A tidal wave of support for reforming the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council swept through the Rhode Island State House Wednesday, a stark contrast to the lukewarm reception two years ago.
Backing by environmental groups, the Rhode Island Office of the Attorney General, local residents, and even former council members comes as the state coastal agency continues to come under fire for flouting staff recommendations, lawsuits and recurring vacancies.
“The reality is the council is just not working in its present form,” Sen. Mark McKenney, a Warwick Democrat, told members of the Senate Committee on Environment and Agriculture. “It’s not sufficient to paper over a systemic problem with new personalities. Reform is imperative.”
McKenney is sponsoring a bill that would bring about comprehensive reform by eliminating the appointed council and reshaping the agency as an administrative arm led by expert staff, much like the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. A citizen advisory council would retain the opportunity for a public voice in decision-making, but act only to make recommendations.
Similar legislation has been introduced in 2023 and 2024.
The bill was held for further study — standard practice for an initial vetting by a legislative panel. Companion legislation has been introduced in the Rhode Island House by Rep. Terri Cortvriend, a Portsmouth Democrat.
Laura Dwyer, a spokesperson for the CRMC, declined to comment on the legislation.
Former council members call for change
The parade of proponents who spoke Wednesday included two of the council’s former members: Paul Beaudette, who served a single three-year term that ended in 2017 and was not asked to return, and Catherine Robinson Hall, who resigned in 2024, two years into her term.
Beaudette said the agency’s expert staff’s recommendations were squashed by the volunteer council and lawyers for private property owners.
“They need their representation,” Beaudette, the former eastern vice chairman for the National Wildlife Federation and past president of the Environment Council of Rhode Island, said of the agency’s staff.
Another 20 advocates and residents wrote to lawmakers ahead of Wednesday’s hearing. None expressed opposition.
“It is refreshing to have so much interest in this body in this room,” said Sen. V Susan Sosnowski, a South Kingstown Democrat and chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Agriculture. “I’ve been trying to reform CRMC for a long time, just trying to nibble around the edges.”
Sen. Robert Britto, an East Providence Democrat, questioned the lack of critics.
“Why is it that we don’t have any opposition?” Britto asked.
“Because it’s the right proposal,” replied Alison Fonseca, policy and legislative counsel for the Rhode Island Attorney General’s office.
Jed Thorp, advocacy director for Save the Bay, chalked up the lack of action in the past two years to fear of change.
Sticker shock
Another obstacle: cost.
A fiscal analysis by the state budget office in 2024 pegged the cost to reshape the agency into an administrative group at $1.2 million to $1.9 million. But advocates insist the price tag was inflated.
The Senate in June approved a resolution calling for the Rhode Island Department of Administration (DOA) to closely study the cost of various reform options, including abolishing the council and creating a standalone coastal agency, or funneling the CRMC into DEM. The 51-page report published in February estimated that reshaping the agency as a standalone administrative arm would cost $1.1 million to $1.7 million in fiscal 2026, with most of the cost coming from the seven to 15 new staff members required to fulfill additional agency duties.
“The notion that eliminating the council would require hiring seven new staff people is frankly laughable to anyone who understands what the council does and how they function,” Thorp said.
Shifting the coastal agency into the DEM, either as a bureau or within the general structure of the department, comes at a slightly lower cost: $500,000 to $1.3 million in fiscal 2026, according to DOA’s report.
Then there’s the option to keep the agency in its current form, which has no extra cost beyond the $3.6 million in state revenue included in the annual budget. But doing nothing also has a cost to the state’s 400 miles of coastline, and to the public trust in how that coastline is protected.
“Our coastal resources are facing a series of complex and consequential challenges,” Thorp said, naming public access, coastal erosion, climate change and development pressures as examples. “Even if you had more qualified people on the council, the structure itself does not lend itself to good decision-making.”
Not ‘showing up for work’
Council decisions often take years because of the inability to meet a quorum. There are three open seats on the 10-member council now.
“CRMC frankly doesn’t show up for work a third of the time,” said Michael Woods, chair of the New England Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.
In 2024, the council missed or canceled nearly 30% of its bimonthly meetings — without explanation or advanced notice, Woods said. Even when the council had a full roster of 10 members, it still missed 20-30% of its meetings, he added.
A 1-acre oyster farm proposed for Tiverton’s Sapowet Cove — symbolic of the battle between aquaculture farmers, fishermen and property owners — is now heading into a sixth year of waiting for the council’s decision.
“We heard that for two years during my time on the council, and we still haven’t resolved it,” said Hall, who now serves as staff attorney for Save the Bay.
And an illegal seawall built along the shoreline of a North Kingstown country club still stands, two years after it was built, and despite coastal regulators denying the club’s retroactive attempt to seek permission.
Dr. Michael Reuter, a Barrington podiatric surgeon confirmed as the newest member of the council on March 20, was interested in serving due to his own frustrations in waiting for the council’s approval on changes to his waterfront home.
“The experience of everyday Rhode Islanders shows the body is not working the way it needs to be from a customer perspective,” Sen. Alana DiMario, a North Kingstown Democrat, said in an interview.
Senate President Dominick Ruggerio and House Speaker K. Joseph remained noncommittal in individual statements Wednesday, though both stressed the importance of the coastal agency’s work.
“It is imperative that the state have in place a modern, professional agency with appropriate expertise to fulfill its crucial mission,” Ruggerio said in a statement. He returned to the State House on Tuesday, following a seven-week absence during which he was hospitalized with pneumonia.
Considering alternatives
Shekarchi previously suggested tweaking the membership of the council to include more experts from a broader array of backgrounds.
Sosnowski has proposed separate legislation requiring a three-fifths majority of the council to override the recommendations of its expert staff. Across the rotunda, Rep. Jay Edwards, a Tiverton Democrat, introduced legislation that would abolish the council and shift the coastal agency into DEM. Rep. Alex Finkelman, a Jamestown Democrat, introduced a bill to reduce council membership from 10 to seven members, all of whom would need experience in “environmental matters.”
The House State Government and Elections Committee will give a first hearing to CRMC reform bills the week of April 7.
Any changes to the CRMC requires approval from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — a process that typically takes 30 days but could extend beyond 120 days. Jasmine Blackwell, a NOAA spokesperson, declined to comment on the pending legislation.
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
