Projo Politics Blog

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The agenda for next week's General Assembly special session is by no means set, but it's starting to become clearer, according to a committee agenda posted Friday afternoon.

In addition to legislation outlawing indoor prositution, the House Judiciary Committee is expected to pass measures to allow voters to decide whether to remove the word "plantations" from the official state name, strip the governor of his power to appoint replacements to fill Congressional vacancies, reduce the minimum sentences for some drug offenses, and allow police to force chemical tests on drivers involved in serious accidents.

All the legislation posted for Tuesday afternoon's public hearing is supported by House leadership and ultimately expected to become law, according to Larry Berman, spokesman for House Speaker William J. Murphy.

"A lot of the bills have gotten to the 5-yard line, now they have to get to the goal line," Berman said Friday evening.

Berman said that dozens more proposals were expected to be posted for various House and Senate committees early next week in anticipation of a two-day special session planned for Wednesday and Thursday.

Virtually all the issues that will come up have been debated at length in the legislative session that ended in late June, according to Berman.

Still, there may be modifications to previous versions.

On prostitiution, for example, lawmakers have agreed upon a version that reconciles differences between House and Senate proposals, although the compromise language has not yet been publicly released.

It's much the same scenario for a bill that would allow authorities to force chemical tests on drivers involved in fatal traffic accidents, or those that involve bodily injury. Differences in House and Senate versions have been ironed out, according to Berman, although the updated version was not posted for public viewing.

The House Judiciary agenda also includes a proposal introduced by Sen. Paul V. Jabour, D-Providence, to strip the governor of his power to appoint a replacement for a U.S. senator who dies or leaves office in mid-term, and to require special elections instead.

The issue made headlines after the Massachusetts' legislature changed Bay State law in the wake of the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy. The bill would require that a special election be held, unless the vacancy occurs after July 1 of an election year, in which case the vacancy would be filled during the regular election cycle.

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