(Updated at 4 p.m.)
PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island General Assembly will convene on New Year’s Day on Tuesday, a rare holiday session because the state Constitution calls for the body to meet on the first Tuesday every January.
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The day’s events will include the swearing-in of 14 new state representatives and seven new senators.
Both the Senate and House membership will select their leaders for the next two years.
House Speaker Nicholas A. Mattiello, D-Cranston, is seeking his third full two-year term. Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio, D-North Providence, is seeking re-election to his first full- two-year term.
Mattiello has a potential challenge within his own party. State Rep. John Lombardi, D-Providence, in a letter to representatives Dec. 18, said he was seeking support to become the next speaker.
Lombardi offered four proposals to make the legislative process more inclusive within the House. They include having committee members elect their chairman or chairwoman, adopting term limits for leaders and committee chairs that would limit them to six years, and allowing bills held “for further study” in committee to go to the House floor if 38 members signed a petition.
“We must discontinue the practice of one person having the power to control any and all legislation,” he wrote. “Let’s demolish the authoritarian power that continually exists in our chamber.”
The General Assembly remains solidly Democratic in makeup. For the upcoming session, the House has 66 Democrats and nine Republicans. The Senate has 33 Democrats and five Republicans.
Several members have already filed legislation, in advance of the session opening.
Among the topics, making sure abortion remains legal in Rhode Island, regardless of what happens at the federal level.
Sen. Gayle L. Goldin, D-Providence, and Rep. Edith H. Ajello, D-Providence, have reintroduced a bill that would codify the reproductive health care rights in Rhode Island established under Roe v. Wade.
The legislation was similarly introduced in 2018 and 2017 but as yet has not found legislative support. Both Goldin and Ajello cited, among other factors, a conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court as a rationale.
The bill would strike old language from state law concerning abortion, including sections that would require married women to get their husband’s permission before obtaining an abortion.
In other legislative news, Rep. William W. O’Brien, D-North Providence, announced last week he would reintroduce a bill that would allow police officers at Rhode Island College and Community College of Rhode Island to carry firearms.
The University of Rhode Island started arming police officers in 2015, according to a legislative press release. Brown University also has police officers who carry firearms, O’Brien noted.
Mary MacDonald is a staff writer for the PBN. Contact her at macdonald@pbn.com.
