House Minority Leader Blake A. Filippi: Closing Remarks on H5445

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the body. I think it's unfortunate we're cutting off debate. We've been cutting off debate all night, refusing ideas to be fully vetted. And I just have to say, what's the rush? And I think the rush is that the people are finally seeing what this thing is and talking about it. And word is spreading, and our constituents are upset, and we've got to ram this thing through. And that does not – that shouldn't give the people much faith in all the comments tonight saying just trust the process. Because the process we're using tonight is untrustworthy. So I think our – what we're doing with this bill is emblematic – excuse me, the process we use tonight is emblematic of the problems with this bill. It's a massive amount of authority given to unelected bureaucrats who have no ability to stop the wheels once they start turning. They don't have discretion. They have to adopt the plan no matter how costly. And they have to impose it on Rhode Islanders no matter how costly. And the only exit ramp is this body coming in and repealing or changing the law and not sustaining a gubernatorial veto. That should not give anybody comfort. The debate here tonight has not been about the climate change. It hasn't been about the polls saying that people want it, and we know they want it. The debate here tonight is about whose responsibility it is. The responsibility is ours. We're punting. It's a cop-out. Because I think people in this body are afraid. They're afraid because they know that the plan that's going to be presented by the ECCCC is going to be so expensive and it's going to be so draconian that they know this body would never vote for it. And they can just say, it wasn't us. It was the governor. So that's not a profile to encourage your leadership, and I'm embarrassed. Thank you.