Directly Supporting the Citizens of District 75

• Continued to support the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Newport Gulls, the Fort Adams Trust, Concerned Citizens About Casino Gambling, the Old Colony & Newport Railway, the Fraternal Order of Police, and the local fishing community.
• I have continued my 8 year involvement on the LNG issue and have continued to fight against this environmental threat.
• Introduced a House of Representatives Resolution requesting the restoration of the America's Cup Race in Newport. A duly certified copy of this resolution was transmitted to Mr. Larry Ellison.
• Working with the House Committee on Corporations, I co-sponsored a bill with Representatives Jackson and Ruggiero to vacate the forfeiture of the charter of a local business. This request had been caught up 'in the process' for many years before I took it on as a goal.
• Introduced a House Resolution honoring the Newport Gulls on their visit to the House of Representatives and the celebration of their 10th Anniversary of playing baseball at Cardines Field in Newport. [I just completed my eighth year as a Gulls Volunteer].
• Introduced a resolution which recognized and congratulated a Newport Met School student for her work and dedication to the rebuilding of Haiti. This led to the publication on Capitol TV of the student's own video production about her missionary experiences in Haiti.
• Regularly attended meetings of the Fort Adams Trust and the Concerned Citizens About Casino Gambling.
• Working with the Capitol Television crew, I was instrumental in the production of three 30 minute shows about Newport issues including:
  1. Commercial Fishing Issues
  2. The Fort Adams Trust
  3. Homeless in Newport

Working in Cooperation with other State Agencies

• Working in cooperation with the Attorney General and the Rhode Island Internet Crimes Against Children (RI ICAC) Task Force, I was the primary sponsor of legislation to assist in the battle against traders of child pornography. This bill was vetted in the House Committee on Judiciary and passed the House of Representatives both years by a significant majority.
• Working with the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless, I supported a bill which includes crimes against homeless persons within the definition of "hate crimes" for the purposes of reporting and monitoring by the state police. I gave strong testimony from my own experiences of working with homeless people in Newport. This testimony led to an article in the May 2010 issue of Street Sights about these experiences which, in turn, led to the passage of this bill.
• Co-sponsored a bill which would require Members of the General Assembly to pay a share for their health insurance benefits equal to ten percent (10%) of the cost of the benefits and would prohibit any payment for waiving health insurance benefits.
• Also Supported: o Passage of the Small Business Committee "Making It Easier to Do Business in Rhode Island" package of bills to help our employers. o Pension reform in the past two years that will result in nearly $90 million in annual savings to the taxpayers. o Continued oversight of General Assembly members by the Rhode Island Ethics Commission. o Major tax reform legislation that will lower income taxes for most residents and will bolster our economy.

Working with State Agencies

• Upon the recommendation of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, I was appointed as the Rhode Island Legislative Delegate to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. This has put me in a position to help the local fishing industry including those who operate out of the State Pier at the end of Long Wharf.
• Working with the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority, I was the primary sponsor of a bill which raises the fines for non-payment of the toll from $100 to a maximum of $250 and block license and registration renewals if the fines aren't paid. This bill passed the House and Senate and was enacted into law in June 2010.
• At the request of the Office of the Attorney General, I introduced an act that would prohibit the use of a computer or other telecommunication device to transmit an indecent visual depiction of himself/herself to another person, which is commonly known a sexting".
• Working with the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, I introduced a bill making it easier to do business in Rhode Island through the creation of the office of regulatory reform which would review Rhode Island regulatory processes and permitting procedures for businesses in an effort to improve them.
• I was appointed to the newly formed House Committee on Small Business. This was in recognition of my MBA from Bryant University. Working together with the Senate and the Department of Administration, we were able to introduce a package of bills which focused on making it easier to do business in Rhode Island. All of these bills became law.

Attendance at Seminars

• Attended a conference on "Economic Perspectives on State and Local Taxes" held at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Cambridge, MA. The conference was a small, interactive seminar targeted at state legislators and think tank executives I was one of 23 legislators in attendance from the six New England states.
• Attended full day meetings conducted by the Small Business Association of New England including a conference on the Rhode Island economy that was held at Bryant University in Smithfield. Recommendations in the summary included ways for the state to become tax competitive, proposals to make it easier to do business in the state by reforming regulations, and calls for solutions to the state's budget problems, all of which were enacted.