RI lawmakers conclude final constitutional convention report

There's no way around it: Question 1 asking voters whether Rhode Island should hold a constitutional convention is likely to cause a fair amount of head scratching at the polls this November.

The obscure process for recommending changes to the state's foundational text − which no one has participated in since 1986 − is difficult to explain in a documentary, let alone a couple of sentences on a crowded presidential-year ballot.

A State House commission that's been listening to the public and collecting research about a potential convention concluded Wednesday that they had done as good a job of helping voters get the gist of Question 1 as possible and unanimously approved a nine-page report summarizing what they heard.

More: Many variables at play in cost of a RI constitutional convention. How it might work.

But the whole exercise left Burrillville Republican Rep. David Place feeling a touch "disgruntled" and even maybe a little cheated.

"I don't understand why we're here at this point," Place said. "I understand it's a constitutional thing, but either somewhere along the line we misrepresented what the purposes of this commission was or we got sidetracked by something because, in my opinion... it really doesn't serve a purpose."

Place's biggest issue isn't what the commission's final report says, but that of the thousands of Rhode Island voters likely to go to the polls in November, only a few are likely to see the report.

It won't be at polling places on election day, nor included in the Secretary of State's voter guide mailed to voters. It will be posted on the General Assembly website and possibly the secretary of state's website.

And since the commission doesn't make any recommendations on whether there should or should not be a convention, the report unlikely will draw much media attention.

"It's a really good term paper that isn't even going to be graded," Place said. "I would hope, just based on my experience here, that someone submits legislation quite frankly to eliminate this commission in preparation for the [next] Constitutional Convention [question] in 10 years."

Others were more optimistic.

"I think what we were charged with, we did, and I think that the report certainly is reflective of the testimony," Rep. Arthur Corvese, D-North Providence, said. "I also was very pleased to see that it was made very clear that if the constitutional convention is convened, that there will be the ability to bring up issues that were not mentioned in the testimony."

What does the Constitutional Convention report say?

In short, that if voters approve Question 1 on Nov. 5 there will be an election to choose 75 delegates who will meet at a time and place to be determined to recommend amendments to the constitution that would be put up for approval at another statewide election.

More: Should RI have a Constitutional Convention? The cases for and against

The Commission − chaired by Sen. Dawn Euer and Rep. Robert Craven − heard testimony in favor of holding a convention and against holding one . The final report includes a section on the "concerns" about a convention but not one with possible advantages.

The most interesting part of the final report is the list of "potential" amendment ideas that witnesses have said could be pursued (although as Corvese noted the delegates themselves would decide what is actually debated).

• Establishing a fundamental right to education
• Creation of a legal remedy for constitutional torts
• Stronger Second Amendment language
• Reversal of Rhode Island's ban on [firearm] magazines over 10 rounds
• Limitations on solitary confinement
• Same day voter registration
• Ranked-choice voting or other non-plurality voting systems
• Citizen ballot initiatives and voter referenda
• Nonpartisan open primary system
• Term limits for elected officials
• Recall procedures for elected officials
• Changes to campaign finance disclosure laws for candidates and ballot measures
• Removal of lifetime tenure for Supreme Court justices
• School choice
• [Governor] Line-item veto
• Legislative veto of agency rulemaking
• Establishment of an Office of Inspector General
• Expansion of public access to government records

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI lawmakers conclude final constitutional convention report