State veterans department proposed

With lawmakers poised to begin voting today to cut the size of state government, the House made an exception yesterday when it approved a bill sought by military veterans who want their own stand-alone state department with its own Cabinet-level director.

The vote was unanimous, but when asked how much money — and how many employees — the new state budget dedicates to this proposed department, House spokesman Larry Berman said: none. Berman said the legislation sponsored by Rep. Kenneth Carter, D-North Kingstown, has a July 1, 2009, effective date so none is needed between now and then.

Eventually, the staff of the new Department of Veterans Affairs would be required to “prepare and present all veterans’ pension and compensation claims,” and provide unspecified “assistance in such sums of money and by such methods as will, in the judgment of that division, best relieve the needs of worthy applicants for assistance.”

Governor Carcieri vetoed a similar bill last year. Berman said the sponsor believes he has addressed the governor’s concerns.

In a related development, the House approved a bill introduced at the behest of Elizabeth Ricci, of North Providence, to allow the spouse of a deceased military veteran to get a special license plate even if he died before the state started handing out the plates in 1988.

Alternative-energy bill gets the OK

House Republicans made one last attempt yesterday at derailing a bill that will give the state’s major electricity supplier, National Grid, a multimillion-dollar bonus for securing long-term contracts for alternative forms of energy, such as wind and solar power.

Yesterday’s battle centered on a bid by Rep. Laurence Ehrhardt, R-North Kingstown, to strip the bill of a requirement that National Grid line up 5 megawatts of solar power, which he translated into $13.5 million in added cost for ratepayers.

House Minority Whip Nicholas Gorham, R-Coventry, chimed in with allegations that House Democratic leaders inserted the requirement in a bill sponsored by Senate President Joseph Montalbano at the behest of the New York-based Allco Renewable Energy Group Limited, LLC.

But House Majority Leader Gordon Fox denied that the requirement was added to the bill for any one company. Unlike wind power, which could take years to develop, he said solar energy is the most familiar and visible form of renewable energy already in use, and other states — including Massachusetts and Connecticut — already have more aggressive mandates for its use.

Allco lobbyist Bill Fischer, a former public relations consultant for the state Democratic Party, called Ehrhardt’s numbers “bogus.”

The bill, which began its journey in the Senate, now returns there for a final vote, after a 52-to-11 House vote of approval.

Seeking a shorter route to work

As gas prices hovered at $4.11 a gallon yesterday, the state Senate voted to approve twin bills from the House and Senate that would focus on how to encourage state employees to reduce their commuting miles — not by changing jobs, but by changing the way they get to those jobs. Under the legislation, which will head to the governor’s desk, the Department of Administration would set up a committee that would be charged with coming up with a plan to give state employees incentives to reduce their travel to work. The ideas include carpooling, telecommuting, biking or walking to work programs, and an offer of a RIPTA transit pass to employees in lieu of parking privileges. Rep. David Segal, D-Providence, and Sen. June N. Gibbs, R-Middletown, are the sponsors of the respective bills.

The goal is to reduce the miles traveled per every state employee by no less than 15 percent by Jan. 1, 2012, then 25 percent by Jan. 1, 2014, and 35 percent by Jan. 1, 2016. The director of the Department of Administration shall report to the governor every year on the program’s progress.

Also yesterday, the Senate Finance Committee easily approved Jerome Williams as the director of administration, replacing Beverly Najarian, who was moved into the job of governor’s chief of staff.

Williams has a long history in state government, from work at the state treasurer’s office to his former job as an executive director working for Najarian at the Department of Administration.

Senate panel says yes to interpreters

The state Department of Human Services will be required to schedule interpreters and provide information in languages other than English to help all people who are applying for benefits, under a bill sponsored by Sen. Maryellen Goodwin that was swiftly approved by the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services yesterday.

The bill requires the department to put up posters in its offices in various languages that inform readers that the department will provide interpreters “in a timely manner” for those applying for or receiving benefits –– they do not need to bring their own interpreter.

A statewide coordinator of interpreter services will be designated to act as a liaison between department district offices and those with limited English skills, community groups and their representatives. Under the bill, the coordinator shall evaluate the effectiveness of the department’s policies and procedures for communicating with people with limited command of English. The bill also requires that the managers and staff at the department are trained in these provisions, and that an annual review be conducted to see whether interpreter and bilingual staffing, outside interpreter services, and translated materials are meeting the needs.

A 1997 consent agreement made similar requirements of the state agency, after several people filed federal civil-rights complaints against it for the way it handled interpreter services.

When Governor Carcieri laid off 4 of 17 staff interpreters at the agency last fall, he said on talk radio that he didn’t know “why in God’s name” the state should be providing interpreters “for people who want benefits from us.”

House, Senate cut minimum sentences

For the second year in a row, the House and Senate have approved bills that would eliminate the minimum sentences for those convicted of drug offenses. The question now is whether the governor will approve the legislation, or veto it again.

Yesterday, the Senate approved, 27 to 5, the House bill sponsored by Rep. Joseph Almeida, D-Providence, to eliminate the minimum sentences and reduce the maximum sentences for those convicted of possessing with intent to deliver cocaine, heroin, PCP, LSD, and a kilo or more of marijuana. The House approved the bill last month. The Senate also recently voted to approve a matching bill sponsored by Sen. Harold Metts, D-Providence.

Under the bill, anyone convicted of drug offenses would face up to 20 years in prison, as opposed to the current sentencing requirements of 10 to 50 years. Those convicted when larger amounts of drugs are involved would face up to 30 years in prison, instead of the current 20 years to life.

The Senate also passed a bill to drop probation violation charges against defendants who are acquitted of the charges that led to the probation in the first place.

The Senate also passed legislation aimed at limiting prison sentences for offenders who are unable to pay their court fines. A bill sponsored by Metts requires a court review of a defendant’s ability to pay. The bill also sets a priority on paying restitution to the victims before paying the court fines for prosecution.

Family of murder victims would get help

Someone whose sibling or parent is murdered will be eligible for an award to cover the expenses of psychiatric care and mental-health counseling under a bill sponsored by Sen. Josh Miller, D-Cranston, and approved by the Senate yesterday.

Currently, the law only allows those expenses to be covered if the grieving sibling or child is a minor.

In order to qualify under the bill, the adult would have to provide proper documentation that the psychiatric care and mental-health counseling was incurred because of the death.

— Compiled by staff writers Amanda Milkovits and Katherine Gregg