Common Cause seeks greater transparency during pension deliberations

On September 30th Common Cause Rhode Island sent a letter to every member of the General Assembly requesting greater transparency and accessibility during this fall's pension reform session. On Tuesday, October 18th we saw the results of that when the House and Senate reconvened to introduce the Retirement Security Act of 2011. Both chambers of the Assembly are operating under rules applicable for only special sessions (House rule 40 and Senate rule 10.7) which skirt the normal processes for public notice.

The House of Representatives did pass H 6322 which provides a seven day waiting period between any vote in the House Finance Committee and consideration of the bill on the House floor. It also requires members of the House to submit any amendments 48 hours in advance of the scheduled consideration of the bill by the entire House. The Senate, however, has not even provided for this minimum level of transparency.

We are pleased about the creation of a new website, www.pensionreformri.com, and hope that the ability for the public to comment through that portal is used in a meaningful way.

Common Cause sent letters to the House and Senate leaders requesting further steps to make sure public participation is meaningful by moving hearings on the bill to a more accessible location. We also asked for any amendments to the bill to be made public in advance of their consideration. There is still time to make this process more transparent and accessible to the tens of thousands of Rhode Islanders directly affected, and the hundreds of thousands of Rhode Islanders interested in the process.

41st Common Cause Annual Meeting--The Future of Reform in Rhode Island

You are invited to the 41st Common Cause Annual Meeting on October 5th, 2011.

We are please to present a discussion about . . .

In addition, we will be presenting the Excellence in Public Service award to;
Robert C. Corrente, former U.S. Attorney
Beverly Clay, former V.P. Operation Clean Government

For information about tickets, please call 861-2322 or email contact@commoncauseri.org

We hope you can join us on October 5th!

Did you receive our newsletter?

At Common Cause Rhode Island, we strive to keep you informed about the latest efforts to reform our government. Our most recent newsletter, which you can download here, reviews our hits and misses during the 2011 legislative session. It also talks about our upcoming Annual Meeting on October 5th, when we'll be discussing "The Future of Reform."

For decades we relied exclusively on newsletters to send that message. That is no longer the case. If you have received this, you are signed up to get our e-alerts. Increasingly, we rely on our Facebook page and Twitter stream. However you chose to follow us, we're glad you are listening.

If you did not receive our latest newsletter and would like us to mail one to you, please give us a call at 861-2322 or reply to this email. We'll be happy to drop one in the mail to you.

On Tuesday, June 28th, Common Cause released a report looking at a decade of "Access" to the General Assembly. The report is a follow-up to the groundbreaking 1998 report by then Secretary of State James Langevin and Brown University, "Access Denied." While compliance with the Open Meetings Act by the legislature has improved, the percentage of violations that occur at the end of the session has increased dramatically. You can find the study here.

Community forum on proposed I-195 Redevelopment District Commission

BetterProvidence & Common Cause RI

present

A COMMUNITY FORUM

on the

Proposed creation of the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission

MONDAY, JUNE 13

6:00 – 7:30 PM

Doors open at 5:00 pm

The Spot Underground

15 Elbow St., Providence, RI 02903

With the surprising announcement of a proposed I-195 Redevelopment District Commission, uncertainty hangs over the state-owned land in Providence’s Jewelry District. With legislation to create the commission moving through the General Assembly this forum provides an opportunity to bring public officials, and other key stakeholders together so the public can ask questions about the rapidly evolving proposal. Some key areas to be discussed include:

• Does the proposed Commission best serve the public interest, including the people of the City of Providence, as well as the State of Rhode Island?
• Has there been sufficient public input in the legislative process?
• Is the proposed commission an effective way to ensure efficient economic development of this large State-owned land parcel in Providence -- or is it “the next secure feed bag for the well-connected,” as described by the Providence Journal editors?

Moderator: Mike Ritz, Executive Director of Leadership Rhode Island and I Heart Providence

Invitations to speak have been extended to:

· The sponsors of the legislation and General Assembly leadership

· The Mayor of Providence

· The Governor of Rhode Island

· The Rhode Island Attorney General

· The Jewelry District Association

Forum co-sponsors:

The Jewelry District Association

Greater City: Providence

American Institute of Architects Rhode Island

This event is free and open to the public.

Media coverage is invited.

Common Cause on redistricting in Rhode Island

Today, May 19th, Common Cause executive director John Marion gave the following testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on S 924, a bill to create the official reapportionment commission for our state:

Reapportionment and redistricting are crucially important exercises in our democratic system of government. Reapportionment, the process of ensuring that districts are of equal population is at the heart of the principle of “one person, one vote” that we enjoy because of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14^th Amendment. Redistricting, the process of drawing political boundaries, has been the subject of mischief for the two centuries since the original gerrymander occurred in Massachusetts in 1811.

Rhode Island has one of the most partisan, and least constrained redistricting processes in the United States. This bill would just continue the same partisan and legislatively dominated process we have seen in decades past. I would like to take this opportunity to point out some of the glaring weaknesses in the bill.

The commission, as proposed, consists of 18 members; four each appointed by the Speaker and President and two each by the Minority leaders of the respective chambers. The remaining six members of the commission will come from what the bill describes as the “public,” but who are chosen by the Speaker and President respectively.

This design guarantees a partisan process with no independence. With a majority of seats (14 of 18) being chosen by leadership of the majority party, partisan redistricting cannot be prevented. And with public members being chosen by legislative leadership, without any stated process for citizens to apply for the seats, there is no measure of independence from legislative control. Under the proposed commission the real public has no confidence they are being represented in this process. Six states use independent commission where the legislature does not have control of the appointments, and the American Bar Association recommends that all states follow suit.

Additionally, while the legislation laudably proposes public hearings, no standards are set for the number or location. Given the impact of the redistricting and reapportionment processes on every citizen of Rhode Island, some minimum number and geographical dispersion should be articulated in the bill. Furthermore, public comment needs to be taken before the draft plan is created (as is specified in the proposed statute), as well as after the plans are drawn, so that the public can have maximum input. I have submitted model legislation designed by the Campaign Legal Center that deals with some of these issues regarding public access to the process.

The most important part of the legislation are the standards its sets for the redistricting process. Almost every state has a commission that must abide by stricter standards than those proposed here. The proposed legislation sets a bare minimum of standards. Other jurisdictions seek greater equality of population (2% rather than the legal maximum of 5%) for reapportioning state legislative districts. Other states add greater definition to the measures of compactness and contiguity. The use of minimum standards for reapportionment, and opaque definitions of compactness and contiguity allow for maximum flexibility in gerrymandering.

When it comes to protecting the rights of racial and ethnic minorities, this bill again falls short. 24 states give greater emphasis to providing representation for the historically underrepresented by mandating that “communities of interest” are taken into consideration. The proposed commission does not have any requirements for diversity in the membership of the commissioners.

The standards the commission abides by should be prioritized in the legislation. Without a ranking the standards relative weights cannot be given to the priorities. The commission, the public, and the courts who may eventually pass judgment on a plan do not know what to expect.

As you can see we have a lot of problems with how this is being done. We are happy to work with the sponsor and the committee to improve this bill and improve this process.

Clearer water in the Ocean State

This week the Rhode Island General Assembly made a small bit of history; for the first time it began putting copies of committee votes online. OK, maybe that’s not worthy of being called a historical achievement, but it is certainly a step in the right direction. Common Cause Rhode Island, along with other government reform groups, worked with the legislative leadership to bring about this change. Along with the earlier addition of floor votes online, this brings a needed level of transparency to our lawmaking branch of government.

By any measure, the website of the General Assembly trails its peers, and the public is poorer because of it. If Justice Lewis Brandeis, who said, “sunshine is the best disinfectant,” is correct, then Rhode Island has been living in the dark ages. This change starts to peel back on the opaque legislative process to reveal how our committees work, and provide a tool for the citizens of Rhode Island to hold their elected representatives responsible.

Of course there are more changes we would like to see. For one, we would like it if the General Assembly would join the ranks of the 49 other states plus the District of Columbia who have live streaming of their legislatures online. And Common Cause Rhode Island will continue to work toward that. But it’s worth taking a timeout to appreciate what we have accomplished so far. So three cheers for some transparency in Rhode Island.