2012 legislation requested by OCG and/or supported by OCG:

Ethics Amendment

This bill will allow citizens to vote on a Constitutional Amendment to restore jurisdiction over the General Assembly to the state’s Ethics Commission.

2012-H7603   Rep. Mike Marcello  (“Held for further study”)
2012-S2369   Sen. Ed O’Neill  (“Held for further study”)

Inspector General

For an independent state Inspector General to root out fraud, waste and abuse. Other states with an Office of Inspector General save more money than the cost of running the office.

2012-H7072   Rep. Larry Valencia (House Finance heard and continued)

 Publish legislator roll call votes

Publish on the General Assembly website all roll call committee votes. It would not cost additional taxpayer dollars to scan the documents containing the vote. The public should know who has voted to kill a bill or who has voted to allow it to come to the house or senate floor for a vote of the full chamber.

Committee votes are now available on the R.I. Legislative Information Network starting with the 2012 legislative session.  Operation Clean Government played an active role in making this happen.

Voter Handbook

Allow pro and con statements in the Voter Information Handbook on Referendum questions.

2012-S2231   Sen. Ed O’Neill (Not heard by Senate Special Legislation Comm.)

Eliminate straight-ticket voting

This is a question at the top of the ballot asking the voter if he/she wants to vote for all members of a particular party with one vote. Only 14 states have straight-party voting, including Rhode Island. Most voters do not know that if they vote a straight party and then go down the ballot and make a mark in any multi-seat race, their straight party vote has been discarded by the optical scan machine.

2012-H7426   Rep. Mike Marcello  (“Held for further study”)
2012-S2059   Sen. David Bates  (“Held for further study”)
2012-S2060   Sen. David Bates  (“Held for further study”)

Eliminate Legislative Grants

Legislative grants are awarded through legislators by the House Speaker and the Senate President with no review process by the General Assembly.

2012-H7197   Rep. Karen MacBeth (“Held for further study”)

Magistrate Selection

Have magistrates subject to the same selection process as judges.

2012-H7086   Rep. Donna Walsh  (“Held for further study”)
2012-S2518   Sen. James Sheehan  (Not heard by Senate Judiciary Comm.)

Voter Initiative

Twenty-four states have Voter Initiative, also called Initiative & Referendum (I&R). Rhode Island’s legislation has been judged to be model legislation by the California Commission on Campaign Financing.

2012-S2164   Sen. Marc Cote  (Not heard by Senate Special Legislation Comm.)
2012-S2166   Sen. Marc Cote  (Not heard by Senate Special Legislation Comm.)