Session wrap-up

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The General Assembly has concluded its business for the year, and with that, the 2014 session has ended. In the last few weeks, we read about the long hearings, the late sessions and the different pieces of legislation that are being passed. And having served in both chambers, I can fully attest to having many late nights during the last few weeks of a session.

But it’s important to keep in mind that the legislature works all year. There are committee hearings throughout the year, and legislators hold meetings in their districts with constituents regularly. So while we have a legislature that is classified as part-time, our legislators really serve full-time, year-round, at the State House and in their districts.

The research, hearings and deliberation result in many pieces of important legislation passed during each session. The legislative session runs from January to July. When I was serving, I would introduce a piece of legislation early in the session and then work for several months with experts affected by the issue to ensure that the final law was the best it could be. We would spend time in committee hearings where the public could testify and make their views known. These committee hearings would last many hours to allow for any member of the public to testify. This process ensures that many voices are heard and considered before legislation is voted on.

And this year, many pieces of legislation were worked on and passed into law that directly affect us. There are so many important issues to discuss, but for today, I want to focus on the area of economic development. Much was done this year to assist our state with economic recovery and to spur economic development.

In order to make it easier to do business in the state, the Assembly passed a central component of “Rhode to Work” legislation that empowers the Governor’s Workforce Board to administer and coordinate all workforce development in the state. The new Workforce Board replaces the Rhode Island Human Resource Investment Council and is charged with breaking down barriers, bottlenecks and other challenges to provide a unified, cohesive and responsive training system.

In order to make it easier for businesses to navigate regulations, lawmakers passed a regulatory reform bill that synchronizes the Office of Regulatory Reform’s upcoming reviews with the Secretary of State’s re-file process.

In order to assist many hard working families, lawmakers extended the expiration of a program to provide childcare to low-income parents while they participate in training and work-readiness programs.

A Rhode Island Career and Technical Board of Trustees and a Rhode Island Career and Technical Education Trust were created. Their focus will be to improve career and technical education in the state. They will work in partnership with employers to develop internships and other student-learning opportunities. This is a key step in helping our students gain the skills they need to enter the profession they want.

Also important to ensuring proper funding of our public schools, the legislature fully funded the phase-in of the state’s education aid formula, adding $33.4 million over the fiscal year 2014 level.

Cranston’s own Sen. Hanna Gallo has been championing all day kindergarten – and, this year, the legislature provided for phase-in of full funding throughout the state. This is especially important as many studies show the importance of full-day kindergarten to a child’s future learning and academic achievements, but the cost of starting up and providing the full-day programs has continued to be a hindrance for some communities.

Lawmakers included an additional $10 million for the Community College of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College and the University of Rhode Island to extend their tuition freeze.

The budget also included two new facilities for higher education. One would lease part of the former South Street Power Station in Providence for a nursing education facility shared by URI and RIC.

The legislature also put a $125 million bond referendum on the November ballot for the renovation and expansion of URI’s College of Engineering complex. This measure is especially exciting to me. Since my daughter is already planning for a career in engineering, it would be great to have her attend our very own university.

So, we can see, just from the few bills mentioned here, much was accomplished this past session that impacts us all. If you are interested in seeing some of the other bills that became law, you can easily search with the online bill tracker tool. This is a great tool that makes it easy for the public and the press to keep a close eye on the progress of legislation. You can go to the Assembly’s website and search for a topic that you are interested in. I must say that I use this tool often, and it is a great resource that makes our government accessible to us 24 hours a day.

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