Sasse Calls for State House Changes, Says JCLS Needs to be Reformed
Tuesday, February 04, 2020
Former Rhode Island Director of Administration Gary Sasse says it is time to reform the inner workings of the Rhode Island State House, specifically, how the Speaker of the House controls the $47 million budget of the Joint Committee on Legislative Services (JCLS).
“It's obviously about politics," said Sasse, of Speaker Nick Mattiello calling for an audit of the Convention Center. "Obviously, it's about some missteps the Speaker has taken...it's pretty clear that the way the order was started for the Convention Center was not good procedure, and whether how much trouble the Speaker's in, or is not in, none of us know. We have to wait to see what happens. The [Jeffrey] Britt trial, we have to see what happens with the state police investigation."
“The system needs to be fixed, so if you just correct the political noise that exists right now, with was the Speaker was right or wrong, and don't make those structural changes to the Joint Committee you ain't accomplished anything worth the damn,” said Sasse who heads the Hassenfeld Institute at Bryant University.
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Sasse: Time to Create Equal Representation with the Senate and Professionalize the System
Sasse made two substantive recommendations when he appeared on "Business Monday" on GoLocal LIVE.
First, Sasse said to make the number of JCLS members equal by chamber — he suggested three members for the House and for the Senate. (It is currently three for the House, two for the Senate.)
And, he said it is long overdue to professionalize the staffing and management.
“So you get parity with the Senate, you have six people on the Joint Committee...this is what has to happen to make the legislature work. You do what any normal business organization would do. The whole thing is a patronage system, so you adopt classifications job descriptions, performance evaluations. You professionalize the operation of the Joint Committee,” said Sasse.
House Minority Leader Blake Filippi has a pending lawsuit which, among other things, that "seeks a declaration that Defendant Montanaro and Defendant Mattiello have unlawfully assumed the powers of JCLS.”
The suit also names Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, House Majority Leader Joe Shekarchi, and Senate Minority Leader Dennis Algiere —all serve on JCLS, and have de facto, surrendered authority to Mattiello.
Filippi’s actions call for a restraining order specifically, stating, ”Defendant Mattiello has taken actions and has directed others to take actions without authority, most recently the order purportedly by JCLS, without any vote, to audit the Rhode Island Convention Center Authority. This action has and will continue to cause irreparable harm to Plaintiff who has been denied the right to vote on such matters and has no adequate remedy at law to rectify the abuse of power by Defendant Mattiello and other Defendants named herein.”
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