PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The House Oversight Committee does not intend to delve into the General Assembly's role in the state's failed $75 million investment in retired baseball pitcher Curt Schilling now-bankrupt 38 Studios.
"The larger context of how and why it came about is probably going to be left to the civil suits,'' Rep. Michael Marcello, the new chairman of the reactivated committee, said Monday.
Marcello said his committee, which has not met in two years, will first look first at the long lines on election day. By May or June, he said, his committee would delve into the Economic Development Corporation's loan programs.
"In the larger context of looking at EDC, what its role is, how it is staffed, what its policies and procedures are, I fully expect that the 38 Studios issue will come up,'' Marcello said. "A fair and comprehensive review of EDC would be incomplete if we didn't touch on 38 studios.''
"Will we have a hearing specifically focused on 38 Studios? I don't think so,'' said Marcello, in response to questions about how deep and wide his committee intended to go in its inquiry into the failed 2010 loan.
Governor Chafee's proposed budget for next year includes the first $2.5 million state payment to the bondholders. It is listed as: "38 Studios debt service.''