Congressional Voting Records: A Beginner’s Guide

"This topic presents more challenges than may be readily apparent, because researchers must not only determine what resources cover the period of time in which the laws at issue were passed, but also whether that resource is available in a paper-based or freely available digital format."

Fortunately for us, the Library of Congress has provided a Beginner's Guide

Women's Rally PVD

Can't get to DC on January 21st?

The R.I. Women’s Solidarity Rally will take place at the R.I. State House on January 21, 2017.

EVENT 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.

LOCATION R.I. State House, South Lawn, Gaspee & Francis Streets, Providence, R.I.

EVENT PURPOSE

To stand in solidarity with the Women’s March on Washington, who say:

“We stand together in solidarity with our partners and children for

the protection of our rights, our safety, our health, and our families –

recognizing that our vibrant and diverse communities are the strength

of our country.”

For more information:

Let them know you're coming.

LWVRI Legislative Update for March 22

Voting and Gun Safety

On March 22, the House and Senate Judiciary Committees will each consider the other body’s bills to approve electronic voter registration in Rhode Island...

At this week's hearings the League will focus  on gun safety. Today, the House Judiciary Committee will hold hearings on a variety of bills related to gun safety. The League is opposing some of these and opposing others. Go to the League in Action blog and get details, bill numbers, and a list of the Judiciary Committee members...

Full Post

Join The League of Women Voters RI and Common Cause RI at the State House for Lobby Day 2016

Finally, join us for Lobby Day on March 16 from 3:00-6:00 pm.  Members of the League and Common Cause RI will meet on the 2nd Floor of the State House at 3:00pm. There will be a briefing with talking points and other materials to prepare you to meet your legislators. We'll go in groups to talk to legislators about our position on voting and elections.

Reproductive Freedom Teach-in‏

March 2, 6:30-8:30pm
Rhode Island College Student Union Ballroom
600 Mount Pleasant Ave., Providence
Refreshments will be served

Join us for a Reproductive Freedom Teach-In and Social Hour to learn more about the Supreme Court case, why Rhode Island received an F, and what we, together, can do about it.

Registration required: http://bit.ly/TeachInRI  

Panel Discussion on Reproductive Freedom (6:30-7:30)
• Learn about the Supreme Court case and the national political environment
• Hear from Rhode Island leaders about why our state gets an F and what we can do about it
• Connect with the movement for reproductive freedom in Rhode Island

“Movement Building” Social Hour (7:30-8:30)
• Refreshments and networking
• Meet RICRJ member organizations and allies

Event information can be found on Facebook here: http://bit.ly/FBTeachInRI

This event is completely FREE and sponsored by PPSNE, Rhode Island Coalition for Reproductive Justice, Brown Medical Students for Choice.

Flyer

City’s mid-year finances, the budgetary impact of charter schools, and the City’s lobbyist registration program

From Sam Zurier's January 31, 2016 Ward Letter

On January 25, the administration submitted a Report describing government’s performance against budget through the end of the second quarter of the fiscal year (December 31, 2015).  It includes several adjustments to the original budget, which when combined leave the budget more than $200,000 ahead of its original “bottom line.”
...
On January 26, the Education Committee met to discuss the financial interaction between charter schools and school districts...  The  Education Committee reviewed an Analysis of high school sports, estimating that support of charter school student-athletes costs the Providence Public Schools approximately $800 per student-athlete... This year, the School Department’s budget includes $15.1 million in “tuition” payments to charter schools.  In 2012, the Internal Auditor published a Report estimating that the School Department recovered (in “marginal cost” savings) less than half the money it lost to the charter schools.
...
In 2013, Providence became the first Rhode Island city to adopt a lobbyist registration program, a major advance in open government.  The Clerk’s Office maintains a Database of 34 lobbyists and quarterly reports they submit.

The League Joins with other Groups to Voice Concerns about Transparency

You can read more about the issue as reported on RIPR (http://ripr.org/post/raimondo-staff-meet-open-government-groups-transparency-concerns).

Text of the letter

Panel studying charter school funding issues report

STATE HOUSE – The Special Legislative Commission to Study and Assess Rhode Island’s “Fair Funding Formula,” led by Rep. Jeremiah T. O’Grady (D-Dist. 46, Lincoln, Pawtucket) issued its findings today after hearing testimony from advocates and representatives from public schools, charter schools, municipalities and the Department of Education over the course of three months. While making no formal recommendations, the commission’s report found that certain high-cost expenditure burdens were disproportionately borne by public sending districts and that charter schools, through the Fair Funding Formula’s tuition calculation, saw increases in their respective tuition payments as a result...

Press Release

For more information, contact:
Meredyth R. Whitty,
PublicistState House
Room 20Providence, RI 02903
(401) 222-2457

Related stories:
Consultant: Closing some Warwick schools necessary and unavoidable
North Kingstown school board approves district-wide all-day kindergarten

Action Alert: Ethics

The League of Women Voters believes that the Ethics Commission must once again have oversight and jurisdiction over the General Assembly.

Representative Marcello’s House Resolution No. 5374 and Senator O’Neill’s Senate Resolution No. 56 are being considered at this moment on Smith Hill. If the legislation passes, voters will decide whether or not to amend the RI Constitution, restoring the jurisdiction of the Ethics Commission over the General Assembly. Contact your representatives and senators and ask them to support these two bills.

For more information:
Call To Action: Strengthen RI's Ethics Commission, LWVRI in Action
Editorial: For ethics oversight, Providence Journal

Addresses of convenience

By Will Collette on March 16, 2015
RI Future

One of the nice things about owning several properties is that when it comes to politics, you have lots of choices about where you can say you live. I’m not talking about the formal definition of legal residence, but “addresses of convenience.”

Having an address of convenience gives you the choice of where to vote or where to run for office. You can shop around to find the most advantageous choice. Not necessarily a legal choice, but one that is rarely ever challenged.

Full Article

Here are the 15 bills Mayor Elorza wants the General Assembly to approve this year

By Dan McGowan, WPRI.com Reporter
Published: March 15, 2015, 11:53 pm  Updated: March 16, 2015, 10:00 am

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – From increased state aid to changes to the car tax, Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza has asked state lawmakers to approve a slew of bills he believes will help Rhode Island’s capital city during his first year in office.

Elorza submitted the city’s annual legislative agenda to the 21 state representatives and senators who make up the General Assembly’s all-Democratic Providence delegation Friday, a day after Gov. Gina Raimondo released her first budget proposal.

Full Article

Education: Updates on the Strategic Plan Process

The Ambassador Design Team met together for the first time on January 10, 2015 for a full-day launch session to kick-off the design process.  The team learned about the process and began their work by analyzing the survey results to draft insights about Rhode Islanders’ thoughts on public education in our state. 

The ADT met again on January 28, 2015 to produce the first prototype: a draft set of values that will anchor and guide the strategic plan and later, its implementation. The ADT developed this prototype through hours of individual and collective review of the survey results and extensive exploration of their individual perspectives on public education.

These value statements are now available for public feedback through February 8, 2015 at 10 pm. 
We welcome — indeed urge! — you to take the time to contribute your own thoughts.

The process for providing feedback is simple and should take less than 30 minutes.

Step 1: Open the "values prototype" PDF found here: www.ride.ri.gov/Values-Prototype.
Step 2: Watch the short video linked within the PDF, which provides an introduction to the process.
Step 3: Review the values and fill out the survey linked within the PDF to respond to the work of the ADT.

The Team’s support staff will regularly post resources, materials, and the draft prototypes on the RIDE web site at www.ride.ri.gov/Strategic-Plan. 

Virtual Tour of RI Resource Recovery Corporation (Entire Facility)

Virtual Tour

Ever wonder what happens to your recycling when it leaves the curb? Your leaf and yard debris? Your trash? Ever wonder if you can recycle more than what goes in your bin? Or what to do with a substance labeled with words like "flammable," "combustible," "toxic" or "poison?" In this video you'll get a complete tour of the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation - owner and operator of the RI's central waste facilities.

For everything you need to know about RI's recycling program, please visit us at http://www.recycletogetherri.org

Rhode Island Education Results in Context

by Justin Katz  on January 21, 2015

The RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity today unveiled an online interactive application that allows anybody with an Internet connection to analyze scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests for Rhode Island (or any other state) in comparison with other states, as well as by demographic group.  The following are some key observations that the Center has highlighted (see here for a more-extensive, but still short, review):

•Previous performance improvements from earlier in the 2000s have flat-lined in recent years
•Overall performance is worst among all New England states
•Hispanic performance is last among New England states
•Low income student performance is also last in this region
•As a group, states with relatively strong school choice options improved in 2013 among every demographic group, whereas Rhode Island either lost ground or didn’t gain any.

Charter schools tuition a major topic of study commission

1/21/2015
By JESSICA BOISCLAIR, Valley Breeze Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE - Members of a special state legislative commission meeting weekly to analyze the state's funding formula are promising to thoroughly scrutinize the financial impact of charter schools on local school districts.

The 12-member commission met for the first time on Jan. 15 and elected state Rep. Jeremiah O'Grady, of District 46 in Lincoln and Pawtucket, as chairman.

The commission was created according to House bill 8359 for the sole purpose of studying how well the formula has worked for cities and towns.

Full Story

General Assembly bill would earmark small percentage of R.I. sales tax for school construction projects

Published: January 22, 2015 01:00 AM
By Linda Borg
Journal Staff Writer
lborg@providencejournal.com

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Sen. Ryan W. Pearson is proposing using a small percentage of the state’s 7-percent sales tax to pay for school construction in an effort to encourage school districts to maintain their buildings rather than wait until they are falling apart.

Full article

School Funding - Snow Plowing - Police/Fiscal Policy

Excerpts from City Councilman Sam Zurier's
January 18, 2015 Ward Letter
This week’s Ward Letter discusses school funding, snow plowing and responsible fiscal policy

The Rhode Island House of Representatives organized a commission to study the impacts of the 2010 school aid funding formula, particularly in terms of the interactions between charter schools and host public school districts...  Slide show Report

Now is a good time to remind everyone of how to reach the Department of Public Works with your snow plowing questions.  The main telephone number is 467-7950, which works Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  This is helpful for 40 hours a week, which is slightly less than a quarter of the time.  Unfortunately, snow storms are not limited to the working week...

This past Thursday (January 15), the City Council held its first official business meeting since taking office.  Among the items discussed was a Resolution eleven of my colleagues co-sponsored urging funding for two new police academy classes, with the goal of adding 80 to 100 officers to the force...

Cicilline Announces Series of “Voice Your Priorities” Workshops

WASHINGTON, DC – As U.S. Congressman David N. Cicilline (D-RI) develops his legislative work plan for the 114th Congress, he will host four public forums designed to engage Rhode Islanders with the legislative process in Washington. The "Voice Your Priorities" workshops will provide Cicilline an opportunity to hear directly from First District residents about their concerns and priorities, and ensure their voice is heard as Cicilline shapes his legislative agenda for the new two year session.  More

Saturday, January 24th
11:00 a.m. at the Newport Police Station Community Room
     120 Broadway in Newport
3:00 p.m. at the Cumberland Public Library
     1464 Diamond Hill Road in Cumberland

Saturday, January 31st
11:00 a.m. at the Greenville Public Library
     573 Putnam Pike in Greenville
3:00 p.m. at the East Providence Public Library
     41 Grove Avenue in East Providence

NPR: A New Study Reveals Much About How Parents Really Choose Schools

The charter school movement is built on the premise that increased competition among schools will sort the wheat from the chaff...

But an intriguing new study from the Education Research Alliance for New Orleans suggests that parent choice doesn't always work that way. Parents, especially low-income parents, actually show strong preferences for other qualities like location and extracurriculars — preferences that can outweigh academics.
 
Full Story

League Positions

Impact on Issues is an indispensable resource for League leaders. A clear understanding of LWVUS positions, how they interrelate and how they can complement and reinforce state, local and Inter-League Organization (ILO) positions, will strengthen the League’s “Impact on Issues” at all levels of government.
http://lwv.org/content/impact-issues-online-edition

See League positions on:

Representative Government (includes: Voting Rights, Elections, etc.)

International Relations (includes: Arms Control, Military Spending, etc.)

Natural Resources (includes: Agriculture, Environmental Protection, etc.)

Social Policy (includes: Health Care, Immigration, Gun Control, etc.)