Sometime in the wee Friday morning hours, as Rhode Island's lawmakers packed up to go home for the summer, a bill came flying at them for an immediate vote.
Unable to settle all the festering conflicts between landlords and tenants the last six months, lawmakers voted to create a "study commission" instead.
Before they closed up shop to hit the campaign trail, they also created commissions to study:
And there could be an expenses-paid trip abroad for the members of the new "trade commission to advance economic interests of Rhode Island and Ireland" – whoever they might turn out to be.
(No promises, but how else can they adequately explore "policy issues of mutual interest to Rhode Island and Ireland," right?)
How many new study commissions were created?
Altogether, lawmakers created three Senate study commissions, five House study commissions and three joint commissions, including the "bipartisan preparatory commission" required by law ahead of the statewide vote in November on whether Rhode Island should hold its first constitutional convention since 1986.
No one has been named to that commission, which will assemble information by Sept. 1 on potential "constitutional questions" the convention might consider. But the report produced by the last preparatory commission in 2014 may provide clues as to what some Rhode Islanders might want, including:
- Line-item veto power for the governor
- Term limits for state lawmakers
- Enshrining the right to education in the state constitution
- Strengthening the state's open-meeting and public-records laws
Going deeper: Study commissions had a bad rap for many years
They were created to appease the egos and aspirations of lawmakers, backing bills with zero chance of passage.
The most famous example: The study commission created in 2017 to look into then-Rep. Justin Price 's concerns about: "the Intentional Manipulation of the Global Environment Through Geoengineering."
Postulated by some researchers as a potential strategy to combat global warming, geoengineering also figured in a number of elaborate and unsubstantiated online theories about clandestine airborne spraying and secret biological agents.
There is no evidence the commission ever met.
In recent years; however, "study commissions" have become year-round working groups, credited with producing some important pieces of legislation.
"For example, the majority of the bills contained within the speaker’s housing packages over the past three years have been a result of the recommendations made by two ongoing commissions that are reviewing the issues of housing affordability and land use," says House spokesman Larry Berman .
Of this year's creations, Berman said: "Speaker [ K. Joseph] Shekarchi felt it was time to also receive recommendations from a separate commission on the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, which hasn’t been updated in at least a decade."
"Similarly, the impact of climate change is very serious and can’t be resolved with a single piece of legislation in one session," Berman said. "This commission will conduct a comprehensive study in the months ahead."
Here's the study commission list
Beach Erosion
This nine-member commission grew out of concern about what is happening to Rhode Island's 400 miles of shoreline, including eight state beaches, that generated $5.3 billion in revenue in 2022 alone. The commission is charged with providing recommendations by Jan. 5, 2025.
"The harsh reality is that Rhode Island's beaches are eroding and are in urgent need of protection and restoration," the legislation says.
The options for remediation are known and costly:
- "Placement of sand on an eroded beach for the purposes of restoring it as a recreational beach and providing storm protection for upland properties"
- " Dune stabilization techniques including: importing dredged sand from offshore to build up the dune, planting grasses or other plants to secure the sand, and installing fencing along the dune on both the seaward and landward sides"
Climate Change
This 17-member commission will "study the issues confronting the state due to climate change," including increased frequency of storms, river flooding and sea level rise. They'll look for funding mechanisms for resilience programs and options for "mitigation strategies," including what is broadly called "managed retreat policies," or the physical relocation of people, structures or infrastructure.
Due date: May 14, 2025.
Rental Housing
Only a handful of the 52 landlord-tenant bills introduced this year made it to the finish line, including one to give tenants more notice of rent increases.
This 11-member commission, created by the last-minute "House Resolution No. 8368," will look at landlord and tenant issues, including the charge to "examine, simplify, clarify, and modernize legal language relating to the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants."
Rep. David Morales , who represents Providence's Mount Pleasant, Valley and Elmhurst neighborhoods, said he anticipates the commission will start meeting in August, and one of its top issues for study is code enforcement.
"We've heard from tenants over the years that they're living in deplorable conditions and they're having difficulty being able to actually have the repairs made," Morales said. "At the same time, I recognize that certain mom and pop landlords have also cited some of the difficulties that they've had in terms of being able to work with code enforcement.
"So I think when we start [by] looking at the conditions of dwelling units," he continued. "That is something I want to get a much better understanding of."
The measure creating the 11-member commission begins with a rundown of the difficulties for legislators in taking sides.
The due date for the panel's recommendations: May 5, 2025.
State Medical School
With 21 members appointed by the Senate president, this study is aimed at another known and growing problem: finding primary care physicians .
"Rhode Island residents are struggling to find primary care physicians, resulting in the use of community health centers and urgent care facilities to meet their medical needs," the resolution creating the commission reads.
The state "struggles to retain primary care physicians" after they graduate from Rhode Island's only medical school at Brown University," the resolution says. The commission will do a comprehensive study of the state's health care workforce and look at establishing a state medical school at the University of Rhode Island to educate and retain doctors.
Due date: Jan. 2, 2026.
Student Transportation
This 13-member commission will "evaluate and determine the transportation needs of school districts statewide," looking specifically at how public transportation staffing shortages are causing Providence students to be absent or late to school, as well as whether a law requiring school districts to pay for out-of-district transportation of students may prevent them from "exploring more cost effective ways of providing transportation."
Due date: April 16, 2025.
Social Workers and Planners
This 13-member House commission was created to explore ways to use federal funds more creatively to "enroll and graduate students in the field of social work" at Rhode Island College to, ultimately, provide more front-line staff for the Department of Children, Youth & Families.
Due date: Feb. 11, 2025.
Another, sponsored by the House speaker, creates an 11-member commission to study "the ability of the RI educational system to offer degrees or certificates to provide a supply/pipeline of planners, planning technicians and staff" to keep housing-construction proposals moving through "local permits, environmental challenges and restrictive and outdated local zoning, planning regulations and comprehensive plans."
Due date: Jan. 1, 2025.
School Governance
Yet another school-related study commission was created, at the behest of Senate Finance Chairman Louis DiPalma , to study "the governance structure of Rhode Island's public education system." Put another way: This seven-member commission will take a fresh look at the functioning of the 17-member Board of Education.
Due date: March 1, 2025.
Renewable Energy
Having already set "a first-in-the-nation goal to meet 100% of Rhode Island’s electricity demand with renewable energy by 2033," this eight-member commission was created by the Senate to recommend ways to get there without raising costs in a state that has "some of the highest electric and gas rates in the country."
Due date: Feb. 14, 2025.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: School's in for summer: These are the topics lawmakers will be 'studying' in the offseason
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