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By Liz Boardman and Mark Schieldrop/Independent Staff Writers
The General Assembly opened their 2009-10 session on Tuesday, with a swearing-in ceremony and election of officers. The budget and the economy will command their attention, local lawmakers said, as the state faces a projected $357 million shortfall in the current budget, fiscal year 2008-09, as well as decreased revenues for the new year’s budget, which will begin July 1. But they will be looking at other legislation as well, and are awaiting news of their committee assignments which were to be made Wednesday, after the Independent went to press. Here’s what local legislators said about the new session:
Sen. V. Susan Sosnowski (D-Dist. 37) of South Kingstown and New Shoreham is hoping for a big change – a return to the powerful Senate Finance Committee. With the retirement of Rep. John Patrick Shanley, who served on the House Finance Committee. South Kingstown needs a voice on Finance, Sosnowski said. She requested the appointment last spring, and said it becomes even more important as Senate Finance is shaken up by the departure of its chairman, Senate President Joseph Montalbano, who did not win re-election.
“I understand Finance will immediately immerse itself in the Global Medicaid Waiver,” Sosnowski said. “Nursing homes are serving the most acute patients now, and many are on Medicaid. It is important to be on Finance – these people cannot speak for themselves.”
Sosnowski plans to work on other legislation as well.
“The R.I. Marine Fisheries Council needs restructuring,” Sosnowski said. “Their rulemaking authority was taken away – and I do not want that to change. But now, [the state Department of Environmental Management] has authority over the council and rulemaking. It should be a council for fishermen to say what they need to say and work things out with DEM.”
The state Coastal Resources Management Council would likely be a forefront issue, she said, now that the Supreme Court has ruled that Governor Carcieri has the right to make appointments to the body.
“I can envision several bills will be coming out reconstructing CRMC,” Sosnowski said. “Last year, the governor suggested folding it into DEM.”
Rep. Michael Rice (D-Dist. 35) of South Kingstown, who became the area’s newest representative with his swearing in on Tuesday, said his first concern is the budget. “The Finance Committee is going to be very busy looking at closing the budget in the short term,” Rice said. “That will be fairly substantial. Personally, I will be more focused on making sure the state budget process is sound in the long term.”
He recently met with the state Auditor General Ernest Almonte, and believes the state could find savings through performance audits, which would verify state offices are running in the most efficient, cost-effective manner.
“He has a plan to build a small division in his office to do that, with [Certified Public Accounts] and support staff,” Rice said. “But he needs marching orders from the Senate and House to do it. The fly in the ointment is that it would cost $1.3 to $1.5 million a year, but where good performance audits are done – like in Texas, where they found $9 billion in savings in the first year – the return on this idea is pretty high.”
Rice said he is writing a memo to House Speaker William Murphy, asking to look into the idea.
Rice said his committee assignments were being held “as close to the vest as can be.”
“I put in for Environment and Natural Resources and the Rules Committee, but I am flexible otherwise,” Rice said. “I told them to use me as a pawn in the game of life.”
Rep. Donna Walsh (D-Dist. 36) of Charlestown, New Shoreham, South Kingstown and Westerly, is also focused on the state budget. “The budget – that is all we should be doing now – current year and next year,” Walsh said. “If there is going to be any savings, we are going to have to start now.”
She was awaiting news of a supplemental budget proposal from Governor Carcieri, which was expected to be released Wednesday. “We are looking for what is fair and equitable for businesses, individuals, towns and people who need support services,” Walsh said. “I am worried about those who need support. We cut so much last time. It is going to be difficult to do it again.”
Walsh said the state must focus on job creation and sees opportunities with the recent departure of Saul Kaplan, head of the state Economic Development Corporation.
“I would like to see EDC restructured,” she said. “They have largely been focused on tax credits to big businesses. I would like to be on that committee to restructure it, but the speaker has to appoint me.”
She said the state gives out $54 million in tax credits to companies like Fidelity and CVS/pharmacy. “We need to know if they are really doing what they are supposed to do [to earn the credit,] Walsh said.
She also looks forward to hearings on the Global Medicaid Waiver, which would allow the state to move Medicaid patients out of nursing homes and into homes, where they would be supported by less costly services, like nursing visits, and Meals on Wheels. Hearings begin on Friday.
“The governor was expecting $67 million in savings from this waiver, and we are already half way through the year,” Walsh said. “Unless the plan is well delineated, I do not think we will have the resources to support these people. We cut Meals on Wheels last year, and the cost of adult day care went up.”
Rep. David A. Caprio (D-Dist. 34) of South Kingstown and Narragansett, might have a significant change in his committee assignments and said on Wednesday that he expects to be appointed to the House Finance Committee. “I’ll be in the frying pan,” Caprio said of the appointment. “I wanted to be on the front lines this year with the financial challenges we have. I’m seeking to be part of the first line of defense trying to get the state back in the right financial direction.”
The appointment would help ensure that South County representatives maintain a presence of the powerful finance committee. But there will be no easy decisions, Caprio said, because the deficit is so large, unemployment is high and raising taxes is seen as a last resort.
“The government is able to do two things: collect money and spend money,” Caprio said. “As we try to figure out how to balance the budget, we’re going to look at how we spend and raise money. Raising taxes does not seem like an option, or is a final option. So we seriously have to look at where we spend money and prioritize.”
Caprio said that the state would likely have to shed jobs and reduce services. The job of the Finance Committee will be to reduce spending in such a way that the least number of people affected. In a recession, the goal of lawmakers is to spur economic growth and ensure that basic needs of struggling people are met.
Caprio is sure of one thing: local aid to communities should not be reduced. “We still receive a lot of funding from the state house and I want to preserve that as best as I can,” Caprio said.
Sen. James C. Sheehan (D-Dist. 36) of Narragansett and North Kingstown returns to the Senate as vice chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee. He will also maintain his positions as secretary of the Government Oversight committee and a member of the Corporations Committee.
Like other legislators, Sheehan said that the budget would dominate the legislative session this year. He said he hopes that there will be federal dollars to invest in infrastructure and economic development to turn the state’s economic situation around.
“It’s a delicate balancing act because we have little room to raise revenues, from raising fees to raising certain taxes. Raising taxes makes matters only worse, so we’re between a rock and a hard place,” Sheehan said.
It is unclear where cuts can be made, Sheehan said, and the process will be “arduous,” which compels Sheehan to believe that the upcoming session will be the most difficult he faces.
Rep. Donald J. Lally Jr. (D-Dist. 36) of South Kingstown, North Kingstown and Narragansett will retain his chairmanship of the powerful House Judiciary Committee this legislative session, guaranteeing South County a share of the spotlight as the assembly moves bills forward.
In addition to tackling budget issues, Lally said he hopes to introduce several pieces of legislation that could eventually bolster job development.
“I want to call on [the state Coastal Resources Management Council] to establish a blueprint for a port in Quonset,” Lally said. “I’m tired of my constituents telling me what they gave their child for a graduation present is a plane ticket somewhere else to find a job.”
Lally said Quonset Point represents a “golden opportunity” to spur economic growth, invest in the state’s infrastructure and create a gateway for the Northeast between the highway, rail and port systems.
He also said he plans to introduce legislation that would bring parity to physician pay. Currently, he said, doctors in South County are paid less than doctors in the northern part of the state. And, as a whole, Rhode Island physicians make significantly less money than doctors in neighboring states, even though the services they provide and the insurance companies that reimburse them are the same.
“Physicians in Rhode Island should be paid on an equal basis from Blue Cross/Blue Shield as doctors in Massachusetts and Connecticut,” Lally said. “Too many physicians are establishing offices across state lines. Yet, as residents, we pay the same for health care.”
In terms of the budget, Lally said he expects the state to enact a job freeze to contain costs. He is looking to avoid tax increases as much as possible and he’s skeptical about cutting aid to cities and towns.
“Cutting local aid is really a trickle-down taxation,” Lally said.
He also hopes that federal dollars as part of a stimulus package could help the state fill in the massive budget shortfall. But the state needs to change its thinking and not rely on bailouts to make ends meet if long-term growth is to be achieved.
The state has made inroads, he said, noting that the state’s tax-burden ranking fell from the fourth highest in the state to the tenth. But as the state reduces costs and taxes, the General Assembly must ensure that basic services are maintained properly.
“I don’t think you can balance the budget on the backs of schools,” Lally said. “That would be unfair to teachers and students.”