Tagged: general assembly

State Representative Michael Chippendale (R-Foster) joins the Roundtable this week to discuss the nine-point gun-safety proposal unveiled this week by state officials, Governor Lincoln Chafee's choice to lead the state Economic Development Corporation, and other issues.

A nine-point plan intended to reduce gun-related violence and reduce the threat of a school shooting in Rhode Island was unveiled by leading elected and public-safety officials at the Statehouse Tuesday afternoon. Legislative leaders repeatedly called the proposal a starting point for discussion, raising questions about what exactly will meet with General Assembly muster before the legislature ends it session in June.

A bill has been introduced in the Rhode Island House to form a Freshman Caucus. It’s sponsored by newly elected Representative John Lombardi of Providence.

He says 21 percent of the chamber is now made up of either first-time elected officials or those returning after a hiatus. The new, he says, can sometimes get lost in the not-so-new. 

As proposed in the Lombardi bill, after the Freshman Caucus has served for two consecutive sessions it would be dissolved and a new Freshman Caucus would be formed from among the then newly-elected members.

With state officials due to release their proposal Tuesday for curbing gun violence, Republican House lawmakers are inviting gun makers to relocate to Rhode Island in response to changes in Connecticut and Maryland. A legislative news release says the changes render those two states as "hostile territory":