Common Cause rhode island Report providing a b l u e p r i n t for better government Fall 2010 2009-2010 legislative scorecard edition Scores sink to an all-time low average as fundamental constitutional reforms are neglected his marks the ninth edition of the Common Cause Legislative Scorecard. It is a tool we provide to you our members to judge the performance of your state elect- T ed representatives. The 2009-2010 edition of the Rhode Island General Assembly saw tremendous change, with new leadership in both chambers. It did not see a strongly reform-minded agenda, however. Here are the areas of interest to Common Cause Rhode Ethics Judicial Selection With a 2009 Supreme Court decision undermining one The General Assembly continued its assault on the of the Constitutional pillars of good government, Common state’s merit selection system, 15 years after the voters Cause designated restoring the full jurisdiction of the state’s of Rhode Island adopted that fundamental constitutional Ethics Commission over the General Assembly. as our top change. Common Cause continues to oppose efforts to priority in 2010. We were heartened when the legislation expand the pool of candidates through the so-called “look passed the House of Representatives under the sponsorship back” provision. Additionally, appointees to the state’s of new Speaker of the House Gordon Fox (D-Providence). Judicial Nominating Commission continue to stay past their Unfortunately the state Senate, under the leaderhip of M. terms, and Common Cause seeks to remedy that situation. Teresa Paiva Weed (D-Newport) did not even take a vote on the resolution. Open Government Common Cause is committed to transparency and Campaigns and Elections open government. For that reason we supported efforts Perhaps the area where the most significant reform to strengthen the state’s Access to Public Records Act, took place was in the area of campaign and election reform. which unfortunately fell short in 2009-2010. It also caused Two major changes were passed over a gubernatorial veto, us to engage in the debate over building a windfarm off providing for the direct election of U.S. Senators in cases Block Island, and an attempt to go around the state’s Public of vacancies, and pre-registration of 16 & 17 year-olds, Utilities Commission. both of which Common Cause supported. Additionally, the Assembly passed a series of fixes, in light of recent Separation of Powers hostile federal court rulings, to the state’s public financing More than half a decade after the Separation of Powers system for General Officers. Unfortunately, that bill was amendments passed, statutory implementation of the new vetoed too, with no override as of this writing. Finally, the constitutional language continues to languish on Smith HIll. House passed one of the most stringent mandatory voter Common Cause will continue to push all parties, including identification laws in the nation, a step backward in our the executive branch, to follow the constitution. view. Read more about these issues and what happened during the 2009-2010 legislative session inside the newsletter. Computing Votes Our Mission Noting Abstentions, Absences, and Considerations Common Cause Rhode Island is a nonpartisan organization ommon Cause counted eighteen Senate votes (weight equals whose mission is to promote representative democracy 24) and fifteen House votes (weight equals 21) from the by ensuring open, ethical, Senate and House Journals in this two year scorecard. Our accountable, effective C government processes at local, lobbying, testimony, printed communications, or emails laid out Common Cause positions on most state and national levels by of the issues. In some cases, amendments proposed on the floor of the House and Senate focused educating and mobilizing the citizens of R.I. the issue more clearly than final votes. In these instances, a motion to amend (add to or change) or a motion to table (kill) the amendment is counted. Only votes on the House and Senate floors were state governing board Kevin McAllister, President counted. Because some votes showed blatant contempt for constitutional amendments approved Charles Sturtevant, V. President by voters, this scorecard modifies the scoring weight in the following way: Joan Temkin Gray, Treasurer Jane Austin, Thomas R. Bender,, 1 Point - Routine pro-votes or anti-votes based on positions advocated by Joseph Cammarano, Frank common cause; DiGregorio, Lara Ewens, Alan Flink, Zulma Garcia, Doree Goodman, Brian Heller, Peter 2 Points - Votes that uphold or attack long-standing, clearly enunciated Hocking, Scott Metcalfe, Ellen common cause principles; and O’Hara, Eugene Mihaly, Don Pryor, Nancy Rhodes, Daniel 3 Points - Votes that uphold or attack principles of great public interest G. Siegel and identified by common cause as priority issues. advisory council We recognize that several tabulated votes were crammed into the chaotic last night of the leg- Kevin McAllister & Charles islative session when fatigue may have made it difficult for lawmakers or the public to recognize Sturtevant, Co-Chairs what was happening. Caught in the tsunami of last-night bills, some well-intentioned lawmakers John Gardner Fellows unintentionally may have cast harmful votes. We hope they will support rules changes to end such Alan G. Hassenfeld, Natalie C. Joslin, Lila & John Sapinsley, overwhelming agendas. If you have a question about your elected representative’s position on an Henry D. Sharpe, Jr. issue you should contact them directly. Information on how to contact your representative is avail- Phil Anderson, Milton Brier, able on the Common Cause website. David A. Brown, Helen Buchanan, Joseph L. Dowling, The votes are divided into issue areas, including ethics, campaign and elections, judicial reform, Jr., Thomas Ewens, Fred open government and separation of powers. Within these issue areas the number of pro-votes Franklin, Patricia Fuller, Warren Galkin, Sheila Hughes, Artemis is divided by the total possible in that area (e.g. 3 pro-Common Cause votes out of 4 results in a Joukowsky, James C. Miller, 75%). On some occassions lawmakers abstain, or recuse on votes because of potential conflicts. Ford Sayre, Neil Severance, In instances of recusal they are required by law to note the reason for the recusal in the House and Richard Silverman, Cathy Speer, Rob Walker, Richard Worrell Senate journals. In this scorecard the formulas have been adjusted so that abstentions and recusals staff neither help nor hurt the lawmaker’s final score. John Marion Half of each lawmaker’s absences or failures to vote are factored into the final average under Executive Director this formula: Betsy Scholl Development Associate (Pro-votes) / ((Pro-votes+anti-votes)+(nonvoting/2))= (Final Average) As explained above, and as highlighted in the narrative, Common Cause RI Governing Board common cause rhode island 245 Waterman Street weighed several votes more heavily because of their extraordinary importance. Suite 400A Providence, Rhode Island Common Cause never endorses candidates for any public office. This 02906 T: 401.861.2322 scorecard reports only how members of the general assembly voted on F: 401.331.9676 particular bills of concern to Common Cause. Scoring does not consti- www.commoncauseri.org tute opposition or endorsement. Ethics In 1986 the voters of Rhode Island overwhelmingly passed a constitutional amendment establishing an independent Ethics Commission. As a result of a June 2009 decision of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, members of the General Assembly are no longer subject to the Ethics Commission’s oversight for their ‘core legislative acts.” Common Cause vigorously lobbied for a constitutional amendment to fix this loophole and restore the jurisdiction of the Commission. • 10-H 7357 sponsored by Speaker Gordon Fox (D-Providence) would put a measure on the ballot to restore the full jurisdiction of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission over the General Assembly. This passed the House on a 68-5 vote, but never reached the floor of the Senate. Common Cause named restoring the Ethics Commission’s jurisdiction as its top priority in 2010. • A floor amendment, offered by Representative Brian Newberry (R-Smithfield) would have gutted the proposed constitutional amendment (H 7357) to restore the jurisdiction of the Ethics Commission. It was defeated on a 37-33 vote. Common Cause opposed this amendment. Campaigns and Elections Common Cause has long stood for reform to the electoral process, most notably campaign finance reform. During the 2009- 2010 session the General Assembly considered several major changes to election law in Rhode Island. • 09-H 5005, sponsored by Representative Edwin Pacheco (D-Burrillville) and 09-S 85 by Senator Rhoda Perry (D-Providence) allows 16 & 17 year-olds to pre-register to vote if they are going to be 18 by the next election. In October 2009 the General Assembly overrode the Governor’s veto of this bill. Common Cause supports efforts to increase voter registration. • 09-H 5094, sponsored by Representative Chris Fierro (D-Woonsocket) and 09-S 201 by Paul Jabour (D-Providence) provides for a special election in the case of a vacancy for U.S. Senator. In October 2009 the General Assembly overrode the Governor’s veto of this bill. Common Cause supports the use of an election to fill a vacancy for the Senate. • 10-H 7951 substitute A, sponsored by Representative William SanBento (D-Pawtucket) and 10-S 2643 Substitute A., by Erin Lynch (D-Warwick) was proposed by the Board of Elections to make changes to the states’ public financing system in keeping with recent federal court decisions. The bill was vetoed by the Governor. Common Cause supports Rhode Island’s system of public financing for elections. • 10-H 5290, sponsored by Representative J. Patrick O’Neill (D-Pawtucket) would close the polls one hour earlier, at 8 p.m. This bill did not advance in the Senate.