Speaker Blazejewski’s Inspector General Legislation Exempts the General Assembly from Investigations
GoLocalProv News Team
Speaker Blazejewski’s Inspector General Legislation Exempts the General Assembly from Investigations
Newly elected Speaker of the House Chris Blazejewski on Tuesday introduced legislation to create an office of Inspector General.
The 12-page bill exempts the legislature from review by the proposed new investigative office.
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The bill has been a political football in recent weeks. Legislation to create an inspector general has been before the Rhode Island legislature for two decades, but Democratic legislative bosses have killed the initiative year in and year out.
When GoLocal raised questions about the legislation not including the legislature, Blazejewski's office said there was a legal opinion that outlined that both the legislature and the judiciary had to be exempted due to Rhode Island’s separation of powers.
GoLocal asked for a copy of the legal opinion. A few hours later, no opinion, just a statement from Blazejewski.
“The inspector general’s office would be able to initiate investigations into state and quasi-state agencies, as well as municipal governments utilizing state funds. It would be an administrative agency of the executive branch, and therefore the legislative branch and the judicial branch are not included due to the constitutional requirement of separation of powers. This concept is not novel to Rhode Island.”
The legislature may not be able to create an apparatus to investigate the judiciary, but creating a framework for investigations into the legislature is not prohibited by the separation of powers.
Political Football
On May 11, Republican John Loughlin proposed transforming the Lt. Governor’s office into an Inspector General's function.
The proposal got good reviews and sent many Democrats spinning. By Thursday, Blazejewski announced he would introduce his own legislation to create an office of the inspector general. He claimed he had supported the effort to create the function, but in his five previous years as Majority Leader of the House, he teamed with then-Speaker Joe Shekarchi to kill GOP efforts to advance similar legislation every year.
In recent years, there have been an array of controversies in the legislature relating to hirings and firings, allegations of sexual harassment, and questions about spending, to name a few.