Chafee’s ‘Distressed Communities’ Bills: Hard Sell at Statehouse
Friday, April 27, 2012
The spectre of domino bankruptcies filled opening testimony at Statehouse hearings on the Governor's distressed communities legislation.
The former executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island and ordained United Methodist minister was an administrator at Church of All Nations in New York City’s East Village in the mid-1970s when the nation’s largest city experienced bankruptcy, and witnessed consequences he fears for Providence, he told the House Finance Committee yesterday during a hearing on Gov. Lincoln Chafee’s legislative package targeting distressed municipalities and the state’s budget crisis.
“What I saw was violence, the veneer of legality torn away. That’s what I fear for Providence. When you hear urgency in my voice, it’s real,” he told the hearing room packed with municipal leaders supporting the Chafee bills and firefighters and union leaders opposing them.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe Chafee package: COLAs, increased oversight over contracts and more
West urged the legislators to pass the Chafee package, which includes suspension of COLAs on municipal pensions to help decrease unfunded liabilities, in similar fashion to the reforms taken with state and teacher pensions last year. Other bills in the Chafee package would free municipalities from unfunded mandates, give the state’s most distressed cities and towns greater oversight over school contracts and power to enforce new municipal contract provisions under certain conditions, and reduce police and fire disability pensions from 66 2/3 percent to 50 percent if the recipient is able to work elsewhere.
The committee unanimously voted to recommend the bills for further study. Another hearing will likely be scheduled to hear further testimony, followed by a vote on whether to send the bills to the full House, said Larry Berman, House communications director.
Besides the financial consequences, West said after his testimony, there is also the damage to the state’s image if the Central Falls bankruptcy turns into a string of bankruptcies elsewhere. “I remember the contempt the rest of the country had for New York City. When the city was down, people kept kicking it further down.”
Chafee echoed that theme in his testimony, saying the Central Falls bankruptcy stained the state’s reputation for the rest of the nation. “We cannot have national publications pointing to bankruptcy in Rhode Island when we’re trying to bring in new businesses,” he said.
Is the General Assembly "finally getting the message"?
Following the hearing, both West and Chafee voiced optimism that the General Assembly may finally be getting the message additional financial reform is necessary. One heartening development, said Chafee, has been the heavy lobbying presence of municipal leaders at the Statehouse, with mayors and town managers very well represented among those testifying.
“We’re getting as many towns as possible to send resolutions in support, and as (RI League of Cities and Towns Executive Director) Dan Beardsley pointed out in his testimony, in the last 16 years, you’ve never heard such a unified voice,” Chafee said.
While acknowledging the bills may be modified or combined during the process, “The General Assembly is in a better place now than they were 15 years ago,” West said. “The passage of separation of powers has empowered Chafee to go what he’s doing, and the rest of the country got a glimpse of it when they saw what the governor and (General Treasurer) Gina Raimondo did with state pensions.”
But support is not unanimous
Support for the legislation was not unanimous among the hearing witnesses, however, with opposition voiced by leaders of firefighters, teachers and nursing unions. Firefighters turned out in force for the hearing, many watching on closed-circuit television in a third-floor hearing room with others unable to get into the committee’s basement hearing room.
The most harsh criticism came from Paul Valletta, Cranston firefighters union president, criticizing bill co-sponsor Rep. Jon Brien (D-Woonsocket) and taking a poke at Chafee’s view of the state’s image. “Maybe if he and other leaders in the state would stop going around threatening bankruptcy, maybe we wouldn’t be hearing about in those publications,” Valletta said.
State AFL-CIO President George Nee assailed the provisions allowing review of contractual provisions in distressed communities. “What is the value of a contract, which is fundamental to our society and our business climate?” he asked.
Full-court press
Two supporters of the Chafee legislation urged municipal leaders and state legislators to push hard for the public support than could lead to passage, William Sequino Jr., East Greenwich town manager, urged support of the bill even though virtually all his town’s employees are covered under state pension systems. “They’re being judged by bond rating agencies. You have outside groups looking at the towns,” he said.
The strong turnout among his peers left Sequino hopeful about the package’s prospects. “They’re looking at doing something, making some kind of statement, even if they put it in one bill,” he said.
Lisa Blais, executive director of Ocean State Tea Party in action, was also encouraged by what she saw yesterday. “Members of the finance committees and legislators are starting to pay attention to the content of the bills, and the town managers are unified and telling them they need the bills,” she said. Blais urged the bill’s supporters to start taking action at the community level. “They need to start talking to their constituents like they do during the campaign. They need to ratchet it up,” she said.
Related Articles
- Central Falls Bankruptcy - City Reacts
- NEW: Rating Agency Reacts to Central Falls Bankruptcy
- Central Falls Mayor—Don’t Blame Me for Bankruptcy
- NEW: Receiver—Decision on Central Falls Bankruptcy Weeks Away
- Chafee—Central Falls Bankruptcy a ‘Positive’ for Economic Development
- Ten Ways to Save Providence from Bankruptcy
- Expert Says Municipalities Should Stop Threatening Bankruptcy
- Will Central Falls Bankruptcy Damage RI’s Brand?
- NEW: Cranston Labeled a “Distressed Community”
- Is Providence on the Verge of Bankruptcy?
- A LIVELY EXPERIMENT Central Falls Bankruptcy
- Municipal Bankruptcy: Who’s Next In RI?
- A LIVELY EXPERIMENT Central Falls Bankruptcy Pt. 2
- NEW: Central Falls Bankruptcy—General Assembly Leaders Speak Out
- BREAKING NEWS: Central Falls Files for Bankruptcy
- NEW: RIPEC Report Finds Bankruptcy Might Not Solve Cash-Strapped Cities’ Problems
