From Save the Bay:
Bill to fix CRMC stuck in RI House
Save The Bay calls on House to act before end of session
PROVIDENCE (June 19, 2009) – As time ticks down on the current session of the Rhode Island General Assembly Save The Bay is calling on the RI House of Representatives to pass Senate Bill 414A and put the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) on firm legal footing before the time runs out.
Senate Bill 414 A would bring CRMC into line with the Separation of Powers amendment while preserving the basic structure of the Council. It is a simple bill which responds to the Advisory Opinion issued by the Supreme Court in December regarding the constitutional status of CRMC. Save The Bay worked closely on this key legislation with Senate leadership and sponsors Sen. Sosnowski and Sen. Lenihan.
CRMC legislation can’t wait
“CRMC is operating under questionable authority and at half strength nearly five years after the passage of the Separation of Powers amendment and six months after the Supreme Court made it very clear that CRMC is subject to the amendment,” said Save The Bay Executive Director Jonathan Stone.” Critical decisions are being postponed and meetings are being regularly cancelled by CRMC.”
Three years of sidetracked CRMC legislation?
In the last two years, eleventh hour action in the House has sidetracked CRMC legislation and pushed the issue over to the Supreme Court. Now the Supreme Court has spoken and straightforward legislation is ready and waiting to correct the immediate and urgent problems facing CRMC. Save The Bay today released a letter Stone sent earlier in the session asking House Speaker William Murphy to act on CRMC reform that stressed the need to fill the empty seats on the CRMC with qualified, public-spirited members, and to put the Council on sound legal footing.
Signs of stalemate on Smith Hill
Senate Bill 414A passed the Senate 36 – 0 on May 20th, but has not yet received a hearing on the House side and earlier this week, a House bill popped up on the General Assembly website proposing an entirely new structure for CRMC. With the two chambers headed in different directions and the clock ticking down on the session, all signs point to stalemate and no bill for a fourth year.
The new House bill raises the perennial question of whether CRMC should operate under the direction of an appointed Council or be structured as a separate executive department. Both models can be found in other states.
This is a question that was looked at in great depth by the Environmental Quality Study Commission in 1990 and has been raised during budget deliberations in recent years. It is not a question that the General Assembly can give full and proper consideration to in the waning days of the session. A full, public evaluation of an entirely new structure for CRMC can and should wait for another day.
We need to pass S414 A now.
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