That's the opinion of Common Cause of Rhode Island, which reports how the legislature has yet to implement much of the separation-of-powers amendment.

01:00 AM EST on Wednesday, November 30, 2005

BY SCOTT MAYEROWITZ
Journal State House Bureau

PROVIDENCE -- The Rhode Island General Assembly doesn't need more staff or funding because of the separation-of-powers constitutional amendment.

That is one of the key findings in a 132-page report issued today by Common Cause of Rhode Island.

Last year, voters overwhelmingly amended the state Constitution, stripping lawmakers and their appointees from numerous boards and commissions with "executive powers."

The report looks at how the amendment has or -- in most cases -- has not yet been implemented and suggests several ways lawmakers can still properly oversee government.

H. Philip West Jr., executive director of Common Cause, said some lawmakers have suggested using the change in government to get more resources.

"We don't really think that's necessary," he said. "We think the legislature already has an array of tools and part of the challenge will be to utilize them."

Those tools include the power to enact, amend or repeal laws, the power of the purse, the ability to call hearings and investigations and the power to impeach, according to the report, which was largely paid for by the Rhode Island Foundation.

West said Rhode Island has a long history of the General Assembly running the state in a "very hands-on way." But, he said, that is not the practice in most states or the federal government.

West estimates that there are 73 boards that have executive functions and must be reconstituted to remove lawmakers. The Assembly last year reconfigured 26 of those boards, according to West. Legislation changing another 32 passed each chamber but was procedurally killed off on the last night of the session.

A plan was never reached for several other major boards, such as the Narragansett Bay Commission, Coastal Resources Management Council and the board that decides who gets the prime real estate freed up by the relocation of Route 195.

Common Cause urges lawmakers to finish the work and save the state "an embarrassment."

"The voters in 2004 launched state government on a historic and irreversible change of course," West said. "We've begun to move in that new direction, but the most crucial part of that work lies ahead. If we get it wrong, we risk being seen and treated like we are a fourth world government."

In the report, Common Cause outlines several ways the General Assembly can increase its oversight without adding staff.

Last year's $27.5-million Assembly budget included the equivalent of 289 full-time positions, nine of which were new and specifically tied to new separation-of-powers oversight.

Common Cause takes issue with that, saying "oversight is not an additional burden imposed by the . . . amendment. It has always been a responsibility of the legislature."

The recommendations include:

Establishing a legislative oversight process where, on a rotating basis, each agency is thoroughly reviewed. Common Cause likens it to the accreditation process for colleges.

Requiring the General Assembly to include performance objectives and supporting data in its budget. Currently, the governor is required to include such data in his budget but that information disappears by the time lawmakers pass a budget.

Establishing a formal process to review and evaluate annual reports and audits.

Creating a state "hot line" where people can report suspected cases of waste, inefficiency, mismanagement or fraud.

One potentially controversial proposal calls for the establishment of performance evaluations for employees in the executive branch. Common Cause called the current lack of such evaluations "remarkable."

The group acknowledged the political challenges of implementing evaluations saying they "will certainly be resisted by a highly unionized work force."

The part-time General Assembly should also amend its schedule, Common Cause suggested. The group said that it is difficult to "conduct proactive and thorough oversight" during the "pressured" spring legislative session and said oversight hearings might be better held every other fall -- the nonelection years.

Common Cause also recommended subjecting the General Assembly's own governing body, the Joint Committee on Legislative Services, to the auditing and reporting requirements that all other administrative agencies have to comply with. The group also suggests that all legislative grants be posted on the Internet. Community service grants were posted online for the first time this year.

Finally, the report says that the state is way behind in the digital information age.

There are three different state government Web sites, all with different information. One has not been updated in more than 16 months.

The sites generally do not provide objective information about agencies, such as size and budget, but instead just link to the agency's own Web site.

Those sites, the report said, "are designed to enhance an agency's image with the public or ensure its head's reelection or reappointment and contain little if any basic information content."

READ THE FULL REPORT by Common Cause, called Making Government Work, at:

http://projo.com/sop.pdf