ABOUT THE LEAGUE Associations like the R.I. League of Cities and Towns exist in forty-nine states and were originally formed for the purpose of representing municipal government interests before the state legislature. This role soon expanded to include representation before the executive and state administrative agencies as well as the provision of technical assistance, information sharing and training to assist municipal officials in fulfilling their responsibilities. The strengths and effectiveness of the League is derived from pulling together its member municipalities and merging their divergent opinions and needs into a cohesive expression of municipal views, interests and initiatives. The League has a long and proud tradition of service to its membership and since it was founded in 1968, it has been recognized as "the unified voice of local government in Rhode Island." Governance The League is governed by a 21-member Executive Board of Directors comprised of municipal officials from across the state who are elected by their peers to represent Rhode Island cities and towns. The League employs three full-time staff who carry out the many programs and activities of the association. Executive Director Daniel L. Beardsley, Jr. dan@rileague.org Associate Director Mia Manzotti, Esq. mia@rileague.org Office Administrator Denise Arrighi denise@rileague.org Legislative Advocacy A common bond between municipal leaders in Rhode Island is their desire to improve the quality of life in their communities. Sooner or later, however, local officials realize that much of what happens within their own borders is directed by others outside of their jurisdiction, primarily by the General Assembly. This is why the League's fundamental role and primary mission is legislative advocacy of the collective interests of its membership before the Rhode Island General Assembly. To fulfill this mission, the League's program of legislative advocacy has, by necessity, become one which is extremely pro-active, responsibly re-active, highly visible and very-time consuming. During an "average" session of the General Assembly, over 4,800 legislative bills are introduced and filed in the legislature's various committees for action. Each of these initiatives is analyzed by the League to determine whether the legislation impacts local government administration, finance, personnel or regulatory authority. Those identified as having such an impact, an average of some 450 bills per session, are continuously tracked during the legislative session. Primary sponsors of identified legislation are spoken to, either to indicate the League's support of their bill or to indicate the bill is problematic to local government interests. Effort is made, whenever possible, to suggest amendments to all such bills. If a bill represents something so onerous to local interests (e.g., compulsory binding arbitration of municipal employee labor contract impasses), the legislator is informed of the association's opposition to passage and the fact that it will openly oppose passage at any legislative committee hearing on the legislation. In addition to the regular legislation, the League analyzes the State's Budget and its Articles to assess the budget's impact on existing aid programs and to ascertain whether the proposed budget creates any new mandates or initiatives that impact cities and towns. During the General Assembly Session, the League continually keeps its membership informed of the legislature's activities thru its Legislative Alerts, publications, and reports. Needless to say, effective local government advocacy during any session of the General Assembly is extremely important and it requires a continuous presence, not only of League staff, but of local opinion, to be truly effective. The reality is that you cannot be an effective municipal leader today if you ignore the significant role played by the General Assembly (and other branches of state government) in regulating and funding the activities of local government. Representative Advocacy Throughout the year, the League is extremely busy representing the interests of all local governments before the executive and administrative branches of state government, and numerous state boards and legislative commissions. The breadth of the League's advocacy role is almost unparalled when compared to the role of other municipal associations throughout the country. The primary reason for this is that the Rhode Island League has no competition in representing the interests of local governments. In virtually every other state, the municipal league competes with professionally-staffed county government associations, councils of governments, mayor's associations, selectmen's associations, or collaboratives of numerous "special" local interests. Some of these competing groups or associations are entirely independent in their activities from the activities of their state municipal association. The R.I. League of Cities and Towns has no such competition! The extensiveness of the League's role in representative advocacy was brought about by the League's historical aggressiveness in lobbying for a seat "at the table" of any forum to enable it to express its voice in any policy matter or decision-making process which would in any manner affect local government. The League's aggressiveness in this regard, coupled with the aforementioned fact that there are no competing groups demanding similar access, has resulted in its having a voice in virtually every conceivable forum where the issues and matters which are of vital interest to local government officials are discussed, debated and resolved. Some of these boards and commissions include: R.I. State Planning Council R.I. State Retirement Board R.I. Commission on Police Officers Training R.I. State Investment Commission R.I. Rivers Council R.I. Vehicle Value Commission R.I. Aqua Fund Council R.I. Greenhouse Gas Commission State Emergency Response Commission Grow Smart Rhode Island Federal Representation Representation of the collective interests of Rhode Island's local governments before the U.S. Congress and federal regulatory agencies is provided by the League thru its affiliation and membership in the National League of Cities (NLC) in Washington, D.C. State municipal associations have been described as the "grass-roots action arms" of NLC and the League works closely with NLC and the Rhode Island Congressional Delegation on numerous issues of importance to all cities and towns. Member Programs and Services The League has as one of its primary objectives the creation and implementation of services and programs which benefit cities and towns, and since its formation in 1968, the League has demonstrated its resourcefulness in developing innovative services to meet the ever-changing needs of its membership. The Rhode Island Interlocal Risk Management Trust When a crisis erupted in the mid-1980's in the cost and availability of worker's compensation insurance, and property and liability insurance for cities and towns, the League stepped forward with the formation of the R.I. Interlocal Risk Management Trust, a member-owned, intergovernmental risk management pool. Today, the "Trust" is the premier provider of risk management insurance to most of Rhode Island's cities and towns, school districts and housing authorities, public libraries and fire districts. The Rhode Island Energy Aggregation Program Immediately upon the passage of the R.I. Utility Restructuring Act of 1996, the League aggressively explored the formation of an energy purchasing collaborative to capitalize on the potential savings its membership might realize in their costs for electricity and other energy related services. This innovative and ground-breaking program known as the R.I. Energy Aggregation Program became a reality in July, 1999 as thirty-two of Rhode Island's cities and towns began purchasing all of their electricity from Select Energy, Inc. in Connecticut. This innovative and ground-breaking program known as the R.I. Energy Aggregation Program became a reality in July 1999 and has enabled our members to reap over $6 million in electricity savings and these savings continue to increase month after month! U.S. Communities Program The League announced in 2004 the development of yet another new and exciting program for its member cities and towns. The U.S. Communities Program provides all local agencies in the U.S. with publicly, competitively bid contracts for various products and services. Through the buying power of larger purchasers in the U.S. Communities program all local government agencies receive access to excellent pricing and contract terms. Education and Training The League sponsors seminars and workshops throughout the year to provide the latest information to Rhode Island's local officials on important municipal policy and management issues, technology and other products and services which enhance the effectiveness of delivering municipal services and meetings which foster and promote informative and productive networking opportunities and intergovernmental relationships. The League's Annual Convention is the largest annual gathering of municipal officials in the state. It offers those in attendance over two dozen workshops and seminars on issues and subjects of timely importance, and an opportunity to meet and visit with over 100 private companies who showcase their products and services which are exclusively designed for municipal governments.