By the time state senators return to the Rhode Island State House on March 18, written testimony on the proposals they are vetting will be available on the Rhode Island General Assembly website.
The online postings were incorporated into procedural rules the upper chamber approved in a unanimous vote Thursday. The 31-page list, adopted biannually at the start of each legislative session after an election year, covers everything from the responsibilities of Senate staff and legislative committees, to where senators sit in the chamber (determined by the Senate president) and how many bills each senator can introduce (25 bills maximum per session).
Among the paragraphs of procedural minutiae, a new, one-sentence addition requires the Senate to publish online any written testimony related to bills. The move mirrors a similar practice adopted by the House four years earlier, in the wake of the pandemic. Good government groups and media members have pushed for the Senate to follow suit but without success. The Senate leadership has cited a lack of staff as the reason why it can’t post bill testimony online. Unlike the House, which has full-time clerks, the Senate’s clerks work part-time.
But continued pressure, including from Sen. Mark McKenney, a Warwick Democrat and chair of the Senate Committee on Rules, Government Ethics and Oversight, persuaded naysayers to come around.
The Senate is planning to hire a new, full-time staffer specifically dedicated to sorting public commentary and posting it online with the appropriate committee to meet the rule change, using funds already allocated as part of its fiscal 2025 budget.
The Senate has not hired anyone as of Thursday, with plans to use existing staff to fulfill the new posting requirement temporarily, said Greg Paré, a Senate spokesperson.
Other changes included in the new set of rules include a new clause encouraging the use of reusable beverage containers in the chamber, and reducing the mandated number of ethics and Human Rights Commission training senators are required to complete from one per year to once every two years.
“These were the revisions that had fairly broad support,” McKenney said prior to the vote.
Senate President Dominick Ruggerio was among the vocal proponents for publishing testimony online.
“Responsibly balancing our available resources with the many demands on staff is always a challenge, but it is time to take this important step forward,” Ruggerio said in a statement Thursday. “Improving access to public testimony will strengthen the committee process, improve public transparency, and foster trust in government, all of which is essential to the work we do at the State House.”
Ruggerio did not attend Thursday’s session having just been released from Our Lady of Fatima Hospital’s rehabilitation center earlier that day, Paré said. Ruggerio was admitted to the hospital in his North Providence district more than two weeks ago with pneumonia. He is expected to return to the Senate rostrum next week and is “doing wonderfully,” Paré said in an email Thursday.
Since lawmakers began meeting on Jan. 7, Ruggerio has missed seven out of 11 legislative sessions, prompting friction among Senate Democrats over how to respond to the absences and health challenges of their longtime leader. Ruggerio, 76, was forced to miss large chunks of the 2024 legislative session due to illness. He staved off a challenge for the president role from his former Majority Leader, Sen. Ryan Pearson, in November, though nearly one-third of Senate Democrats sided with Pearson in the caucus.
Pearson, a Cumberland Democrat, along with Sens. Ana Quezada, a Providence Democrat, and Bridget Valverde, a North Kingstown Democrat, were absent from the vote Thursday.
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
