When the legislators go home, the campaign for vetoes begins

CAUTION – The onslaught of end-of-session votes by state lawmakers has given way to a behind-the-scenes battle for vetoes.

The goals: the annual body package and increased efforts to obtain “teacher certification” for school nurses.

Body repairs invoice

No one has vetoed Governor Dan McKee more openly than Francis C. O’Brien, chief lobbyist of the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.

He calls for a veto against the legislation promoted by the bodywork industry in order to: Declare an insurer guilty of “unfair claims practices” because he refuses to reimburse a body shop for the documented costs for paint, bodywork and repair materials. , ” if they reflect the cost recognized by the automotive industry.

“I’ve found that most insurers obey the law as written, but others have discovered loopholes they exploit,” Randy Bottella, president of the Auto Body Association of RI, told lawmakers.

More: The governor vetoed a law that could have shifted the cost of expanding renewable energies to the fee payers

O’Brien summed up his concerns on Wednesday in a statement titled, “Property damage insurers urge Governor McKee to deny Autobody” blank check “markup legislation that is likely to drive repair costs for RI drivers even higher.”

And he stated in a letter to McKee that part of it said, “At an average repair cost of $ 4,548, it is [already] It costs more to repair a damaged car in Rhode Island than anywhere else … As a result, Rhode Island has some of the highest auto insurance rates in the country. “

“This situation is likely to get worse,” he warned, “if [S870 and H6324] Should become law … to require an insurer to pay the cost plus a surcharge, no matter what. No supervision, no negotiations, a blank check. “

Few industries in the past have been more generous to Rhode Island political leaders than the auto body industry. A 2019 analysis of the journal found: The state’s auto body owners spent at least $ 65,550 in political donations in the first three months of this year.

The bill for school nurses can also be vetoed

Others, hoping for a McKee veto, are the quieter opponents of a bill that stipulates which school nurses must also be “certified teachers,” as is the case with the wife of the Senate Majority Leader Michael McCaffrey.

This fight has not bubbled to the surface

But the lobbyist for the RI Department of Elementary Education – also known as RIDE – told the House Education Committee on March 31, “RIDE OPP[O]SES this legislation. “

While the reason was not stated in his written testimony, he followed an announcement in January that the Providence Schools Department was planning to open three health and wellness clinics within their public schools.

An initiative by State Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green to provide services, including screening, routine physical exams and laboratory tests, to students, their families and school staff with the Rhode Island Foundation, Partnership for Rhode Island (a group of companies) and CVS Health Foundation share the start-up costs.

At Mount Pleasant, for example, a team of two nurses, a social worker, a wellness coordinator, and an outreach manager should be on hand to provide diagnoses, treatments, and prescriptions, and then consult with the child or family for additional services.

Similar clinics across the country have shown decreases in chronic absenteeism and abandonment outside of school, as well as an increase in student and teacher attendance, according to a school district statement.

The plan – and the next steps in RIDE – did not go down well with everyone.

“Unfortunately, the Rhode Island Department of Education bureaucracy has opened the door to allow non-certified school nurse teachers to provide services to our schools,” said James Parisi, lobbyist for the Rhode Island Federations & Health Professions, wrote lawmakers.

“School nursing is a specialty … that requires skills that are not acquired through traditional nursing courses,” he claimed.

Patrick Crowley, who represents the National Education Association of Rhode Island, also praised the value to students of “having a qualified educator who not only cares about their physical and mental health, but also teaches students the importance of healthy living “.

But Timothy Ryan, the lobbyist for the Rhode Island School Superintendents’ Association, cautioned lawmakers against passing a bill that effectively states:

“Only certified nurse-teachers are allowed to be employed as school nurses in elementary and secondary schools. The RI Board of Education recently changed state certification requirements for nursing teachers because the district was unable to find qualified people to fill vacancies.

“Passing this bill would lead to a shortage of caregivers during a pandemic and seriously affect the health of our children,” he wrote to lawmakers.

Timothy Duffy, executive director of the Rhode Island Association of School Committees, also opposed the bill.

His arguments to lawmakers and key members of McKee’s State House team on Wednesday: “With the worst pandemic in over 100 years behind us, now is not the time to restrict schools’ access to critical care services. “

McKee has yet to provide any indication of what bills, if any, he might veto beyond the bill he voted on Tuesday, shifting potential millions in costs from renewable energy developers to electricity company tariff payers .

source https://collegeeducationnewsllc.com/when-the-legislators-go-home-the-campaign-for-vetoes-begins/