PROVIDENCE — The Rhode Island Supreme Court has taken a pass — at least for now — on deciding whether state lawmakers have any remaining role in appointing members — or approving the governor’s appointments — to two high-profile boards with a penchant for controversy: the Beacon Mutual Insurance Co. and the state Coastal Resources Management Council.

In twin decisions issued yesterday, the high court said it was required to issue advisory opinions only on matters pending or awaiting action by the General Assembly, which is not the case now for a host of logistical reasons.

Among them: the lawmakers are in recess; there is no longer enough time to schedule arguments and respond before the new legislative session begins on Jan. 2; and by then, “the composition of the legislative body that propounded the question’’ in the final days of the ’06 session will have changed as a result of the Nov. 7 election.

Bottom line: the court is not required “to give an opinion to a succeeding legislative body in reply to a request propounded by a preceding legislative body.’’

Key lawmakers were unavailable yesterday for comment on whether they plan to refile the advisory-opinion requests made in the final 48 hours of the legislative session that ended in late June. Both stemmed from the passage, by voters, of an amendment to the state Constitution that evicted lawmakers from scores of state boards and commissions.

Senate Democratic leaders asked the high court whether that left the Senate with final approval — also known as advice-and-consent power — over Republican Governor Carcieri’s appointments to the Beacon board specifically.

Carcieri recently dropped his well-publicized and unsuccessful legal fight to remove AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer George H. Nee, and former state Rep. Henry R. Boeniger, a teachers union lobbyist, from the board of directors of Beacon, which is the state’s dominant workers compensation insurer.

Earlier this month, former Beacon executive David R. Clark pleaded not guilty to five felony counts of conspiracy, insurance fraud and computer crime at his arraignment in Kent County Superior Court.

Clark, 57, was fired from his position as the company’s vice president of loss prevention and underwriting in April, along with the insurer’s president, Joseph A. Solomon, after an external audit of the company, conducted by Giuliani Safety & Security over a period of two months, found evidence that Beacon gave breaks to some large companies with policies of more than $10,000 and maintained “inappropriate relationships” with certain insurance agents.

The audit also set off a political firestorm, with Carcieri trying to oust Nee and Boeniger, and the state police delivering subpoenas for "any and all records" used in compiling the Giuliani report.

But the state’s highest court on June 8 denied the governor’s request to stay a Superior Court ruling that prohibited him from removing Nee and Boeniger. The Supreme Court also denied the governor’s request for a speedy, or "expedited," hearing on his appeal. 

The governor could have persisted. But since the case would not have been resolved until after the terms of both board members had expired on Nov. 29 — which is now just around the corner — he quietly dropped the court fight under the terms of an unpublicized agreement .

The request for a Supreme Court opinion on the Senate’s power over future appointments was sponsored by Senate President Joseph A. Montalbano and several of his close allies who work for arms of the Laborers International Union of North America or the AFL-CIO: Senators Dominick Ruggerio, Frank Ciccone and John Tassoni.

In an interview yesterday, Carcieri spokesman Mike Maynard said the governor does not believe he needs the Senate’s advice and consent for his four appointees to the embattled Beacon board, including two he has already made: Sister Therese Antone, president of Salve Regina University, and retired state police Maj. Brendan P. Doherty.

The query about CRMC appointments came from House leaders, who maintained in their own advisory opinion request that the state Constitution gives them jurisdiction over environmental issues and may allow them to serve on the Coastal Resources Management Council despite separation of powers.

The council handles more than 1,100 applications each year for proposals to install docks, build houses, subdivide land, restore lighthouses — in short, to do almost anything on or near the state’s meandering shoreline.

Before separation of powers, the council consisted of 16 members: two state representatives, two state senators, four “appointed or elected officials of local government” appointed to the council by the governor, three from coastal municipalities; three members of the public appointed by the governor; four members of the public, two of them from coastal municipalities, appointed by the House speaker; and the director of the state Department of Environmental Management or his designee.

After the separation-of-powers amendment passed, lawmakers stopped attending meetings. There have been no new legislative appointments to the panel since then. Maynard yesterday reiterated Carcieri’s stance: “We don’t believe legislators or legislative appointees belong on the board. It is inconsistent.’’

But the House asked the court whether members of the Assembly, and members appointed by the House speaker, could properly serve on the council, in light of Article 1, Section 17 of the state Constitution, which reads, in part: “It shall be the duty of the General Assembly to provide for the conservation of the air, land, water, plant, animal, mineral and other natural resources of the state.”

The board’s current members are: Chairman Michael M. Tikoian, of Narragansett; Vice Chairman Paul E. Lemont, of East Providence; Thomas Ricci, of Cranston; David Abedon, of Warwick; Jerry Sahagian, of Narragansett; K. Joseph Shekarchi, of Warwick; Neill Gray, of Newport; Raymond C. Coia, of Lincoln; Gerald P. Zarrella, of New Shoreham; Bruce Dawson, of North Kingstown; and DEM Director W. Michael Sullivan. Sahagian’s term ended last January.

Maynard said Carcieri has been “waiting for the smoke to clear’’ before dealing with the opening.

Supreme Court Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg did not participate in yesterday’s decision. Her husband, State House lobbyist Robert Goldberg, frequently appears before the CRMC.