PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- House Speaker Gordon D. Fox confirms that he is hoping -- and aiming -- to hold a hearing next week on this year's bill to legalize same-sex marriages in Rhode Island.
With Governor Chafee unveiling his proposed new state budget on Wednesday, and the House holding an economic summit a day later, Fox said the most likely date for the same-sex marriage hearing is Tuesday.
While confident of House passage, Fox declined comment on Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed's appointments to the Senate committee that would decide if the legislation ever makes it to the full Senate for a vote. The appointees appear evenly split.
"Everyone is waiting for the House to move, so my job first and foremost is to work on a bill a get a bill out of the House ... so I am not going to concentrate on the Senate right now because they are not going to do anything until we do something,'' the openly gay Fox said.