SENATE VOTES TO KEEP MARTINEZ AS HEAD OF DCYF

PROVIDENCE -- The Senate voted yesterday to reappoint Patricia
Martinez to head the state Department of Children, Youth and
Families, an agency facing millions in projected cuts next year as
Governor Carcieri tries to rein in social spending.

The chamber unanimously endorsed Martinez as the $127,501-a-year
director of the agency with 789 authorized employees and a
$293-million budget this year. She has held the director's position
since her appointment in 2005.

The DCYF is facing substantial cuts in the coming year. Facing
hundreds of millions in projected deficits, the governor has proposed
reducing the department's budget by 26 percent, to $215 million.

Cuts to services for former foster children and developmentally
disabled youths have been immensely unpopular, as has a plan to end
Family Court jurisdiction at age 18.

The move would prohibit youths from serving sentences at the state
Training School for Youth past their 18th birthday. Family Court
sentences can currently continue through age 21.

Finance Committee Chairman Steven M. Costantino has asked Martinez to
develop alternatives for balancing the budget without the same service cuts.

Martinez' reappointment came the same day the state settled a
contract dispute with Local 580 Service Employees International
Union, which represents social workers and others in the DCYF.

The governor's office announced the ratification of a four-year
contract with the state's second-largest union about an hour before
Martinez' confirmation.

The contract gives the union's 1,100 members 4-percent pay raises in
each of the first two years, and 3-percent raises for the last two.
It also requires members to pay a percentage of their health-care premiums.

"I am pleased that both sides worked together and have resolved the
contract and our hard working members are now able to focus on the
vital services we provide for the citizens of this state," union
president Lucie Burdick said in a statement.

During a confirmation hearing last week, some legislators voiced
concern about mounting caseloads in the face of three dozen vacancies
that hiring restraints prevent Martinez from filling. Acknowledging
morale as a concern, she said, she is hoping to transfer some of the
more "tedious" work to some of the private agencies with which the
DCYF interacts.

Also yesterday:

The Senate passed an amended version of the bill permanently
legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes, which legislators say
makes the House and Senate versions identical. That sets up an
expected collision with Carcieri, whose spokesman, Jeff Neal, has
said he will probably veto the legislation. Rep. Thomas C. Slater,
D-Providence, the House sponsor, predicted the veto will be overridden.

The current bill, as amended in the Senate yesterday, would allow a
patient diagnosed by a physician as having a debilitating medical
condition to possess up to 12 marijuana plants and 2.5 ounces of
marijuana. A caregiver -- an adult who has agreed to assist an ill
person' medical use of marijuana -- could have 12 plants and 2.5
ounces of marijuana for each of up to five qualified patients. The
state Health Department would supervise the process.

Senate sponsor Sen. Rhoda Perry, D-Providence, said the legislation
will help victims of cancer and other agonizing diseases "to
alleviate their pain and suffering without fear of arrest and
prosecution." About 250 Rhode Islanders have used marijuana under
temporary legislation that expires June 30.

The House passed a bill intended to provide health insurance for
low-income, uninsured persons by establishing "basic wellness health
benefit" plans, to serve as a foundation for private insurance coverage.

The Senate passed a bill to close a loophole in the state's "peeping
Tom" law that derailed prosecution of a Middletown fitness club owner
accused of spying on a woman showering in the locker room. The
existing law, part of the state's disorderly conduct law, is aimed at
people entering another's property, for example by walking across a
lawn to peek into a window. The legislation passed yesterday would
make it illegal to peek in on someone who has "a reasonable
expectation of privacy" no matter who owns the premises.

The Senate passed a bill requiring high schools to sell only
"healthier" beverages and snacks on their premises. Elementary,
middle and junior high schools are already supposed to be selling
only healthier beverages, and supposed to be selling healthier snacks
beginning next Jan. 1.

State law defines "healthier" beverages and snacks in detail,
limiting the amount of fats and sweeteners they can contain and
steering offerings toward fruits, vegetables and dairy products.