Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed consults with Senate Minority Leader Dennis Algiere and Senate Majority Leader Daniel Connors. At far left is Senate Parliamentarian, John Roney. The Providence Journal photos / Connie Grosch

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- On the final night of an unusual October gathering of the part-time General Assembly, lawmakers Thursday night outlawed indoor prostitution, prohibited saltwater fishing without a license, and banned drivers from text messaging on Ocean State roads.

The Legislature also cast final votes on high-profile bills that will allow voters to drop the word "plantations" from the state name, create New England Patriots license plates, and strip from the governor the power to appoint replacements should vacancies occur in the United States Senate.

In a nine-hour session that ended just after 12:30 a.m., the House and Senate approved nearly every bill on their crowded agendas that each began with roughly 70 items, but grew as the night wore on.

One of the few surprises in an otherwise scripted week, the Senate introduced, and approved minutes later, legislation that would divert hundreds of thousands of dollars in gambling revenue from the state's coffers to the Town of Lincoln. After being passed by the House later in the night, the measure is now on its way to the governor's office.

The frantic pace of the night and flurry of activity -- nearly 200 bills had been reviewed or voted on since Tuesday -- prompted criticism from some elected officials and government watchdogs.

But the sharpest jabs at the Democrat-dominated Legislature came from tiny Republican minority.

"Of the maybe 150 bills that we'll end up dealing with, I'd say 98 percent of them, total waste of time. Nebulous. Ridiculous. Insignificant," said House Deputy Minority Leader Joseph A. Trillo, R-Warwick.

Senate Majority Leader Daniel P. Connors later defended the Assembly's work.

"I think we accomplished a lost of important things," he said, noting that in addition to adopting a bevy of new laws, study commissions have been convened to address economic issues and structural budget problems.

Trillo applauded, however, Democratic leaders' decision to reject, at least for now, a proposal to allow binding arbitration for teachers unions. The practice, while allowed in police and fire unions, prompted a rain of criticism from taxpayer groups and municipal officials.

"A bullet's been dodged for the 2009 session, but I'm sure those issues and others are going to come back in early days of the 2010 session. It's inevitable," said Daniel Beardsley, executive director of the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns. "The battle may have been won, but it remains to be seen who wins the war."

Organized labor's only bright spot came when the House voted 39 to 28 to approve a measure increasing the number of apprentices and other union workers on various construction projects. The Senate later followed suit, sending the bill to the governor's desk, where it faces a likely veto.

Dozens of construction workers rallied for the bill in the State House rotunda before the session began. It was the only major protest held on Smith Hill Thursday as lawmakers raced to approve more than 100 new laws, many of which they had debated in the weeks before they abruptly adjourned at the end of June.

Highlights of Thursday's action include the following:

- Within a matter of days, Rhode Island drivers will likely be banned from text messaging while driving.

The House and the Senate passed a bill to prohibit the practice on roads throughout the Ocean State. The governor is expected to sign the legislation within the next few days, putting the new law in place immediately.

The Department of Transportation's Office of Highway Safety has already started working on a plan to get the word out about the change.

Spokeswoman Dana Nolfe said officials are working out an advertising campaign that could include radio ads and highway signs to let drivers know about the new law. "We're still defining it, but we know how important it is for people to be aware of these changes," Nolfe said.

Those caught texting behind the wheel could face 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 handheld cell phones for making phone calls. The ban will eliminate their right "to compose, read or send text messages while operating a motor vehicle." E-mails are banned as well.

Supporters of the measure point to accidents, some of them fatal, where the drivers' texting was found to be the cause of the crash. But critics question how the police will determine that a driver was in fact texting and not dialing a phone number to place a telephone call.

The practice is already banned in at least 10 states. And a bill introduced in Congress this summer could, if passed at the federal level, mean that states that do not ban text messaging by drivers could forfeit hundreds of millions of dollars in federal highway funds.

During Thursday's floor debate, several House members complained that he bill didn't go far enough and should have included an all-out ban on the use of cell phones while driving.

The General Assembly wraps up its special two-day session intended to take up a slew of bills left hanging in July.

In 2001, the state very nearly became one of the first in the nation to do something about cell-phone use behind the wheel when the General Assembly approved a bill completely banning hand-held phones. But then-Gov. Lincoln C. Almond vetoed the legislation.

"I would love to have included banning handheld cell phones at a minimum also but I realize this is a 10-year effort, and if we can get the most egregious offense out of the way at this time I'm happy doing this," said sponsor Peter Kilmartin, who vowed to keep pushing until the state enacts an all-out ban on cell phone use by drivers.

- The Assembly adopted legislation introduced Thursday night by Senate Majority Leader Daniel P. Connors, D-Cumberland that lifted a sunset provision on the Town of Lincoln's share of Twin River video lottery revenues.

When the lawmakers last year voted to extend the slot parlor's operating hours, they bumped up the town's share of the new revenue. The increased share expired with state law at the end of June, however. And in the four months since, the town has been receiving a smaller percentage.

Connor's bill is retroactive to July 1 and shifts at most $800,000 from the state's general fund to Lincoln, bringing the town's annual total to an estimated $5.9 million in video slot income this year. State budget officials did not anticipate the loss of revenue.

"That is money that was flowing to Lincoln until June 30," Connors later said, adding that the initial language was included in a bill to extend dog racing at Twin River. But the governor vetoed that measure.

- As of Jan. 1, Rhode Island saltwater fisherman must purchase $7 licenses, while out-of-state anglers will pay $10. Fines for first-time offenders would be $10, followed by $50 and $100 for subsequent offenses.

- Lawmakers voted to strip the governor of his power to appoint a replacement for a U.S. senator who dies or leaves office in mid-term, and require special elections instead. Known as the "Blagojevich bill," the law seeks to remedy the problems that occurred when former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich allegedly tried to sell a Senate seat.

While the governor hasn't indicated whether he would veto the measure, it would require that a special election be held, unless the vacancy occurs after July 1 of an election year, in which case the vacancy would be filled during the regular election cycle.

- The police will be allowed to obtain search warrants compelling chemical-substance tests for certain suspected drunken drivers.

For nearly a decade, the attorney general's office has fought to allow the police to get warrants requiring drunken-driving suspects involved in serious or fatal accidents to undergo blood tests or other screenings.

- Same sex couples in Rhode Island may have the right to make funeral arrangements for their deceased partners.

The law, if it survives a gubernatorial veto, would give such rights to "domestic partners" as defined by people who certify, by affidavit, that they lived with the deceased for at least one year "in an exclusive, intimate and committed relationship."

- 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 Assembly also passed tougher penalties for minor charged with operating a boat or other watercraft while under the influence.

The measure follows the boating incident that killed Barrington High School student Patrick Murphy in July 2007 during a day of drinking and knee-boarding on the Barrington River. Under the new law, a minor would have his or her driver's license suspended for a year and lose the right to operate a watercraft for up to six months.

The owner of the water craft involved would also have their license suspended.

- Both chambers also approved legislation to address Rhode Island's skyrocketing foreclosure rates.

Mortgage holders will be required to offer homeowners mediation with a HUD-approved counselor before foreclosing on a house.

The goal of mediation would be to adjust or renegotiate loan terms so that they are more affordable for homeowners. Banks and lenders would now be required to provide written notice, in English and Spanish, to homeowners 45 days prior to their intent to foreclose on a property.

The notice would also point homeowners to no-cost, federal Housing and Urban Development-approved counseling agencies in the state.

The measure, discussed early in the 2009 legislative session, is among the legislature's most significant responses to the state's foreclosure problems to date. It follows recent passage of city ordinances in Providence and Cranston that attempt to impose the same safeguards at the local level by making mediation, or at least an attempt to offer meditation to the homeowner, a prerequisite for filing a foreclosure deed.

- The Westerly branch of the Division of Motor Vehicles would be re-opened at least one day a week.

The town of Westerly has donated both the utility costs and the space for the office. Supporters in a spirited debate cited four-hour wait times at the nearest DMV branch in Wakefield. Opponents, however, cited the budgetary cost to the state to service an area with another existing branch close by.

- Among the agenda items ultimately shot down was a bill that would have wiped away criminal records of offenders with deferred sentences.

The proposal passed the House, but the Senate failed to address the measure, killing it for this year at least. Inmate advocates, however, won a victory on another bill.

The full Assembly approved legislation to make it easier in some cases for people imprisoned for violating their probation, but not without a spirited debate and by the margin that it may need to withstand a Carcieri veto. The governor has vetoed similar bills twice before

Under the bill, probationers who are sent back to prison because they were arrested on a new charge could petition a judge for release if a grand jury refused to indict them, if the attorney general dropped the case for lack of evidence or a jury found the probationer not guilty.

Supporters said the bill would only affect people that the legal system has determined were not guilty and didn't belong in jail. Opponents countered probationers simply didn't have the same rights that people who haven't been convicted of a crime enjoy. Others worried that in cases like domestic assault, where a victim didn't testify, a probationer who deserved jail could go free.

- Staff Writer John Hill contributed to this report