Rhode Island Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed has filed legislation to overhaul the state Economic Development Corporation, after a review panel criticized the agency as ineffective and in need of fresh leadership.

The bill, submitted Wednesday, would expand the agency’s board from 8 members to 13 and allow Governor Carcieri to dismiss current members in February.

Carcieri, chairman of the EDC board, would have the power to appoint the additional five members immediately.

The bill is scheduled to be heard by the Senate Finance Committee at 3 p.m. Tuesday.

The review panel issued its report in April, calling for “systemic change” to reverse “long-standing underachievement.” It called for the immediate resignation of EDC board members, a recommendation Carcieri rejected.

Board members include Amgen executive Kimball Hall and George Shuster, the chief executive officer of Cranston Print Works.

The agency has been criticized for years for failing to create jobs and attract companies to Rhode Island. But scrutiny has become particularly intense during the recession that started here more than two years ago. The jobless rate is 11.1 percent, the fourth-highest in the country.

In addition to expanding the board, the legislation would grant a three-year contract to the agency’s executive director. That would help attract applicants who might otherwise avoid an appointment by a lame-duck governor with less than two years remaining in office.

The bill also seeks to give the position of executive director greater prominence in state government. “That position would become part of the governor’s Cabinet,” said state Sen. Walter S. Felag Jr., a member of the EDC review panel and a sponsor of the bill. “It makes economic development more of a priority for the state.”

The bill appears to have a good chance at passage. Carcieri supports it, his spokeswoman, Amy Kempe, said. And representatives of House leaders helped draft the legislation, according to Felag.

In its report, the review panel argued that “economic development and job creation have been secondary to other public policy concerns.” A continued lack of attention from state leaders, the report said, will discourage talented candidates from seeking to lead the EDC or serve on its board and “deflate” the enthusiasm of local business executives.

More than a month after the report was released, the state has not posted a job opening for a permanent replacement for Saul Kaplan, who resigned as EDC director in December.

But in an interview, the head of the review panel, Hasbro chairman Alfred J. Verrecchia, said the search has begun.

Carcieri asked the review panel to serve as a search committee, and members have met three times at Hasbro’s Pawtucket headquarters to choose an executive search firm.

“We’re not wasting any time,” Verrecchia said. A new director, he added, could be selected as soon as October.

In general, the legislation appears to embrace the review panel’s recommendations. Although Verrecchia said he had not reviewed the bill, he said panelists who had “did not have any objections.”

But the bill did not follow the panel’s advice to give the governor greater flexibility in appointing EDC board members.

The review panel had said members should be “selected based upon their skills, their passion for economic development and their willingness and ability to help drive change, not because they represent a particular constituency, group or geographic area.”

The legislation, however, retains a slot for a labor leader and a seat for a small-business owner. The legislation specifically says that “the membership of the board shall reflect the geographic diversity of the state,” and it adds a requirement that one board member represent the state’s higher-education institutions.

bgedan@projo.com