PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Seven months after its release, an independent consultant's report on the state's troubled Economic Development Corporation will be examined by state lawmakers on Wednesday.
At around 5 p.m., the House Finance Committee will hear a presentation from the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council, a business-backed research group retained by Governor Chafee in the wake of the 38 Studios loan guarantee debacle to assess the state's economic development efforts.
In September, RIPEC released its findings.
The report's key recommendation was eliminating the EDC and creating a new secretary of commerce appointed by the governor to oversee the state departments of Environmental Management, Business Regulation, and Labor and Training, as well as a new state "Commerce Corporation."
Chafee has so far declined to act on the recommendation.