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 Weekly Update For the week of July 3, 2009 |
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Dear William,
"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." ~ Benjamin Franklin
We would like to wish each and every one of you a Happy 4th of July. Over the course of our barbecues, trips to the beach, fireworks, and countless other activities that always accompany this holiday, it is important that we remember the sacrifices that have been made to preserve our freedoms. We should never take for granted that which others have lost their lives fighting to protect. We are truly blessed to live in a land of liberty and opportunity.
As we end the legislative session, OSPRI President Bill Felkner will be discussing our RI Votes website in the President's Message.
It has come to our attention that a White House Press reporter recently commented on some of OSPRI's work. For more details, see below.
Brian Bishop, director of the Founders Project at OSPRI, had an article published by ProJo this past weekend in which he offers his view on the proposed "never-ending contracts" state legislation. The bill was passed in the Senate and is now waiting to be voted on in the House. See below for more details.
This week, 11 new documents were added to the RI Data website, which can be found by going to the Transparency Train. The RI Votes database is now fully updated for the current legislative session: more than 2000 bills were introduced in the House and Senate, and you can find them all through the RI Votes section of the Transparency Train. With the General Assembly nearing the end of the session, many bills are being voted on each day. It is important that we, the watchful citizens, follow what is going on at the State House and voice our disgust with any misguided or frivolous legislation.
As always, OSPRI President Bill Felkner continues to traverse the state in order to spread the word about our organization and the Transparency Project. He has spoken before neighborhood organizations, taxpayer groups, college students, and local public officials. If you are interested in having Mr. Felkner address your group, please contact me via phone (401-228-6691) or email (info@oceanstatepolicy.org).
Finally, if you have any questions about OSPRI or are interested in getting involved, don't hesitate to contact me!
Best regards,
Parker Lacoste
Assistant to the President
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| President's Message |
Dear Friends,
With the legislative session coming to an end, we have been amazed at how many people are visiting the RI Votes website. We take this as a very good sign that people are getting involved and interested in what the Rhode Island General Assembly is doing with their money.
One of the more popular items, obviously, is the recently passed budget. Another "hot" item spinning the hit counter is Senate bill 713 which would force municipalities into honoring expired teacher contracts until a new one was negotiated.
Perhaps because people have also been visiting our RI Data website, they know that the current teacher contracts are so generous that it simply doesn't make sense to consider them the baseline. Not only are benefits high and co-pays almost non-existant, but about half the teachers in RI received a raise last year in excess of 10% - not because they did an excellent job, but just because the contract said so. As a former school committee member I can tell you we had a few teachers we wished we could have fired due to incompetence but instead they got the same big raise the hard working teachers got.
But getting back to RI Votes, let me tell you about another unique feature of the site - and how it can be used in these troubled times.
Senate bill 713 passed by a near unanamous vote (Maher and Pinga the only "no" votes) but the House version (5762) seems to be stalled. Now there are rumors that "never ending "contracts could be replaced with contracts subject to binding arbitration. Is there legislation in wait that will provide that? If you go to RI Votes and type "binding arbitration" into the keyword search you will find that Representative Gemma has introduced two pieces of legislation that would do just that.
There are so many features to the RI Votes website that it is little wonder it has become the go-to source for legislative information. Not only is legislation described in condensed layman's terms, but you can search the database in a number of ways including using keywords, sponsors, and categories. We also provide an alert system to track legislation and scorecards to increase legislator accountability.
As the tax payer movement grows, RI Votes, RI Data and our other transparency initiatives linked through the Transparenty Train portal are there to help. Please use these tool and let us know how we can make them better. We are here to help.
Onward and upward,
Bill |
| OSPRI on National Stage |
Rhode Island and the collaborative work of the Ocean State Policy Research Institute (OSPRI) and the Center for Long Term Care Reform (CLTCR) are getting national media attention!
A member of the White House press corps interviewed OSPRI president Bill Felkner and CLTCR President/OSPRI Fellow on Healthcare Reform Steve Moses last Tuesday about Medicaid, Long Term Care financing and the Rhode Island Global Medicaid Waiver. The reporter even asked White House press secretary Robert Gibbs about the potential use of similar waivers in other states.
If you want to see the exchange between the reporter and WH press secretary Robert Gibbs you can find a transcript of the 7/1/09 White House press briefing HERE, or watch the video HERE. The question and answer are at the end of the transcript (or the 42:20 mark of the video).
The online story is up today HERE. Check it out. Reporter John Gizzi says this story will also be in the print edition of Human Events next week.
Human Events is a conservative magazine. But whether you personally lean right or left politically, national coverage of our issue in any venue is terrific.
That's because our issue plays right or left equally well. For conservatives, it's fiscal responsibility. For liberals, it's a fairness issue. Why use scarce welfare resources to indemnify prosperous heirs of affluent seniors against Long Term Care costs when they're probably mostly Republicans anyhow?
When the debate boils down to facts and logic, we win. |
| OSPRI in the Projo |
PERPETUAL CONTRACTS PUSH CONSTITUTIONAL ENVELOPE
Brian Bishop, director of the Founders Project at the Ocean State Policy Research Institute, had an OpEd published and released a policy brief on the constitutional implications of "never-ending" contracts.
Read the OpEd in the Projo HERE. Read the Policy Brief HERE.
See OSPRI's new Founders Project HERE.
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| RI Data update |
There have been 11 new monthly check registers and documents uploaded since the last Weekly Update:
East Providence School Dept. 07/08 Payroll
Scituate 05/09 and 06/09 Check Register
East Greenwich School Dept. 07/09 Teacher Contract
Warren 06/09 Check Register
Scituate School Dept. 07/08 Payroll
Scituate School Dept. 07/08 Budget
West Warwick 03/09 Check Register
Glocester 04/09 Check Register
Glocester 01/09 Check Register
Westerly School Dept. 08/09 Payroll
Exeter 05/09 Check Register
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| ATF Party - POSTPONED |
 UPDATE: The 2nd Annual ATF Party, which had tentatively been scheduled for July 11th, has been POSTPONED due to government intervention (really!). We are working to reschedule the event for early fall, and we hope that you will still join us when we gather to enjoy our liberties (and some good food, beverages and 2nd Amendment activities).
Last year was tremendous fun but this year will be even better. Stay tuned and we will provide more information for you soon. |
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