As the hour grows late, the speaker says: "Tempers are short because people are tired."

01:00 AM EDT on Saturday, July 2, 2005

BY SCOTT MAYEROWITZ, LIZ ANDERSON, KATHERINE GREGG AND BRUCE LANDIS
Journal Staff Writers

PROVIDENCE -- Fighting to overcome heat, humidity, exhaustion and occasional bursts of crankiness, lawmakers last night pushed through a mountain of legislation, hoping to wrap up their year before the long holiday weekend.

Lawmakers voted to abolish the state Lottery Commission and relax new lobbying-disclosure laws. The Senate gave final approval to -- and the governor signed -- legislation delaying the effective date of the state's lead-paint safety laws to Nov. 1.

Nearing midnight, both chambers were still at work, and it remained uncertain whether Assembly leaders would reach their goal of adjourning.

But House Speaker William J. Murphy, D-West Warwick, said earlier in the day that it was clear lawmakers were ready for a break.

"Our members have worked hard this past month; I want to get them all home to relax for a week," he said. "Tempers are short because people are tired."

The House and Senate both approved legislation to dismantle and reassign the responsibilities of the state Lottery Commission, which oversees Rhode Island's multimillion-dollar gambling industry.

The bill, from Rep. Paul Crowley, D-Newport, and Sen. David Bates, R-Barrington, was described by several House lawmakers as the most important of the separation-of-powers bills tackled this year. Voters in November passed a constitutional amendment requiring lawmakers to remove themselves from state boards and commissions, including the Lottery Commission, which had lawmakers as six of its nine members.

But in approving the bill, lawmakers not agree to remove themselves entirely. The legislation would allow the governor to appoint a director to supervise state gambling operations, but the nominee would be subject to Senate confirmation and vetting by a new legislative oversight committee made up of four members each from the House and the Senate.

Rep. Nicholas Gorham, R-Coventry, tried unsuccessfully to get the "joint committee" out of the appointment mix. He also raised concerns and tried to limit the possible reach of a section in the bill that would shift, to the General Assembly, the power the Lottery Commission has to decide the number of video slots allowed in Rhode Island, and "the type of lotteries conducted."

His attempt to rein in the language was defeated by a 46-to-20 vote. But Gorham still said it was "a good day for Rhode Island" because of the House movement on the bill. The final vote was unanimous, with Rep. Robert Flaherty, D-Warwick, who chaired the Lottery Commission, not voting.

The Senate approved the proposal with one minor change, which was ratified by the House, sending the measure to Governor Carcieri's desk. Carcieri had endorsed the idea of dissolving the Lottery Commission, but spokesman Jeff Neal said late last night that the governor's staff still needed to evaluate the bill in its final form.

Fending off cries from Common Cause of Rhode Island and Secretary of State Matt Brown that their actions would gut the state's spending disclosure requirements for lobbyists, the House voted 41 to 20 in favor of exempting what could be a vast swath of sales and purchases made by people and companies seeking to influence the General Assembly.

Brown has interpreted the law, made stricter in the wake of conflict-of-interest charges against key senators, to mean that lobbyists must reveal anything of value they sell to or buy from a lawmaker -- whether it be home telephone service supplied, a slice of pizza bought at a lawmaker's restaurant, or something larger.

The bill, from House Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox, D-Providence, would exempt the disclosure of the sale or purchase of goods and services "in the ordinary course of business and for fair market value."

"Employment and consulting contracts" and "fees" still would have to be reported.

The change was supported by lawmakers such as Crowley, a restaurant owner; and Rep. Carol Mumford, D-Scituate, who has a family Christmas tree farm.

House Finance Committee Chairman Steven M. Costantino, D-Providence, said requiring the disclosure of everyday sales and purchases "just doesn't seem practical in the world that we are in, especially a part-time legislature where we all have businesses."

But many argued in favor of a proposal from Rep. John Savage, R-East Providence, to put a cap in the bill. Savage initially proposed requiring a lobbyist to disclose anything purchased from a lawmaker worth $250 or more; he later agreed to raise the figure to $1,000.

Said Rep. Al Gemma, D-Warwick, in support of a cap: "You can't make a crook out of an honest man . . . however, it's perception, it's transparency."

But Crowley said the information, once disclosed, would be used against lawmakers -- in a newspaper story or by an opponent in a campaign. He said a truly crooked lawmaker would still do backroom deals that wouldn't be disclosed, but someone like himself, who might get paid a large tab for a wedding or a company party, would lose business or suffer from the perception that there was "some kind of shady exchange."

Savage's amendment failed on a rare tie vote, 31 to 31, before the bill was approved.

Later, the Senate also approved the measure, after defeating an effort by Senate Committee on Government Oversight Chairman J. Michael Lenihan, D-East Greenwich, to add the same $1,000 cap debated in the House. The amendment failed by a vote of 22 to 10, and the proposal then passed by a vote of 24 to 7.

The House also passed a Senate bill that retroactively exempts candidates from filing their campaign finance reports electronically. Lawmakers called the requirement too onerous and agreed to delay its effect until 2007; the bill needed one final Senate vote before it hit the governor's desk.

In approving the lead-paint deadline extension, lawmakers resolved a bitter struggle between children's health advocates and landlords.

Representatives of the landlords, who could face penalties if children living in their apartments suffer lead-paint poisoning, have complained that the legislation would be too onerous, while supporters said further delay would only mean more poisoned children.

In addition to delaying the law's effective date, the legislation also weakens the penalties, making them discretionary to the courts rather than mandatory. For example, the owner of an apartment designated "high-risk" where further lead poisoning occurs would have been punished by at least a year in jail, and as long as five years. The version that passed allows for up to five years imprisonment, but sets no minimum.

The Senate also passed, 19 to 10, a disputed proposal to create a state-level tourism development advisory council within the state Economic Development Corporation to "assist" existing regional tourism councils.

Opponents said it was only the first step toward undermining the autonomy of regional tourism councils and other local business organizations, and a shift toward centralized tourism promotion. Legislators from the Blackstone Valley and South County, in particular, opposed the idea.

Supporters said the state needs a unified program to sell itself to potential tourists, and criticized the existing structure as a bunch of "little fiefdoms," as Sen. Harold M. Metts, D-Providence, put it.

It was unclear whether the House would take up the bill.

The Senate also debated how soon teenagers with provisional licenses should be allowed to drive with their friends. Some senators wanted to protect young drivers from what they see as an increased risk of dying on the highway, and others wanted to let them live their own lives.

A bill before them would have forbidden drivers from carrying passengers younger than 21 during the first six months after getting a limited provisional license, immediate family members excepted, and would have allowed only one passenger under 21 for the next six months.

The Senate changed that to let young drivers carry one passenger under 21 for the full first 12 months.

Sen. James C. Sheehan, D-Narragansett, a Warwick teacher, argued for a tighter bill. He said times have changed, society is more permissive, young people face increased dangers, and they need protection. "I don't want to see them die," he said.

But Sen. Leo R. Blais, R-Coventry, said that 16- and 17-year-olds ought to be able to go out on a date "without having Mommy and Daddy with them."

Another youth-oriented proposal approved: legislation prohibiting coaches and other school employees from providing or promoting the use of performance-enhancing dietary supplements by athletes.

The House backed off an earlier proposal, passed out of its Finance Committee, that would have removed the tax breaks granted so-called "municipal economic development," or MED, zones. Instead, the chamber voted in favor of restricting the zones to "blighted" areas, and restraining their growth.

The bill, Finance Committee chairman Steven Costantino, D-Providence, said, was aimed at heading off plans in Woonsocket to create a special reduced-tax zone for "big box" retail stores. The bill went to the Senate, which did not immediately take up the issue.

The House Finance Committee late last night did clear a set of bills allowing -- but, unlike the Senate, not mandating -- that the state contribute up to $1 for every $2 of private money donated to the University of Rhode Island. The bill, said to be on the Senate's list of last-minute priorities, still needed the approval of both chambers in its amended form.

Among the unresolved questions as lawmakers readied for their weekend: Whether Governor Carcieri's nominee to head the Department of Mental Health, Retardation and Hospitals would ever see a confirmation vote.

Sen. Elizabeth H. Roberts, D-Cranston, who chairs the committee reviewing nominee Kathleen Spangler, said the nomination was not dead, "but clearly members of the committee have a lot of concerns and doubts that were raised" at a hearing earlier in the week.

"I don't think we were expecting the level of dispute and disagreement in the perspectives on the appointment," Roberts said. "So we felt it would not be appropriate to try and push the vote before we recessed."

"It looks like we're going to be coming back in the next few weeks anyway," she added. "We felt we have more research, more work to do."

Also still in play: efforts to make it easier for poor people who have had their utilities shut off to get them turned back on by making smaller monthly payments than currently required. A bill approved last night in the House called for a 15-percent up-front payment of what was owed, while the Senate voted for a bill that called for a 20-percent payment to start.

But in one moment of harmony earlier in the day, Governor Carcieri gathered with 30 or so lawmakers to celebrate the passage of the $6.35-billion state budget -- the first time in the Republican governor's three years in office that he has struck an agreement with the Democratic Assembly on a budget.