Ah yes, the Rhode Island Statehouse where the West Wing Cafe is located in the easternmost wing of the building, and where many of our so-called Democrats are really Republicans. (Both Senate President Ruggerio and House Speaker Mattiello have A-ratings from the NRA and have been endorsed by RI Right to Life. Mattiello wears Trump ties.)*
At any rate, the new legislative session starts Tuesday. Ian Donnis, political reporter at The Public’s Radio, writes about the upcoming year:
With a new Rhode Island General Assembly session set to start Tuesday, the conventional wisdom holds that beyond the budget and maybe the IGT/Twin River issue, not much of consequence will happen at the Statehouse since 2020 is an election year for state legislators.
Meanwhile the Providence Journal reports that Attorney General Peter Neronha wants to tweak one of the state’s gun laws. (ProJo 1.2.20)
Asked about Neronha’s 2020 legislative agenda, spokeswoman Kristy dosReis said this week that one “simple change” would clarify that gun stores should submit the application to purchase a firearm to the police department where the buyer lives, instead of, or in addition to, where the gun store is located.
He has the support of the police chiefs, so maybe this small piece of common sense legislation will make it through. Otherwise, it’s as Mr. Donnis has noted . . . it’s an election year.
*As to marijuana legalization: Neither Ruggerio nor Mattiello has absorbed any of the current public health or social justice arguments — nor any of the studies analyzing the years of experience in other states — in favor of legalizing the adult use of marijuana. Or they have donors with financial interests contrary to same. It’s as if they have neither read nor watched any of the news reports on this topic. Mattiello has declared the issue dead for this upcoming session; Ruggerio has also come out and stated that the issue is dead this year. So to hell with the over 50% of Rhode Islanders who support legalization . . . we don’t even want to hear from you.
Asked about Raimondo’s comments last week about high-school students finding it easier to buy marijuana than vaping products, Ruggerio said: “That’s what we want for our kids? They aren’t learning anything anyway. That will make it worse. If your test scores are low and these kids start getting access to that, I think that complicates the problems.”
You idiot! The Governor is saying that the regulated product is HARDER for students to get than the unregulated product. Kids get all the marijuana they want, now!