Will the RI Coastal Resources Management Council be restructured? Why these bills stalled

PROVIDENCE – Plans to restructure the controversial state agency in charge of coastal issues appear to have run aground.

Legislation proposed early in the General Assembly session aimed to reform the Coastal Resources Management Council by taking power away from a board of government appointees and putting it in the hands of professional staff. After committee hearings in both the House and Senate, the bills introduced by Rep. Teresa Tanzi and Sen. Victoria Gu went through rewrites and were set for committee votes this week before being pulled at the eleventh hour because of reported discrepancies between the two versions and other issues.

“It all came to a screeching halt,” said Topher Hamblett, director of advocacy for Save The Bay, which for years has been pushing for change at the coastal council and had raised concerns about the amended bills.

At Tuesday’s meeting of the Senate Committee on Environment and Agriculture, Sen. Alana DiMario, the committee chair, said the amended bill that was set to be heard was “not the correct version that should have been posted.”

Gu said if the bill couldn’t be saved, she’d bring it back next year.

“I do think we’re making some positive steps toward reform and accountability in just the fact that we’re spending so much time on this,” she said. “It means that it is definitely a priority of ours.”

Why the legislation was proposed

The reputation of the coastal council has been marred by a number of questionable decisions in recent years. At the top of the list was the closed-door agreement to allow a marina expansion on Block Island.

It spurred the General Assembly to create a special commission to look at changing the structure of the agency, which is unusual in state government because even though it has professional staff, all decisions are made by a 10-member council of appointees who are not required to have expertise in coastal policy.

The commission made a list of recommendations, including creating a hearing officer position to handle contested decisions. Despite having funding for the position, Gov. Dan McKee’s administration has yet to fill it.

And in the meantime, more problems have arisen, including the voting council’s decision to ignore the staff recommendation on a lease for an offshore wind electric cable, which put the agency at odds with legislative leaders.

A slew of bills were proposed in the winter to change the agency, the most ambitious of which were those proposed by Gu and Tanzi.

The only bill regarding the council that looks like it could still win passage is one that puts the nomination of the agency’s executive director in the hands of the governor. Currently, the appointed council has authority to hire or fire the executive director. Under the bill introduced by Sen. Susan Sosnowski, nominees would go before the Senate for advice and consent. The bill also elevates the director to the same level as the other heads of state agencies.

A House bill that would have created an attorney position to represent agency staff was rewritten to match Sosnowski’s bill on the director. Both the House and Senate were set to vote on the legislation Wednesday.

What critics of the CRMC are saying

Hamblett said the bill is underwhelming compared to other major changes that had been proposed.

“Save The Bay is extremely disappointed that the General Assembly did not take action to reform the structure of CRMC,” he said. “After full vetting by a legislative study commission, the introduction of bills to give the agency a staff attorney and hearing officer and remove the politically appointed council from the agency’s structure, Rhode Island is left with a CRMC that lacks transparency and accountability, and invites abuse.”

Two council vacancies filled

Structure is not the agency’s only issue. Getting enough members to serve on the council has also been a challenge. A CRMC meeting scheduled for Tuesday night was delayed for more than 45 minutes, since all six members who currently serve on the council had to be present in order to achieve a quorum. The application being voted on, from Matunuck Oyster Bar owner Perry Raso, had been pending for five years and numerous previous meetings had been cancelled or rescheduled.

There was some positive news for the council on Wednesday when two new appointees won the approval of the Senate. They are Kevin Flynn, vice chair of the Warwick Planning Board and former associate director of the state Division of Planning, and Joseph Russolino, an accountant and member of the Warwick Harbor Management Commission.

But that still leaves two vacancies on the council.

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This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI bills to reform, restructure CRMC have stalled; two vacancies filled