As Rhode Island undertakes its once-a-decade tradition of deliberating whether the state should hold a constitutional convention, a unified opposition and scattered proponents have emerged prior to a November ballot measure.
The state convention – which the Rhode Island Constitution itself says must be considered every 10 years – hasn’t been held in the Ocean State since 1986.
Opponents of the constitutional convention say that’s for good reason. Steven Brown, executive director o American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island Inc., described that meeting as “a disaster for civil liberties and civil rights.”
Nearly four decades later, Brown and fellow convention opponents – including a group of at least 37 organizations united under the name Rhode Island Citizens for Responsible Government – say the potential for abuse has only increased and the price tag for the state to reconvene the convention could be millions of dollars.
Although no organized effort has arisen among proponents, some individuals have made a case for holding a convention, which would take place in 2026 if approved by voters.
When the Constitutional Convention Commission – a group tasked with identifying potential issues that a convention could address – met on July 30, Steven Frias, a member of the Republican National Committee, said that reconvening the gathering would increase the average resident’s political influence.
“It’s the people who have the final say,” Frias said, noting that changes proposed at a convention would still require a statewide vote.
While some opponents to a convention have cited abortion rights as a vulnerable issue, for instance, Frias said it’s “absolutely ridiculous” to expect that voters would OK antiabortion changes.
Brown disagrees. While the 1986 convention did propose a well-known anti-abortion measure that voters ultimately struck down, he says a lesser-known strike against abortion rights passed.
That’s because the question was presented on a crowded ballot, according to Brown.
“The [convention] passed so many amendments that some of them had to be bundled ... into the same question,” he said.
The 1986 convention also proposed restricting rights to bail and suppressed voting rights for people with a criminal record. And because a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling eased restrictions on campaign financing, now “powerful and monied out-of-state interests can spend as much money as they want to push their own interests,” Brown said.
Kristina Contreras Fox, director of policy for the Rhode Island Black Business Association, said the high court decision turns the convention into a “pay-to-play deal.”
“We exist in a time where if you have the money – especially if you’re a billionaire – you have a huge pen to rewrite any kind of law,” Fox said.
Common Cause Rhode Island has elected to remain neutral.
The nonpartisan government watchdog group took the same position in 2014 but opposed a constitutional convention in 2004. The group says that both sides raise valid points.
“There has been an increase in outside spending in elections in Rhode Island and nationally since the last time we had a convention,” said Executive Director John Marion. And “opponents [of the convention] are correct that the convention … can take up any issue and put anything it wants on the ballot.”
But “the proponents make valid points about this being the only valid alternative” to relying on the legislature to pass laws, Marion said.
Marion expects that voters will keep to their decadeslong track record.
“It’s been defeated each time since 1984,” Marion said. “That seems to be, generally speaking, the default position. I don’t expect it will pass.”
