The high point came from the Senate, where on the second day in session, they passed the Good Samaritan Act, nearly unanimously. Only Senator Frank A. Ciccone, III (D District 7, Providence, North Providence) voted against. Attending the session was former East Side Senator Rhoda Perry, whose son, Alexander, recently passed away after a long battle with addiction. Perry was instrumental in passing the Good Samaritan Act when she was a Senator, and it is fitting that she should be in attendance. Senator Gayle L. Goldin (D District 3, Providence) fittingly submitted a resolution honoring Alexander Perry.

The low point was in the House of Representatives, where Rep. Joseph M. McNamara (D District 19 Warwick, Cranston) competed with House Majority Leader John J. DeSimone (D District 5 Providence) in obsequiously slathering House Speaker Nicholas A. Mattiello with oleaginous praise over his being awarded “Man of the Year” by GoLocalProv. The House rose to give Speaker Mattiello a standing ovation as we all grabbed our air sickness bags.

The opening minutes of the House of Reps this year were marked by Speaker Mattiello studiously ignoring the protesters demanding Licenses for All outside the House chamber. As Mattiello calls for order, the voice of community organizer  Juan Garcia can be heard shouting the Speaker’s name over and over again. Mattiello said recently that he is unmoved by protests, and he seems intent on proving that.

The ever classy ProJo‘s reaction to this event was to publish a letter from the kind-hearted James P Hosey in which he says, “Were I governor, I would have called out the National Guard to deal with these hooligans.”

The best moment in unintentional meta-comedy came from Rep. Joseph A. Trillo (R District 24 Warwick). Trillo, who has just been named honorary chairman of the RI Trump for President campaign, introduced his wife, Marilyn Cocozza Trillo, and said that she’s his “key political adviser.” Trillo made a joke that his wife sometimes uses a “frying pan to hit me in the head to get the advice through,” leaving us all to wonder whether it’s her bad advice or concussive brain damage that’s brought Trillo to publicly espouse his support for the racist, fascist and deceptive Donald Trump.

And lastly, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that the General Assembly engaged in two minutes, 48 seconds of public, legislative prayer. The prayers were all Christian in nature and mostly Catholic. The prayers are in no way reflective of our state’s diversity and are in no way respectful of our state’s history of separation of church and state or freedom of conscience.

Roger Williams would not approve.

“As a private citizen, I will continue to fight for the progressive causes in which I believe,” she said according to a press release sent out this morning. “It has been an honor and a pleasure to represent the residents of the East Side during the last two decades, but it is time for me to step aside and give new leaders the opportunity to emerge.  Together with my colleagues, and so many committed Rhode Islanders, I am proud of all we have been able to accomplish.”

According to the press release, some of her “major legislative accomplishments are enacting needed protections for our state’s nursing home residents, adopting mental health parity, gaining funeral rights for domestic partners, leading the successful battle for medical marijuana, increasing penalties for sex trafficking, putting in place the first anti-racial profiling law in the Northeast, gaining significant adoption reforms and helping to realize separation of powers.”

She is the third-longest serving member of the Senate, next to Senators Dominick Ruggerio and Mary Ellen Goodwin. Perry is one of the most progressive legislators in the state Senate and indeed the entire State House.

For 20 of her 22 years, Perry has served with her good friend, Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed, whom she is pictured with above.

“I’m going to miss Senator Perry,” Paiva Weed said. “She’s been a friend and a colleague and a strong advocate on so many important issues. She knew how to successfully achieve passage of important legislation without ever compromising her values, and she was never afraid to fight for more progress on an issue.”

Senator Juan Pichardo, also a progressive state Senator from Providence, said Perry has been a mentor to him, a positive force at the State House and a role model for the many women who have gotten involved in politics over the past two decades.

“Rhoda Perry has been an icon for the progressive movement in Rhode Island as well as an icon for women in politics,” he said. “Her holistic approach to policy and her compassion with people and her respect for different points of view has been a great thing for those who served with her.”

He said she will be very difficult to replace.

“We thank Senator Rhoda Perry for her years of dedicated public services,” said Kate Brock of Ocean State Action. “Senator Perry has been a champion for the progressive values and ideals we work for everyday. She will be sorely missed at the Statehouse. While Senator Perry is impossible to replace we look forward to helping elect a strong, progressive leader to represent the East Side of Providence.”

Ray Sullivan, of Marriage Equality Rhode Island: “Senator Perry was a tireless advocate for her constituents and a tenacious voice for the LGBTQI community. Her leadership helped advance the rights of countless Rhode Islanders, and we are grateful for her remarkable commitment to public service. She was the lead sponsor of the 1995 civil rights act barring discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations and credit on the basis or sexual orientation, and has been the longtime prime sponsor of marriage equality in the Senate. Most recently, she led the effort to pass the transgender hate crime reporting act, which was singed into law by Gov. Chafee this year. ”

Ian Donnis, of RIPR, reports that Jessica Holden Sherwood is running for Perry’s seat, as is charter school advocate Maryellen Butke, who works for RI-CAN.

Sherwood is a progressive, who testified for income tax reform this year at the State House and helped to organize local activities in conjunction with Netroots Nation this year. Butke is pretty politically liberal, but she may have a hard time appealing to progressives because of her work with RI-CAN, which advocates for more charter schools in Rhode Island.

“Even by conservative estimates,” reads the group’s final report. “Rhode Island state agencies and departments involved in criminal justice stand to save money in their respective offices should the Rhode Island General Assembly decide to pass the decriminalization of possession of an ounce or less of marijuana.”

The report is relevant as the Senate Judiciary Committee is slated to hear Sen. Josh Miller’s bill that would make possession of less than an ounce of pot punishable by a $150 ticket. Currently, those caught with less than an ounce can be imprisoned for up to a year or fined between $200 and $500, or both.

In 2009, according to the group’s report, 1,145 people were charged with simple possession of marijuana and were represented by the public defender’s office. At an average of $347 per case, the change in law could save Rhode Island some $400,000 a year.

A “majority” of the Rhode Island Senate Commission to Study the Prohibition on Marijuana, made up of medical, legal and political leaders from across the state “agrees that marijuana law reform will not only benefit the state from a budget perspective, but would also avoid costly arrests or incarcerations due to simple possession of marijuana.” Former Central Falls Police Chief Joe Moran and retired State Trooper Joseph Osediacz did not think so.

The state as a whole seems to agree with the majority of the commission. A Public Policy Polling survey found that 65 percent of Rhode Islanders agree that the penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana should be lessened. Last week, when a House committee debated a similar bill 15 people testified in favor of the legislation and only one, Kathy Sullivan of the Barrington Prevention Coalition, testified against it.

Also on the docket is Sen Rhoda Perry’s bill that would legalize and tax marijuana.