Ruggerio: “Unprecedented Last Minute Political Stunt” Fails, Abortion Bill Goes to Senate HHS
Wednesday, June 12, 2019
Senate President Dominick Ruggerio (left, with GoLocal News Editor Kate Nagle) spoke out after what happened on Tuesday.
However, a move planned by Republicans to vote in an ex-officio capacity prompted Senate Judiciary Chair Erin Lynch Prata to move to transfer the bill to the Health and Human Services committee, to be heard now on Thursday.
Senate President Dominick Ruggerio blasted the attempted maneuver.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“I have been clear that this critical piece of legislation should follow the normal committee process, whereby it would reach the Senate floor upon winning the support of a majority of the committee members. Last month, a version of an abortion rights bill failed to meet that threshold. At the time, I encouraged all parties to work together to craft a bill that would garner a majority of the committee members’ support," said Ruggerio. “A majority of committee members reached a consensus last week. I commend Chairwoman Lynch Prata for her strong and steady leadership and her passion, Sen. Archambault for continuing the dialogue and hard work, and all the members of the committee for their efforts regarding this matter."
“This morning, I learned that Republican members sitting in an ex-officio capacity planned to launch an unprecedented last-minute political stunt to torpedo this bill," said Ruggerio. "Throughout the day, I implored Republican leadership not to undermine the hard work of the Senate Judiciary Committee by abusing their powers as ex-officio members. In fact, Democratic and Republican leadership held several discussions this session where we agreed that we would not vote in committee on the bill because we wanted the committee process to take its normal course."
“The transfer of the bill to our Health and Human Services Committee ensures a path forward," added Ruggerio.
RI Coalition for Reproductive Freedom “Optimistic” About Bill in HHS
“We had a sense, especially on Twitter today, that the ex-officio [plan] was out there as a possibility,” Hilary Levey Friedman with the RI Coalition for Reproductive Freedom told GoLocalProv in an interview, of the attempted move by Republicans to strike down the measure. “It’s happened on other bills."
“Thankfully Chair Lynch Prata displayed true leadership by putting a stop to this and transferring it to [HHS],’ said Levey Friedman. “Senator Morgan attempted to not just silence her colleagues in the Senate and she tried to silence tens of thousands of Rhode Islanders.”
“We're grateful for Chair Lynch Prata for finding a way with so many hurdles, to keep this bill alive and hopefully to the floor for a vote,” said Levey Friedman.
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