Are RI waters getting too clean for quahogs? Lawmakers will dive into this in summer school
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PROVIDENCE — The end of this year's General Assembly session marked the beginning of a legislative deep dive into the aquatic life of quahogs, aka Rhode Island's official state shellfish.
It's a serious issue in Rhode Island's shellfishing world.
Ask Sen. Mark McKenney, the Warwick legislator who called for this in-depth look into the reasons for "the reduced catch of quahogs in Narragansett Bay" amid an array of theories ranging from climate change to, believe it or not, the potential downside of having the cleanest waters in years: fewer nutrients.
"It's a bit too clean. How's that one for you?" McKenney told Political Scene.
Lockdown drills, solar panels, pensions also to be studied this summer
McKenney's is among a raft of off-session studies that Rhode Island lawmakers launched this year into a panoply of issues ranging from the potentially traumatic impact of unannounced lockdown drills on students, to vacation house rental policies, to "proper forest management for fire prevention," to "services for older adults." Some created last year that never got going were extended a year, including a look-see into "solar panels on interstate highways."
More: Six issues died at the State House this week. These are the ones expected in 2024.
The most-publicized off-session study is the one lawmakers directed state Treasurer James Diossa to conduct into the impact – and potential "unintended consequences" – of the 2011 Raimondo-era pension overhaul.
It says: "The working group shall develop options for consideration by the General Assembly that may be needed to improve the pension programs or address any unintended consequences ... Options, to the extent possible, shall include a clear cost-benefit analysis."
The study was part of the lawmakers' response to the pleas by Rhode Island's retired public employees for the resumption of their suspended cost-of-living-adjustments while they are still alive.
The status? “Treasurer Diossa is setting up the framework for a thoughtful, comprehensive, and inclusive process. We anticipate the working group being announced in the fall," a spokeswoman said.
Study commissions aren't a promise for next year, but doesn't mean something's dead, either
Not all study commissions are alike.
Some are created to appease lawmakers with concerns outside the normal Rhode Island legislative realm, such as the study initiated by former Republican Rep. Justin Price in 2017 of "the Intentional Manipulation of the Global Environment Through Geoengineering."
Postulated by some researchers as a potential strategy to combat global warming, geoengineering is also featured in a number of elaborate and unsubstantiated online theories about clandestine airborne spraying and secret biological agents. Enter Price, a die-hard Trump backer who acknowledged his presence in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2020.
To the best of anyone's knowledge at the State House, Price's geoengineering commission never met.
But other study commissions have met and laid the groundwork for successful legislation, such as the new shoreline-access law.
And others are best described as stop-gap measures for issues that elude compromise.
Example: Rather than passing long-debated legislation to address the litter problem caused by the thousands of carelessly thrown away bottles, including the tiny liquor containers known as "nips," the lawmakers chose to create an "18-member special joint legislative commission" to study plastic pollution.
The due date for its recommendations − "No later than June 10, 2024" – which means, very, very near the likely end of next year's session. (Anyone want to put money on another stalemate then?)
"Much more detail is needed about how bottle bills are working in other states before we consider such significant legislation," House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi and Senate President Dominick Ruggerio said in a joint statement.
An ode to the quahog's place in RI history
McKenney's resolution (S1126) begins with a tribute to the attributes of the mighty quahog, "a large, hard-shelled clam, whose shells were used for many years by the Narragansett people for wampum."
"Native to the Atlantic coast, quahogs feed on plankton, and plankton feed on nitrates, which [waste]water-treatment plants can’t filter out, making quahogs a natural source for filtering impurities out of the water, as well as being a much sought-after food."
Their place in the food chain? "More than 17.5 million quahogs with an ex-vessel (off the boat) value of over $4 million were harvested from Narragansett Bay and Rhode Island coastal waters in 2022," according to the state's Department of Environmental Management.
The problem, in legislative drafting-speak: "Due to simply less clams, it has become a shrinking industry."
"From a high of around 35 million quahogs [harvested] in 2012, diggers dug around 18 million quahogs in 2022 ... basically a 50% drop," according to DEM spokesman Michael Healey.
Why? "We don’t know, but we’ve got some theories," Healey says. "Changes in quahog predators (such as whelk) ... Changes in lower food (e.g., phytoplankton, zooplankton) availability ... Changes in seabed habitat and harvest pressure."
What prompted McKenney to seek creation of this 13-member commission, made up of lawmakers and representatives of the state's Department of Environmental Management, Coastal Resources Management Council, Narragansett Bay Commission, Save The Bay and the Rhode Island Shell Fisherman’s Association, among others?
His answer: divisions within the shellfishing industry on both the cause and what, if anything, should be done.
The due date for the commission's findings and recommendations: "No later than May 31, 2024."
What else is on the off-session docket?
Guns: Unable to win passage this year of an assault-weapons ban or a safe-storage requirement for firearms, gun-control advocates walked away with H6422, a commitment to study "mandated safety protocols for Rhode Island schools."
The backers incude: Reps. Jennifer Boylan, Jennifer Stewart, Joseph McNamara, Cherie Cruz, Jason Knight, Teresa Tanzi, Leonela Felix, Karen Alzate, Susan Donovan, and Tina Spears.
The focus of the 20-member commission of legislators and others from schools, teacher unions and the attorney general's office: to evaluate and find ways to mitigate the trauma experienced by students and teachers as a result of lockdown drills.
Among the questions the legislation directs the panel to explore:
"Whether lockdown drills during school hours should include simulations that mimic an actual incident ... Should a lockdown drill be announced to students and educators prior to its start ... Should the frequency of mandatory emergency egress drills (fire drills) be changed from one per month to some reduced number ... as these drills may be traumatizing?"
Report due date: Feb. 28, 2024.
Short-term rentals Round II.
Hailing from the tourist mecca of Newport, Rep. Lauren Carson led earlier efforts to regulate the short-term rental industry and this year won House backing for H6449: "A Special Legislative Commission to Review and Provide Recommendations for Policies That Deal with Numerous Economic and Social Short-term Rentals Issues."
"While beneficial to the individual homeowner, oftentimes, the use of short-term rentals produces significant consequences for the surrounding community, creating the need to balance the rights of individual property owners with those of the community," the legislation states.
"These effects are particularly apparent in my district in Newport, where our housing crisis is exacerbated by the many residential properties that are now used solely as short-term rentals," Carson says. "There are [also] tax, regulation and safety inequities between this industry and the hospitality industry."
"We need to thoroughly investigate the many consequences of the short-term rental industry in Rhode Island, carefully balance them with the rights of property owners, and develop responses that ensure safety, promote the economy, and protect neighborhoods and the interests of the people of this state."
Her resolution calls for the creation of a 15-member study commission that includes legislators and representatives of the Rhode Island Hospitality Association, the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns, the state's Division of Taxation, the mayors of Newport and Warwick, the Rhode Island Association of Realtors and – yes, this exists – the Rhode Island Short Term Rental Association, among others.
Due date: March 15, 2024.
Pawtucket: Sen. Sandra Cano, who is on unpaid leave from her $105K job as Pawtucket's economic development director, and her fellow Pawtucket legislators won backing for creation of a hyper-local 13-member Special Legislative Commission to study and provide recommendations for improving the Pawtucket Corridor.
It is focused on the Mineral Spring Avenue (Route 15) corridor between Route 146 and the new Pawtucket/Central Falls train station, "an important transportation route that connects the city of Pawtucket to neighboring communities."
The focus: "With the new investment in transit infrastructure coming to the area ... [and] projects in the immediate vicinity of the station ... momentum has grown for creating safe and accessible connections to the station."
The study is due May 7, 2024.
Female prisoners: Concerns about "recidivism of females in the criminal justice system" prompted the House and Senate to create a joint commission to study the extent of the problem and see what can be done.
The matching bills introduced in the House and the Senate set the stage:
"Incarcerated women are often young, single mothers from ethnic minority backgrounds who have little education, poor work histories ... are disproportionately low income" and often struggle with mental illness and "high rates of PTSD and substance-use disorders."
The end-goal? To build this case: "By investing in support for mental health and abuse [remediation], and by expanding diversion, parole and re-entry programming and housing, government can better support our communities and families as a whole by greatly increasing positive outcomes."
The recommendations are due by Feb. 5, 2024.
The problem: "The State of Rhode Island has too many unfilled fulltime equivalent positions in essential positions serving the state’s most vulnerable residents in the Department of Human Services and the Department of Children, Youth & Families."
This has resulted in "extended wait times for service in walk-in offices and at the call centers" and "increasing work load and stress [on current staff] which then increases turnover in these departments, creating more vacancies."
The aim of the 11-member study group she initiated: to identify and fix problems in the state's hiring and personnel management systems.
Report date: April 1, 2024.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Lawmakers' homework: Quahogs, lockdown drills, solar panels, pensions
