Also among the governor's priorities is legislation to prevent candidates with more than $500 in unpaid Board of Elections fines from running for office
Promising to take on the General Assembly in this election year if necessary, Gov. Gina Raimondo said she will launch a stronger push for line-item veto power over individual items in the state budget and a previously proposed plan to crack down on campaign finance violators.
In a State House interview Friday, Raimondo said she intends to re-introduce bills that failed last year to create a line-item veto and keep candidates with large unpaid campaign finance fines from running for office, but this time put some political capital on the line to get them through the legislature.
Asked if she would testify for the bills before the General Assembly and push for them with legislative leaders, Raimondo said she would — with the caveat that she has a lot of other issues to campaign for this year.
"This is a top priority," she said. "I think it is a historic opportunity. I'd like the voters to have a say."
To grant line-item veto power to the governor, lawmakers would have to ask voters to approve an amendment to the state Constitution in the November General Election.
"I've been a long-time supporter of it. Most people in Rhode Island are," Raimondo said. "Forty-four other states have it. We are an outlier that we don't, and it is time we give the people of Rhode Island a chance to vote on it."
Since her first campaign for governor in 2014, Raimondo has supported introducing line-item veto power, but hasn't thrown a lot of weight behind an issue that typically divides the legislative and executive branches.
Even after proposing line-item veto legislation last year, it's unclear how hard Raimondo fought for the measure, which both House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello and Senate President Dominick Ruggerio opted to refer to a study commission.
The 12 members of the study commission were named Friday as the legislature got back to work for the start of this session.
"Speaker Mattiello is not taking a position until the commission offers its recommendations before the end of the 2018 legislative session," spokesman Larry Berman wrote in an email.
Raimondo's proposed line-item veto amendment would give Rhode Island's governor some of the broader budget-editing powers in the nation. It would allow her to cut individual spending items in state appropriations bills or reduce their amount, although it would not allow the governor to redirect the funds to a specific use.
The governor could also strike language added to appropriations bills that change state policy through the budget.
Currently the governor's only way to block specific measures in a state budget is to veto the entire tax and spending plan.
Raimondo said Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker told her he "can't imagine governing without" the Bay State's line-item veto.
Again this year, Raimondo declined to identify any specific items she would have used the line-item veto on if it had been available during her time in office. However, she did invoke the program used to fund 38 Studios (which first appeared in a budget bill) and the surprise reorganization of state education boards in 2012 as examples of things that might never have happened if the governor had line-item veto power.
Like the bill she introduced last year, Raimondo's campaign finance legislation would bar candidates with more than $500 in overdue Board of Elections fines from running for office, establish random annual audits of campaign accounts and increase fines for late campaign finance reports.
The Board of Elections now audits candidates if there is a complaint. The Raimondo proposal would require random audits of at least 25 percent of the candidates and of political action committees that have raised or spent more than $10,000.
The American Civil Liberties Union has long argued that prohibiting candidates who owe campaign fines from running for office is unconstitutional.
"The R.I. Constitution sets the standards for qualification for running for office, and as a consequence, we do not believe that the General Assembly can expand those requirements in such a drastic manner," the ACLU of Rhode Island wrote in testimony on last year's bill. "It is also very important to emphasize the significant remedies that are already in place for candidates who fail to comply with reporting requirements or other aspects of the campaign finance laws."
Raimondo said she believes the ACLU has misinterpreted the law.
As of last November, there were around 100 candidates or political action committees with more than $500 in overdue fines, according to Board of Elections records.
The proposal would increase fines for late campaign finance reports from $25 to $100 while raising the maximum Board of Elections penalty from $100 to $500.
"It creates ... an incentive for everyone to follow the rules," Raimondo said.
— panderson@providencejournal.com
(401) 277-7384
On Twitter: @PatrickAnderso_