The House opened the special session with a tribute to Rep. Tom Slater, who died in August. At a rally sponsored by the Rhode Island Statewide Coalition and RI Tea Party were, from left, Sandy Stricklin, Richard Russillo Jr. and Joanne Russillo.

The Providence Journal / Connie Grosch

PROVIDENCE, R.I. –– Returning to the State House for the first time in four months, the House of Representatives Wednesday night zipped through a packed agenda, approving legislation to outlaw indoor prostitution, allow voters to cut the word “Plantations” from the official state name, and begin offering specialized New England Patriots license plates to Rhode Island drivers.

In most cases there was little debate as the part-time lawmakers endorsed more than 60 new laws, overwhelmingly approving them all within four hours. It was a frantic pace in a frantic week in which the General Assembly –– summoned back to work this week –– expects to approve close to 200 separate bills over two days before adjourning .

The full House began its work Wednesday; the full Senate will join them Thursday.

Few proposals, if any, are directly related to Rhode Island’s struggling economy or ballooning state budget deficits. Governor Carcieri was among those to criticize the Democrat-dominated Legislature for ignoring the issue.

“They need to deal with the budget,” Carcieri said at an unrelated event. “They’re not doing that, and I think that’s really unfortunate because the problem is not going away; it’s getting worse.”

House Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox and Finance Committee Chairman Steven M. Costantino erupted when notified of the governor’s comments.

“We’re addressing real societal needs in these two days, so I don’t want the word to go out that they’re here and they’re doing nothing,” Fox said.

The Assembly, he continued, is addressing issues for “people who need services, or the people who are concerned with indoor prostitution, [as well as] the scourge of text messaging. Those are real issues. They don’t go away.”

Costantino vowed to push Thursday for a joint resolution requiring Carcieri to submit a mid-year budget-balancing plan, known as a supplemental budget, by Nov. 16.

But the biggest news in the State House Wednesday night might be what didn’t happen.

Fox confirmed that a proposal to allow binding arbitration in contract disputes with teachers’ unions is dead, at least for now.

“It’s not going to come up in October,” Fox said, minutes before the House session began, while praising recent efforts by the House Labor Committee to examine the issue. “I wouldn’t want to do anything like that. [It would be] a disservice by trying to bum-rush this through.”

The proposal has generated substantial tension in recent weeks, pitting taxpayer groups against organized labor on radio and television airwaves and in State House hallways.

As lawmakers filled the House chamber, close to 100 people representing local communities and taxpayer groups gathered in the rotunda one floor below to protest the binding-arbitration proposal, although it hadn’t been posted on any agenda.

City and town councils in 36 of 39 municipalities had indicated opposition, joining two dozen school committees, according to Daniel Beardsley, executive director of the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns.

After the protest, AFL-CIO President George H. Nee defended binding arbitration as a “rational and sensible” way to reach agreement when contract talks reach an impasse.

“If the legislature is not going to give workers, meaning teachers, the right to strike, then there has to be a fair and final solution to situations where the parties cannot reach agreement,” Nee said, adding that organized labor is “very hopeful” lawmakers will revive the issue when they return in January.

When asked if that would be the case, Fox declined to give a specific answer: “We’ll keep working on stuff.”

Meanwhile, within just a matter of days, motorists could be banned from text messaging while driving on Rhode Island roads.

A bill approved by a House committee and headed for a full House vote Thursday would create fines of up to $85 for a first offense, $100 for a second offense and $125 for a third offense.

Under the proposal, drivers will still be allowed to use hand-held cell phones for making phone calls. The ban will eliminate their right “to compose, read or send text messages while operating a motor vehicle.”

The bill has already passed the Senate. If approved by the full House Thursday, as expected, it would head to Governor Carcieri’s desk for his signature and would go into effect immediately.

The text-messaging plan is among dozens of new laws likely to be approved Thursday, as the legislature addresses scores of bills left in limbo when it abruptly recessed in late June.

State Sen. Leonidas P. Raptakis, D-Coventry, joined government-watchdog groups in criticizing the frantic pace of this week’s action.

“The manner in which this special session is being rushed through is an example of government at its worst,” Raptakis said in a statement. House and Senate leaders deflected criticism by saying most issues had been vetted publicly in recent months.

Indeed, that was the case for bills that would remove the word, “Plantations” from the state name and amend drunken-driving laws. But some proposals planned for votes Thursday –– touching issues such as home foreclosures, expungement of criminal records and the reformation of the state Economic Development Council –– may include changes never before viewed by the public.

Other Wednesday highlights include:

The House overwhelmingly endorsed a measure to create a special New England Patriots license plate. The proposal has now cleared the House and Senate, and is set to become law.

Half the $40 charge will be diverted to the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation, which must use Ocean State funds to benefit Rhode Island charities.

Voters next November will have the opportunity to decide whether they want to change the state’s name, removing the word “plantations” that some believe conjures up references to slavery. If approved by voters, the state’s name would simply be “Rhode Island.”

The proposal passed the House 52-4.

The governor will not veto the measure should it clear both chambers this week, because he believes he cannot veto bills that call for referendums for constitutional amendments. The bill gained support this spring, but failed to become law because no one version passed both chambers.

The House also voted 54-3 to approve a bill that would allow the police to obtain search warrants compelling chemical substance and tests for drunken drivers involved in serious accidents. The Attorney General’s office has fought for nearly a decade to allow police officers to get such warrants.

redgar@projo.com