3 Years After Promising to Open JCLS, Shekarchi Agrees to Hold Hearings
Friday, February 17, 2023
Three years after promising to hold Joint Committee on Legislative Services (JCLS) meetings, House Speaker Joe Shekarchi said he will finally allow the public to see the proceedings of the body that is responsible for General Assembly spending authorization.
For the past 12 years, the JCLS has refused to hold meetings -- and yet, the legislature has spent approximately $50 million annually without public review or input.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTIn January of 2020, then-Rhode Island House GOP Leader Blake Filippi filed a lawsuit in Rhode Island Superior Court that called an audit of the Rhode Island Convention Center illegal -- which was ordered by the JCLS, a committee controlled by then-Speaker Nicholas Mattiello that had not met in years.
The suit also named Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, then-House Majority Leader Joe Shekarchi, and then-Senate Minority Leader Dennis Algiere — who all served on JCLS, and according to Filippi, de facto, surrendered authority to Mattiello.
As GoLocal reported in March 2022, the effort by Shekarchi and Ruggerio to block the legal efforts to force the legislative leaders to conduct public meetings of the JCLS was costing Rhode Island taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
According to hundreds of pages of documents secured by GoLocal from the Rhode Island Attorney General and General Treasurer’s offices, the costs at that time exceeded $200,000 -- and some billing documents appear to be missing.
On Friday, legislative leaders announced that a "Stipulation of Dismissal" was filed in the Superior Court dismissing all claims in the matter of Filippi v. Mattiello et al.
Now that the litigation has concluded, Shekarchi as the current chairman of JCLS, said he has "affirmed his long-standing pledge to hold and participate in quarterly public meetings of JCLS, which functions as the administrative arm of the General Assembly."
VIDEO: Shekarchi in 2020 Promised to Have JCLS Meetings, Now He Is Refusing
Shekarchi claimed on Friday that when he was nominated Speaker in November 2020, that he would open the meetings, but on the advice of counsel, he "held off" while the lawsuit was pending.
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