PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The chairman of the Senate Oversight Committee is vowing to reintroduce next year a vetoed bill that would require more public-reporting by the state's quasi-public agencies of their borrowing, spending and consulting contracts.
The debate centers on 20 state agencies, such as the Airport Corporation, the Bridge & Turnpike Authority, Resource Recovery Corporation and the tarnished Economic Development Corporation.
"Since the 38 Studio's debacle, people have been clamoring for greater
oversight of quasi public agencies. This legislation would have gone a
long way to doing just that,'' Sen. James Sheehan, D- North Kingstown.
"For the governor to announce that certain quasi-public agencies suddenly discovered a technical problem in the bill by Mid-July, when the bill was introduced on March, is disappointing to say the least,'' Sheehan said.
"The Quasi Public Reform bill was literally the product of years of
hearings and investigations related to improving oversight of quasi-public
agencies,'' Sheehan said. "Had it not been vetoed by Governor Lincoln Chafee, this legislation would have brought about much needed transparency and accountability to these publicly owned, self-governing corporations.''
In his veto message, Chafee cited a number of concerns, among them a prohibition on directors doubling as officers of the corporations. "Regardless of whether this would be an effective way to ensure board independence, '' he said a number of directors currently have these dual roles and are required to do so by law.
He also questioned the potential impact on past decisions of declaring that any board member absent for half the meetings has resigned. And because the bill would have become "effective on passage,'' he said it would have immediately rendered several of the agencies "noncompliant with the law and unable to fulfill their statutory purposes.''
Chafee said he would consider supporting a reworked bill next year that addressed these issues. But, he said, "without these modifications, I am concerned that board actions of quasi-public corporations could be construed as taken without due authorization.''