ConCon Commission’s report is done. Now it’s up to the voters.

The exterior of the Rhode Island State House on Aug. 28, 2024. (Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)

After a little over a month of collecting testimony, the bipartisan commission needed just 26 minutes to review and approve its report weighing the pros and cons of Rhode Island holding a constitutional convention.

“I thought it was a good, concise evaluation of what was presented in testimony and reflective of our charge,” Rep. Arthur Corvese, a North Providence Democrat, said at the commission’s final meeting Wednesday.

Indeed, the report lists many of the concerns and suggestions members of the public brought up during the three meetings that allowed testimony. The report itself does not make any recommendation on whether a constitutional convention should be held, which the 12-member volunteer panel is not mandated to do — though the commission’s chairs already seem to know how they’ll vote come November .

Proponents for holding a convention argue that changing Rhode Island’s governing document gives the public a chance to update how the state operates. Possible reforms the report lists are establishing a fundamental right to education, limitations on solitary confinement, and the removal of the lifetime tenure for Rhode Island Supreme Court justices.

Opponents , meanwhile, say a convention opens the path for well-funded special interest groups to roll back many of the state’s civil liberties and reproductive rights.

The report acknowledges that there would be no limit on campaign spending for or against the ballot measure or any constitutional questions that may come out of a convention. State campaign finance law requires political action committees that spend more than $1,000 to report spending and donations.

Rhode Island’s convention question goes on the ballot in years ending in the number four, but voters have not agreed to convene one in over three decades. The Rhode Island General Assembly may also propose constitutional amendments during any election year.

Should voters approve holding a constitutional convention, the commission’s report notes that the state “would likely incur expenses over at least the next two years executing that mandate.”

Cost estimates for the convention range between $2.6 million and $4.6 million, which includes an estimated $1.3 million toward a special election to select 75 convention delegates to represent each district in the Rhode Island House of Representatives.

The commission’s report is meant to inform voters ahead of the Nov. 5 ballot measure, but just how many it will actually reach is in question. The panel was told during its Aug. 21 meeting the guidebook issued by the Rhode Island Department of State would only include a link for it to read online.

“I just don’t see people taking advantage of the hyperlink,” Rep. David Place, a Burillville Republican, said at Wednesday’s meeting. “We’ve wasted a lot of people’s time and a lot of taxpayer money to do this — we could have asked the state librarian to put something together like this.”

No cost was associated with the commission, House spokesperson Larry Berman said in an email after the meeting. “The work was performed by existing staff,” Berman added.

Corvese countered that a state librarian would not have been able to provide updated public testimony.

“I don’t look at this as us spinning our wheels,” he said. “I think the report is certainly reflective of the testimony and the times.”

Place suggested a QR code to the commission’s report be put in the guidebook.

Corvese also recommended physical copies of the report be made available in every town/city hall, along with each of the state’s public libraries. Commissioners agreed with the idea, but did not put it up to a vote, nor did they discuss the cost associated with such an endeavor.

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