General Assembly Convenes Today
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
The Rhode Island Senate and House will convene for their 2011 session 4 p.m. today.
The session kicks off with the swearing in of the 75 state reps and 38 state senators, including 22 new House members and seven new Senate members. Secretary of State Ralph Mollis will be administering the oath of office.
Also during opening day, Gordon Fox is expected to be re-elected as House Speaker and M. Teresa Paiva Weed is expected to win another term as Senate President.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTVotes will now appear in 'real time'
Today also marks the first time that votes will begin appearing on the General Assembly Web site the same day they are taken, according to House Speaker Gordon Fox’s office. The votes can be viewed under the “Legislation” section in a category called “Floor Votes.”
Fox made the announcement in response to a recent e-mail from a constituent. “Not too many votes are taken early in the session, but you will see all the votes in ‘real time’ as the session unfolds,” Fox wrote. “As I stated in my earlier e-mail, we are also looking at several other website enhancements to further the website transparency as the session progresses.”
A state taxpayer organization hailed the move as a big step forward in transparency.
“This is a major victory for citizen taxpayers and businesses, as well as for the state's largest taxpayer advocacy organization,” said Harriet Lloyd, spokeswoman for the Rhode Island Statewide Coalition. “RISC will now be able to create electronic 'scorecards' for each legislator on critical issues and post them on the Coalition's Web site, www.statewidecoalition.com. By 2012, voters will have solid and reliable information with which to compare candidates and select those who have earned their support.”
