Every year, Rhode Island’s 113-member citizen legislature has plenty to pack into a six-month session. This year has been no different.
Major issues debated include raising the minimum wage, legalizing marijuana, hashing out a 20-year lottery contract and affordable housing, not to mention helping navigate Rhode Island out of an economy-crushing pandemic.
And, oh yeah, there’s the passage of a state budget that could exceed $12 billion next fiscal year.
It’s no wonder that Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio doesn’t shy away when the topic of the General Assembly’s part-time status is raised.
See related story: Lawyers only constant in ever-changing assembly
Ruggerio, a Providence Democrat, says the job of legislating – even in the smallest state in the union – has grown too sophisticated to be handled by politicians often distracted with day jobs outside of the Statehouse. He’d like to see the General Assembly become a full-time, professional body.
“The time has come,” the retired labor official told Providence Business News. “The issues are too complex for a part-time legislature. If it doesn’t happen now, it will happen eventually.”
Ruggerio backed legislation several years ago that would have cut the size of the General Assembly to 75 lawmakers
while paying them an $85,000 annual salary. The measure – which would have required voters to amend the state constitution – failed to garner enough support in the legislature.
How such a proposal might fare now is unclear. State leaders, including Gov. Daniel J. McKee, and community groups have already begun debating “big ideas” for making transformational changes in the state over the next few years with the help of Rhode Island’s estimated $1.1 billion windfall from the latest round of federal pandemic aid. No one has publicly raised the idea of revamping the General Assembly in those discussions or in this year’s jam-packed legislative session.
But like Ruggerio, House Minority Leader Blake A. Filippi, R-New Shoreham, thinks the time is right for the state to reconsider a full-time legislature.
“There is an incredible amount on our plate,” Filippi said. “It’s not reasonable to think as a part-time legislature that all members can fully grasp all of the issues surrounding policy that we make on a daily basis. It’s just not happening.”
The suggestion of changing the current setup – in which legislators are paid about $16,600 annually, plus health insurance, to meet three days a week from January to June – has been broached numerous times over the years, most recently when former House Speaker Gordon Fox was given a three-year prison sentence for corruption in 2015. At the time, his lawyer spoke about how Fox had struggled to maintain a career as a public servant in the General Assembly while keeping his solo law practice afloat.
Indeed, supporters of a move to a full-time legislature have argued in the past that it could help limit corruption and eliminate conflict-of-interest allegations that arise when lawmakers craft legislation and vote on bills that affect industries in which they work.
In one case, former state Sen. John Celona pleaded guilty to federal mail fraud charges in 2005 after he was accused of using his influence in the legislature for personal gain, including getting a consulting job at Roger Williams Medical Center. He was sentenced to 2½ years in prison.
But full-time legislatures in other states have not been immune to corruption. Former Mass. House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, for example, served five years in federal prison for corruption before he was granted early release in 2016, according to The Boston Globe.
In Rhode Island, concerns about high costs have also helped sink proposals for a full-time General Assembly in the past.
H. Philip West Jr., who served as executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island for 18 years until retiring in 2006, said he was part of a special commission in 1994 that examined whether the state’s citizen legislature should be overhauled. While recommending higher pay and a smaller legislature – changes eventually approved by voters – the panel concluded that a full-time General Assembly would be far too expensive for Rhode Island.
“You can’t have a full-time legislature in a small state unless you have low pay, which is going to get you a bad product,” West said.
Instead, the commission endorsed establishing a strong Ethics Commission to police wrongdoing and beefing up legislative staffing so that elected officials would be better-informed before making decisions.
The thinking, West says, was that having part-time legislators who have other occupations has an added benefit – the time and opportunity for representatives and senators to “stay in touch with the people they represent” in their districts.
“It’s not perfect by any means, but it’s better [than having a full-time legislature],” West said.
‘CITIZEN’ STATUS
The origins of the state’s citizen legislature can be traced back to Rhode Island’s establishment as a colony when governing decisions were made at meetings in homes throughout the area. Those meetings became more formal when a royal charter was obtained from King Charles II in 1663 and the title of the legislature, the General Assembly, was first set.
It wasn’t until 1843 that state leaders abandoned the charter – which restricted voting rights to a small population of elite, rural, landowning, native-born white males – and enacted the state’s first constitution. Since then, the General Assembly has fluctuated in size but hasn’t deviated from its “citizen” status.
And that’s the way House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, D-Warwick, wants to keep it.
“It’s been this way for 200 years,” said Shekarchi, an attorney who has been a state representative for a decade. “No one has said anything to me about a full-time legislature or restructuring or changing the form of government.”
Shekarchi considers himself a traditionalist when it comes to government and says Rhode Island’s system is “not an outlier” compared to other states.
Nine states have a part-time legislature similar to Rhode Island’s, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, while four others have part-time lawmakers with lower pay and smaller staffs.
Another 10 states – including Massachusetts – have full-time legislatures that pay an average salary of about $82,000; and 26 states have “hybrids” that are in session for nine months of the year, with legislators earning an average of $41,000, according to the NCSL.
Peverill Squire, a political science professor at the University of Missouri, says many states made changes to their legislative bodies between 1940 and 1980, including hiking pay and beefing up staffing – but, according to his research, Rhode Islanders rejected proposed pay raises for legislators at least six times between 1950 and 1973. “It was during that period that the Rhode Island General Assembly got left behind,” he said.
In recent decades, Squire said, when four states – including neighboring Connecticut – switched from a part-time legislature to a hybrid setup, Rhode Island didn’t budge, even keeping the annual stipend paid to legislators at $300 from 1905 until 1994 (although the General Assembly enacted legislative pensions during that time, and later health insurance coverage).
‘CONSTANT STRUGGLE’
The problem, Filippi said, is part-time legislators have limited time for lawmaking, and often defer to General Assembly leadership and the executive branch for deciding policy. “That is problematic from a representative democracy point of view,” he said.
“There is always a constant struggle between membership and leadership,” said Filippi, who is an attorney and business owner. “We need to have more of an empowered membership. Not a gelded speaker, but a membership that has more power in the assembly.”
Filippi thinks three changes are needed: converting to a full-time legislature, allowing public financing of elections and making four-year terms for lawmakers. He said the House speaker and Senate president should have term limits.
That way, Filippi says, lawmakers would have more time to focus on policy and be less prone to conflicts of interest while not facing challenges associated with making a living outside public life.
Shekarchi said he tries to avoid even the slightest appearance of conflicts.
“Should one ever occur, I would recuse myself from the debate and from voting,” he said. “I seek guidance from the Ethics Commission if I ever perceive of a potential conflict, and I encourage all elected officials to speak with the Ethics Commission to avoid any conflicts.”
John Marion, current Common Cause Rhode Island executive director, said the organization is taking no stance on whether the state should move to a professional legislature. He said a full-time General Assembly could solve some problems but create others, such as giving career politicians more opportunity to get into mischief.
Marion said a possible solution would be shortening the state’s legislative sessions from six months to 30 or 60 days, such as what is done with the citizen legislature in New Mexico. That would make the job less onerous, he said.
But Rep. June Speakman, D-Warren, who teaches American politics at Roger Williams University, insisted that legislators need more time in session, not less. “Regardless of the size of the state, the problems are as complex as they are in California,” she said. “So, it is a big job, and doing it for three months, four months, or five months a year is not enough time. The legislature should be in session all year.”
Wendy J. Schiller, a political science professor at Brown University, said Rhode Island could move to a hybrid model in which representatives and senators are paid more but also have longer sessions. “You get what you pay for,” she said. “The idea that Rhode Island can’t find the money; I don’t believe that.”
One potential source of funding to begin reexamining the idea could be the more than $1 billion in federal stimulus money from the American Rescue Plan Act.
The state is still waiting for guidance on how that money can be used. Filippi said it shouldn’t be used directly to help pay for a full-time legislature, but he thinks it might free up money from elsewhere in the budget to do so. He’d welcome a study commission to examine how other states operate with full-time or hybrid legislatures.
“In so many things, we have to think outside the box if we as a state are to turn the corner, and this is one of those things; we have to start thinking differently,” he said.
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GETTING AN EDUCATION: Freshman Sen. Kendra Anderson says she enjoys researching even the most minor bills that come before her. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO[/caption]
Sen. Kendra Anderson, D-Warwick | School teacher
For teacher Kendra Anderson, the last five months have been quite the learning experience.
The freshman state senator said she has been busy learning the ropes of lawmaking, and she’s found she loves researching the issues. “Even the smallest legislative bills are challenging,” she said. “You need to do a lot of research on them.”
Anderson, 63, an English as a second language teacher in Central Falls, was elected to her first term in November, taking a seat after incumbent Erin Prata Lynch decided not to run again so she could apply to be an R.I. Supreme Court justice. Prata Lynch was later nominated for the position by then-Gov. Gina M. Raimondo and confirmed by the Senate.
Despite her job as a teacher, Anderson said she is available to her constituents in Warwick and Cranston by cellphone any time of day. She acknowledged that she is split on the question of a full-time General Assembly.
She thinks legislators could use additional time to improve the job they’re doing. “But I love that we come from all different professions and are a part of the community, which is so important,” she said.
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BALANCING ACT: Rep. Justine A. Caldwell says being a part-time legislator is really a full-time job. She is also the primary caregiver to her two children. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO[/caption]
Rep. Justine A. Caldwell, D-East Greenwich | Stay-at-home parent
Justine A. Caldwell decided to run for office after Hillary Clinton lost her presidential bid to Donald Trump in 2016.
“I was devastated,” said Caldwell, 38. “This might sound crazy, but I felt like I needed to do something to make it up to her.”
It wasn’t until 2018 that she mounted a campaign to unseat three-term incumbent Republican Antonio Giarrusso. She squeaked by for the victory and then fended off Giarrusso again in 2020.
Caldwell, who has advanced degrees in English and American studies, is the primary caregiver for her son and daughter. She works around her children’s schedule, getting them off to school before shifting into her role as a lawmaker, a job that has become a full-time position for her.
“You’re helping constituents with their problems every day,” she said. “I think at this point that I am the only mom of young kids in the House, and I think I am the only primary caregiver of young kids in the House. It’s a lot to balance, and a big responsibility.”
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TWO BEATS: Rep. Raymond A. Hull, a commanding officer in the Providence Police Department’s Public Housing Unit, says it can be a lot of work to get up to speed on crucial measures before making an informed decision. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO[/caption]
Rep. Raymond A. Hull, D-Providence | Providence police officer
Raymond A. Hull says becoming a state lawmaker was a natural extension of his full-time profession: law enforcement.
Hull, 57, has served on the Providence Police Department for 28 years and is now commanding officer of the department’s Public Housing Unit. First elected to the House in 2010, he has run unopposed in the last three elections. At the moment, his most visible role in the General Assembly is as chairman of the House COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force.
“I’m a people person. I want to help people,” Hull said of his job as a part-time legislator and full-time police officer on the beat. “I find it easy for me because I have firsthand experience meeting people on the street.”
Hull said he believes the state would benefit from a full-time legislature due to the time lawmakers devote to the task now.
“It’s a lot of work – reading proposed legislation and asking the tough questions,” he said. “Sometimes you don’t know anything about what is being proposed. I’ll be the first one to admit it.”
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READY TO ROLL: Rep. Ramon A. Perez first entered state politics when he was frustrated by an insurance premium increase he had to pay on his taxicab. Despite initial election losses, he was hooked on politics. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY[/caption]
Rep. Ramon A. Perez, D-Providence | Taxicab owner
Rep. Ramon A. Perez says he often gets calls from his constituents who think they’ve dialed the wrong number. That’s because when he’s on duty in his taxicab, he answers the phone with a simple “Taxi.”
The job allows him to sleep during the day, work at night and somehow squeeze in General Assembly sessions three days a week between January and June.
“When I tell my passengers that I am a state representative, they are surprised,” said Perez, 49. “They say, ‘Wow. Really? Why are you driving a taxi?’ I tell them that I serve part time as a representative – and I only make $250 a week.”
Perez first ran for a Providence Senate seat in 2012, frustrated by an insurance premium increase on his taxicab. He failed twice to unseat incumbent Democrat Sen. Juan Pichardo but became “addicted to politics” and found success running for a House seat in 2016. After losing that seat in 2018, he regained it in 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult for him to earn a living. As a cab driver, Perez said he earned about $250 a day before the coronavirus crisis. After pandemic restrictions went into effect, his daily take dropped to $40 to $50.
Cassius Shuman is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Shuman@PBN.com.
