By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI
News staff
 |
| DINOs firmly control RI House of Representatives |
PROVIDENCE —
Environmentalists championed a slate of priority bills at the Statehouse last
week. Does a new House speaker and leadership pose a threat to these and other
environmental legislation?
The six priority bills
put forth by the Environment
Council of Rhode Island (ECRI), an organization that represents most environmental
groups in the state, advance a number of green issues:
Food Scrap &
Compost Management (H7033, S2315) would create a statewide organic diversion program
to recycle or compost food scraps.
Bag Ban (H7178, S2314) would prohibit single-use plastic bags from
checkout counters in retail establishments.
Renewable Energy Tax
Credit (H7083, S2213) would restore a 25 percent state tax credit
for residential renewable-energy projects.
Distributed Generation
Program Extension (H7727, S2690) would reserve a larger allotment of
electricity for the fixed-rate sale of power to National Grid from large
renewable-energy projects.
Open Space, Clean
Water & Healthy Communities Bond (Article
5, Question 4 of governor’s
budget). Voters will be asked in November to approve a $75 million ballot
question for clean water, green infrastructure and environmental projects.
There are plenty of
additional environmental and agricultural bills, such as a GMO labeling law and
a ban on
cesspools. But the change of
Speaker of the House — often referred to as the most powerful political
position in the state — House leadership and the reshuffling of several
committees changes Rhode Island's political landscape.
Bob Plain, editor
of RI Future, describes the switch from Rep. Gordon Fox, D-Providence, to
Rep. Nicholas Mattiello, D-Cranston, as a shift from a conservative Democrat to
a more conservative Democrat.
“Mattiello, a Cranston
lawmaker, is one of the more conservative members of the House, a legislative
chamber dominated by fiscal conservatives and social moderates whose party
affiliation often belies their political leanings,” Plain wrote in the March 23
article titled “Anybody but Mattiello.”
Mattiello didn't
respond to a request for an interview.
The fate of
legislation is largely determined by the nonpublic discussions between the
House speaker and the House leadership team. However, the House Committee on
the Environment and Natural Resources certainly has a say on what bills advance
to House leadership.
Three members of the
committee holding seats during Fox’s leadership were removed after Mattiello
took over as speaker: Maria Cimini, D-Providence; Teresa Tanzi, D-South
Kingstown; and Larry Valencia, D-Richmond. All voted “abstained” during
the House
vote that elected
Mattiello.
Rep. Donna Walsh,
D-Charlestown, the lead sponsor of the compost bill, voted for Mattiello but
lost her title of vice chairwoman on the environment committee.
All four
representatives have voted consistently for environmental legislation. None
expressed immediate concern that ECRI’s priority bills are in doubt. Cimini,
however, was less certain about the fate of the bag ban legislation, a bill she
sponsored.
“I am hopeful that
with the new leadership’s focus on jobs and the economy that they look to the
environment and see that protecting regulations that protect our environment is
a good thing for our economy and the environment,” Cimini said.
The three new
committee members — Thomas Palangio, D-Providence; Peter Palumbo, D-Crantson;
and Scott Slater, D-Providence — weren't serving on the House Committee on the
Environment and Natural Resources when many of the priority bills held
hearings. Therefore, their stance on the bills is unclear. Palangio told ecoRI
News he considers himself an environmentalist, especially on animal rights
issues, and was inclined to support the priority bills yet wanted to review
them more closely.
Local environmental
leaders Abel Collins, of the Rhode Island chapter of the Sierra Club, and
Channing Jones, of Environment Rhode Island, remain optimistic about
legislation this year, but both said it’s too early to determine the fate of
specific bills.
Jamie Rhodes, ECRI’s
president and Rhode Island director of Clean Water Action, recently met with
Walsh and Mattiello to discuss specific bills.
“I think the new
speaker will look upon environmental legislation with the same lens he is
viewing all legislation during the session: ‘What is its impact on our
economy?'" Rhodes said. “Luckily for the environmental movement, most of
the efforts we are working on this year pose significant benefits for the
economy.”
The
compost/organics-diversion bill, he said, supports new composting and digester
facilities, which also benefits the local agricultural community. Other bills
have similar economic benefits, he said, “and we have to trust that Speaker
Mattiello will see that environmental protections and resource conservation are
a couple of pieces that need to fall in place to spur sustainable growth.”
So far, Mattiello has
received vocal support from groups that support deregulation and tax cuts, such
as the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce and the Rhode Island Center for
Freedom and Prosperity. Although the new speaker ranked near the bottom of the
conservative think tank’s recent 2013
Freedom Index, which grades state
legislators on tax and regulatory voting records.
After recent polling, bills
like the bag ban, which Environment Rhode Island has promoted heavily, has
strong support in the House and Senate, as well as from the public, Jones said.
“It ultimately comes down to what the people want," he said.