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January 31, 2008

AG brief asserts CRMC's makeup is unconstitutional

PROVIDENCE -- Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch announced this evening that he filed a state Supreme Court brief today asserting that the Coastal Resource Management Council's provisions for appointing members is unconstitutional.

Lynch said the appointment provisions violate the Separation of Powers constitutional amendment approved by Rhode Island voters on Nov. 2, 2004.

The General Assembly is seeking the high court's opinion on whether the CRMC is subject to the Separation of Powers amendment, and today was the deadline for most interested parties to file briefs. According to Michael Healey, spokesman for Lynch, the House of Representatives was granted more time to file its brief.

“Under the Separation of Powers amendment, the governor is given appointment powers of an executive agency of the state, with all appointees subject to the Senate’s consent,” Lynch said in the statement.

“Four of the governor’s appointments to the CRMC -- an executive agency -- don’t require Senate approval. When coupled with the fact that the act allows members of the House and Senate to sit as members of the CRMC and allows appointments of public members by the speaker of the house, the act clearly violates the Rhode Island Constitution and is in opposition to the express will of Rhode Island voters."

The Coastal Resources Management Council, an independent regulatory agency, was established in 1971, well before the passage of the act.

The question of CRMC's makeup and the application of the Separation of Powers Act was debated in the last Assembly session, in which the House in its final moments approved asking the state Supreme Court for a ruling.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

Posted by Mike McKinney  at 7:03 PM | Permalink

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