PROVIDENCE, R.I. - As day turned to night on the final day of Rhode Island's 2013 legislative session, the fate of many of the economic development-related bills that House Speaker Gordon D. Fox and Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed unveiled earlier this year to fanfare remain in limbo.
The two leading Democrats have competing visions for how the state's economic development bureaucracy should be structured in the aftermath of the 38 Studios debacle.
Fox proposes a broad overhaul, centered on a new Executive Office of Commerce, which would serve as the state's main economic development arm and be headed by a new Secretary of Commerce, to be appointed by the governor.
Fox also calls for recasting the current Economic Development Corporation as the "Rhode Island Commerce Corporation."
But Governor Chafee has threatened to veto the plan, saying it would divert the administration's energies away from economic development to a bureaucratic re-shuffling.
Paiva Weed, meanwhile, has also proposed recasting the EDC as the "Rhode Island Commerce Corporation."
She wants to impose new requirements on the quasi-public agency in a bid to make it more transparent and accountable. That includes developing a mission statement, a code of ethics, performance measurements and financing guidelines as well as annual reports and regular audits.
Under both the House and Senate plans, the renamed EDC would continue to oversee certain state loan and incentive programs for businesses.
Each chamber has approved its version of the economic development overhaul and has before it the others.
Among the other economic development bills that remain in limbo Tuesday are ones establishing a new "Council of Economic Advisors" to gather economic data and information; creating a small business lending program called "Rapid Rhody" and establishing a new "Business Development Center" to help companies navigate state permitting and regulatory requirements.