RI General Assembly session gets underway

The first day of the 2017 session for the Rhode Island General Assembly bringing 16 new faces to the State House including 12 new State Representatives and 4 new State Senators.

The start of the new session also coming with the re–election of House Speaker Nick Mattiello and Senate President Theresa Paiva Weed.

On the House side, Speaker Mattiello laying out a hand–full of goals moving forward including; raising the minimum wage, expanding the estate tax exemption and doubling down on his commitment to public education.

The Speaker also sticking to his guns on his plans to eliminate the car tax with in the next 5 years. It’s a point he emphasized during his hotly contested re–election campaign.

"Our economic foundation is better than it has been in a while. So, we are going to control costs and rely on the economy and we’re going to provide that relief,” said Speaker Mattiello.

Newly elected house Minority Leader Patricia Morgan said she liked some of the proposals she heard from the Speaker including eliminating the car tax,but she says there are many issues that need attention.

"We have over a third of Rhode Islanders on welfare benefits,” said Leader Morgan.

The Speaker not answering questions on where that money will come from for the car tax. It’s something Senate President Paiva Weed has raised concern about.

"I think the car tax should be looked at in the overall theme of taxation. What we can’t do is simply reward those cities and towns that have had high taxes. We need to look at how we reimburse the cities and towns for repealing the car tax,” said President Paiva Weed.

The Senate President laying out goals including curbing the opioid crisis and more attention to mental health issues.

She does say one point of concern will be looking ahead to the changes imposed under the Trump administration.

"I do think that we have a lot of issues whether it has to do with the investments in infrastructure or the way that healthcare and benefits are paid for that could be dramatically changed with the Trump administration,” said President Paiva Weed.

Another point of note, Speaker Mattiello did tell reporters that there will be no late night sessions as frequently occur at the state house. He says he will not let it happen this year.

(C) WLNE 2017