GOP leader not ready to agree to House rules suspension

PROVIDENCE — Heading into the final week of the legislative session, the leader of the nine-member House Republican bloc has one trump card: he can agree or refuse to agree with his Democratic counterpart to "suspend the rules," including the rules requiring more than 5 minutes of advance notice on new bill introductions, committee hearings and votes.

And House Minority Leader Blake Filippi said he has been asked but he hasn't yet given his assent.

The Block Island Republican told The Journal over the weekend that he is always concerned about "open government and accessible government,'' but "equally concerned about advancing Republican priorities."

"In order for the Republican caucus to agree to suspend the rules, the Republican membership needs to advance some of its agenda, reasonable items in its agenda ... small things for our districts,'' Filippi said.

He cited, as an example, a failed bid during the House budget debate for money to buy two new buses for the patients on the state-run Zambarano Hospital campus in Burrillville. He also cited one of his own bills to expand eligibility for "affordable housing" on Block Island to households within 140 percent of the federal poverty level, instead of 120 percent because of the relatively high cost of living and of housing, in particular, on the island. 

Filippi said he would, in any event, be willing to discuss a "limited suspension of the rules'' to make sure individual bills get the votes they need to clear the House in the closing days of the session, though that seems to entail a disputed reading of the rules which he believes are "pretty vague about what can be suspended and how. ... We don't want good bills dying because we can't agree to a wholesale suspension."

The response from House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello: “I have a good working relationship with Leader Filippi and I will continue to discuss this issue with him. I leave the Leader to his good judgment as to whether or not a suspension of the House rules should occur. In either scenario, the House will be prepared to adjourn by the end of this week.”

As to the GOP agenda, Democrat Mattiello said: “All of the Republican priority bills are being evaluated on their merits.”

For the record, the House rules say: "A rule may be temporarily suspended with the consent of the Majority and Minority Leaders or by a vote of two-thirds (2/3) of the members voting... At the time a rule or rules are temporarily suspended, the duration of time that the rule shall be suspended shall clearly be stated to the body and recorded in the House journal. The application of this rule as it pertains to the temporary suspension of the rules shall not be subject to amendment or repeal."