PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- With a deadline only days away, House Speaker Gordon Fox has announced plans to introduce a resolution on Wednesday to block the compounded pay raises of 3 percent in June and another 3 percent in December that Governor Chafee plans to give state agency directors.
Fox said: "This action is certainly no reflection on the fine work performed by the Governor's department directors. However, given the fragile condition of the state's economy and with so many people struggling, we firmly believe that this is not the time for the Governor to be awarding pay increases."
The announcement came after 26 members of the Rhode Island House of Representatives signed a letter urging House rejection of the raises.
Unless the House and Senate formally object by May 19, the raises will go into effect. The Senate's intent is not yet clear.
In the letter they delivered to Fox on Tuesday, the lawmakers said: "The request, for what amounts to a 6 percent pay increase, sends the absolute wrong message to citizens of our state at a time when so many are struggling to make ends meet, especially when these raises are across the board and not being requested on a position by position basis.
"We respectfully ask that a resolution be drafted for immediate consideration in the House and that a vote be taken tomorrow,'' said the letter, drafted by former House Majority Whip J. Patrick O'Neill, D-Pawtucket.
Rep. Robert D. Phillips, D-Woonsocket, had been circulating a resolution calling for the rejection of the pay raises earlier in the day. It pits the proposed pay raises against "foregone salary increases'' for other state employees, "the deep impact of the recession on Rhode Island families, jobs, businesses and public services'' and the pension freeze.
This post was initially published at 5:40 p.m.