The Rhode Island Senate is moving to put written testimony online, mirroring a practice adopted by the House of Representatives in 2021. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current)
Better late than never.
That’s the message of the Rhode Island Senate, which announced Thursday that it was moving to make public testimony on legislation available online.
The proposal, part of a larger set of chamber rules included in a resolution sponsored by Sen. Mark McKenney, a Warwick Democrat, will be introduced for preliminary hearing before the Senate Committee on Rules, Government Ethics and Oversight on Monday.
“It’s time, it’s long overdue,” McKenney, who chairs the rules committee, said in an interview on Friday. “It’s 2025. We have got to get this done.”
McKenney, along with public access advocates and members of the media, have pushed for years for the Senate to post committee documents, including written testimony on bills, on the General Assembly website, mirroring the practice adopted by the House of Representatives in 2021.
Senate leadership has historically resisted following suit, citing the lack of staff. Unlike the House, which has full-time clerks, the Senate’s clerks work part-time and typically begin their days shortly before the afternoon and evening committee hearings, said Greg Paré, a Senate spokesperson.
The Senate is planning to hire a new, full-time staffer specifically dedicated to sorting public commentary and posting it online with the appropriate committee to meet the proposed rule change, Paré said Friday. Additional information on the hiring plans, including whether there will be a public job posting and the salary, was not immediately available.
Funding will come from the General Assembly’s fiscal 2025 budget, which has “a little cushion,” Paré said.
Asked why the Senate had not previously considered hiring another staffer if it had the money, Paré pointed to McKenney’s advocacy with legislative leaders this year.
“He made it his top priority, so credit goes to him,” Paré said.
McKenney tells it differently, saying he has urged the Senate to adopt the practice since he was reelected in 2022. While the Senate provides submitted testimony upon request, most people don’t know that option exists, or how to get it.
And, as McKenney noted, the process of responding to individual requests for testimony also eats up staff time.
Both McKenney and Paré denied any relationship between the timing of the decision and increased scrutiny over Senate President Dominick Ruggerio. Ruggerio missed the Senate’s weekly session Tuesday — his third absence this year — because he was hospitalized with pneumonia. Ruggerio was transferred from the hospital to the rehabilitation center at Our Lady of Fatima Hospital Wednesday, where he remains and is “doing very well,” Paré said.
Ruggerio’s absences for large chunks of the 2024 legislative session due to his health created a rift among Senate Democrats over his ability to continue leading the upper chamber.
McKenney, who voted for Ruggerio in the contested caucus leadership vote in November, said the continued divisions were irrelevant to the rules change.
“We all recognize there is a faction in the Senate that is trying to suggest the body is not functional, not doing things as well as it should in part because the Senate President is having health problems,” McKenney said. “The important thing for me is that we are getting this done. And soon, it will just be the status quo.”
Ruggerio expressed support for the proposal in a statement Thursday.
“Responsibly balancing our available resources with the many demands on staff is always a challenge, but it is time to take this important step forward,” he said. “Improving access to public testimony will strengthen the committee process, improve public transparency, and foster trust in government, all of which is essential to the work we do at the State House.”
The text of the resolution, including other proposed rule changes, was not available as of Friday afternoon. The initial hearing, slated for 4 p.m. Monday, will not include a committee vote, a date for which has not been scheduled, Paré said.
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