implementing this policy”. (S Finance; Tue, Mar 10)

5. H5651: Imposes an additional $46 fee for a marriage license, $44 of which is to be administrated by the Rhode Island Coalition against Domestic Violence to fund domestic violence prevention programs. (H Judiciary; Wed, Mar 11) I’ll repeat what I said about a similar bill from last year: The Department of Justice reports that “intimate partner violence” rates for married women are significantly lower than are the rates for never married or divorced/widowed women, yet a group of RI legislators think it’s a good idea to make couples who are taking basic steps towards responsible commitment pay for the bad acts of everyone. This bill creates the impression that Rhode Island’s dour progressives really don’t like marriage very much.

Coming up in Committee: Twenty-One Sets of Bills Being Heard by the RI General Assembly, March 3 – March 5

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1A. H5350: Binding arbitration for municipal employees. (H Labor; Thu, Mar 5)

1B. H5475: Abolishes expiration dates from RI public-school teacher and municipal employee contracts, making their terms permanent until a new contract is agreed upon. (H Labor; Thu, Mar 5)

1C. H5473: Subjects fire-department “platoon structure and/or shift schedule” to collective bargaining. (H Labor; Thu, Mar 5)

2. H5317: Reduces the allowed difference in municipal property tax rates for different property classifications from 50% to 25%. (H Municipal Government; Thu, Mar 5)

3A. S0023/S0311/S0313: Mandates that for car-tax purposes, automobiles be assessed at trade-in rather than their retail value. (S Finance; Tue, Mar 3)

3B. S0043 raises the car-tax exemption for “distressed communities” to $6,000 (this is an automatic raise, not a local option). S0227 raises the car-tax exemption for “distressed communities” to $6,000 and compensates said distressed communities for the reduced revenue with state money. (S Finance; Tue, Mar 3) In present Rhode Island context, this means certain communities can receive a state subsidy for their financial mismanagement.

Coming up in Committee: Twenty-Nine Sets of Bills Being Heard by the RI General Assembly, February 24 – February 26

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1A. S0134: Creates a crime of “unlawful interference with traffic” with reference to “any federal or state highway”, with a minimum prison sentence of one year for a first offense, 60 days of which cannot be suspended or deferred. (At present, the definition of disorderly conduct includes obstructing a “highway…to which the public or a substantial group 12 of the public has access”, punishable by imprisonment of up to 6 months, and a fine up to $500) (S Judiciary; Tue, Feb 24)

1B. H5417: Eliminates the up-to six month prison sentence for most instances of disorderly conduct — including for “obstruct[ing] a highway…to which the public or a substantial group of the public has access or any other place ordinarily used for the passage of persons, vehicles, or conveyances” — except in cases involving domestic violence. (H Judiciary; Wed, Feb 25)

2. S0314: Extends the state’s “facilities support” funding to all charter schools (currently, it is only available to “district sponsored charter public schools”). (S Finance; Tue, Feb 24)

3. S0305 / H5228: Writes into law in-state tuition at RI public colleges and universities for students who graduated from a Rhode Island high school that they spent three years at, including illegal aliens (but not non-immigrant aliens) who have applied for “lawful immigration status” or who promise to when a process is made available under a Federal amnesty law. (S Finance; Tue, Feb 24 &; H Finance, Thu Feb 26)

4. S0122: Tax credits for Rhode Island residents who are college graduates “in an amount equal to the payments made in a given tax year…toward undergraduate or graduate student loan debt, up to a maximum amount for single tax year of one thousand dollars for an associate’s degree holder, five thousand dollars for a bachelor’s degree holder, and six thousand dollars for a graduate degree holder”. (S Finance; Tue, Feb 24)

House Rules to be Voted On Today: A Half-Step Forward, Three More Needed

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The full Rhode Island House of Representatives will vote on the rules for their chamber this afternoon. The proposed rules, amended since their introduction last week, contain at least one significant improvement over the originals. The first draft of the new rule 12(a) would have allowed a bill to be denied a hearing, without appeal, if “it appears from the subject matter that the issues presented would be substantially similar to those matters already heard”. In the rule 12(a) to be voted on today, a bill can only be denied a hearing, without appeal, if “it appears from the subject matter that the issues presented would be substantially similar to those matters already heard” ONLY IF the bill was filed after the 40th legislative day.

Beyond this, the rules of the RI House still are lacking in three substantial areas that need improvement, if the House is to operate in democratic fashion.

1. An amendment to rule 12(f) in this year’s rule makes clear that committee members cannot move to reconsider bills that are “held for further study”, i.e. once a bill is “held for further study”, it can only be brought back with the informal consent of the Speaker and a committee chair which, in practice, gives a one-man veto to the Speaker over every bill proposed. A clear procedure should be established in the rules by which a committee member can ask for a bill that’s been held for further study be considered, which the committee would decide on by majority vote.

I defy anyone to explain why establishing such a procedure would be a bad idea, without turning it into a defense of the idea that a group of people will run wild, unless they are held in check by the power of one strong leader.

2. Related to the challenge above, the Rhode Island House should adopt the rule already in place in the RI Senate, where the committee assignment of a member cannot be changed without the member’s consent (rule 5.2). This would eliminate the possibility of future repeats of Representative Patrick O’Neill being stripped of his Judiciary Committee seat, simply for exercising his basic rights as a legislator and calling for a bill to be voted on.

3. The language regarding discharge petitions in rule 20 should be streamlined, clarifying the meaning of potentially ambiguous statements like “but only one petition may be presented for a public bill or resolution during the course of a session” and thereby establishing that any bill bottled up in committee is eligible for a discharge petition. Also, the only-valid-after-50-legislative-days rule for discharge petitions should be eliminated.

The good news is that, because of the amended 12(a), House members can submit changes to the rules at any time before the 40th day of the session, and the leadership cannot instantly kill them on the basis that the rules bills for this session have already been heard. What happens after that, of course, is up to the members themselves.

Coming up in Committee: Seventeen Sets of Bills Being Heard by the RI General Assembly, February 10 – February 12

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1. H5258/S0150: House and Senate Rules for 2015-2016 sessions, which will determine how business is conducted for the rest of the session. (H Rules; Tue Feb 10 & S Rules; Tue, Feb 10)

2. H5160: Requires that the town/city council and school committee of every municipality to be served by a proposed mayoral academy give explicit approval, before an academy can be opened. (H Health Education and Welfare; Wed, Feb 11)

3A. H5221: Limits electric rate increases to “two and one-half percent within any consecutive twenty-four month period”. (H Corporations; Tue, Feb 10)

3B. H5218 prohibits electric rates from being raised “in excess of five percent in any three year period without general assembly approval”. H5291 prohibits electric rates from being raised more than “five percent per year, unless the increase shall have been previously approved by affirmative action of the general assembly”. (H Corporations; Tue, Feb 10)

4. H5031: Proposed Constitutional Amendment (requiring voter ratification) extending the terms of State Representatives and Senators to four years, with a limit of “three full terms”. (H Judiciary; Tue, Feb 10)

5. H5124: “Any candidate for state or local office who has outstanding campaign finance reports or fines due the board of elections shall be ineligible to qualify for election to any state or local public office until all such reports are filed and/or all fines are paid. (H Judiciary; Tue, Feb 10)

Coming up in Committee, Wednesday, February 4: Penalties for Blocking a Highway

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1. At present, the definition of disorderly conduct includes obstructing a “highway…to which the public or a substantial group 12 of the public has access”, punishable by imprisonment of up to 6 months, and a fine up to $500.

H5193 makes it a misdemeanor to “intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly, alone or with others, [restrict] traffic flow of a freeway”, punishable by a prison sentence of up to one year and a fine of up to $500. H5192 creates a crime of “unlawful interference with traffic” with reference to “any federal or state highway”, with a minimum prison sentence of 1 year for a first offense, 60 days of which cannot be suspended or deferred. (H Judiciary; Wed, Feb 4)

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