Legislative Oversight

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Legislative Oversight

• The House Bay Trust Study Commission
• Presented by Sandra T. Whitehouse, Ph.D

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R.I. ConstitutionArticle 1, Section 17

• It shall be the duty of the general assembly to
  provide for the conservation of the air, land,
  water, plant, animal, mineral and other natural
  resources of the state, and to adopt all means
  necessary and proper by law to protect the
  natural environment of the people of the state by
  providing adequate resource planning for the
  control and regulation of the use of the natural
  resources of the state and for the preservation,
  regeneration and restoration of the natural
  environment of the state.

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How have we done?

• Planning for the use of Rhode Islands bays and
  their watersheds
• Environmental managementpreservation and
  restoration
• Sustainable economic development
• 240 planning initiatives past 150 years

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The past twenty years of planning for
Narragansett Bay

• 1985-1992 The Comprehensive Conservation and
  Management Plan (CCMP)
• 2000-2003 The Bay Summit and the Partnership for
  Narragansett Bay (The HUD/Chafee grant)
• 2003 The Governors Narragansett Bay and
  Watershed Planning Commission

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Process for successful planning and
implementation efforts Chesapeake Bay, Puget
Sound

• 1) Assessment of problems
• 2) Make recommendations, set goals and priorities
• 3) Develop a plan with strategies to achieve
  goals
• 4) Implementation of plan annual work plans,
  annual and long-term budgets
• 5) Evaluation of progress toward goalsmonitoring
• 6) Oversight accountability
• Fiscal
• Performance performance assessment reports

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The past twenty years of planning for
Narragansett Bay

• 1985-1992 The Comprehensive Conservation and
  Management Plan (CCMP)
• 2000-2003 The Bay Summit and the Partnership for
  Narragansett Bay (The HUD/Chafee grant)
• 2003 The Governors Narragansett Bay and
  Watershed Planning Commission

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History of the CCMP

• 1) 1985-1991 Scientific Assessment of the bay
• 2) 1987 Goal setting
• 3) 1992 CCMP completed (20 year plan)
• 4) 1992 Implementation committee established
• 11 million dollars

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CCMP issues

• Nutrient reduction
• Habitat restoration salt marshes, eelgrass beds
• Living resources finfish, shellfish
• Economic development commercial, recreational
• Toxic pollutants
• Health risk to consumers of seafood

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What happened with the CCMP?

• Successes nutrient reduction
• No discharge zone/marina pump out facilities
• Greenwich Bay Initiative
• Providence combined sewer overflow project

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What happened with the CCMP?

• Failures
• Plan deficiencies
• Management of living resources
• Public participation
• Dredged material management plan
• Bay governance
• Implementation of plan
• 500 recommendations
• Monitoring program
• Guide for agency decision making

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History of the CCMP cont.

• 1985-1991 Scientific Assessment of the bay
• 1987 Goal setting
• 1992 CCMP completed (20 year plan)
• 1992 Implementation committee established
• 1997 The last Implementation committee meeting
  held

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Why did this happen?

• Problems with the plan
• Inadequate oversight

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Bay Planning process
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The past twenty years of planning for
Narragansett Bay

• 1985-1992 The Comprehensive Conservation and
  Management Plan (CCMP)
• 2000-2003 The Bay Summit and the Partnership for
  Narragansett Bay (The HUD/Chafee grant)
• 2003 The Governors Narragansett Bay and
  Watershed Planning Commission

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Bay Summit 2000

• Nutrient reduction
• Habitat restoration salt marshes, eelgrass beds
• Economic development commercial, recreational
  and research/technology
• Dredged material management plan
• Long term monitoring plan
• Marine Transportation
• Land use and transportation
• Urban revitalization
• Information management
• Coordination

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The Partnership for Narragansett Bay The
HUD/Chafee Project 2001-2003

• Review planning history
• Review economic assessments
• Develop vision/set goals
• Monitoring plan

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Goals

• Economic development that conserves our soul
• Restoring fish and shellfish
• Public Access
• Protecting the landscape (forests, waterfronts
  and villages)
• Stewardship and community engagement

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Monitoring

• Shoreline buffers
• Water temperature, salinity, pH, nitrogen,
  phosphorous, oxygen, flow and circulation
• Fish, shellfish, benthos

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Bay Planning process
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The past twenty years of planning for
Narragansett Bay

• 1985-1992 The Comprehensive Conservation and
  Management Plan (CCMP)
• 2000-2003 The Bay Summit and the Partnership for
  Narragansett Bay (The HUD/Chafee grant)
• 2003 The Governors Narragansett Bay and
  Watershed Planning Commission

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The Governors Commission 2003-2006

• Develop a plan for the bay
• Nutrient reduction (2010, removal from WWTFs)
• Habitat restoration (2008, 100 acres wetlands)
• Economic development
• Dredged material management plan (2005)
• Stormwater management plan (2005)
• Monitoring program (2004)

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Same issues defined as problems

• Nutrient reduction
• Habitat restoration
• Economic development
• Dredged material management
• Monitoring program

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Long Term Monitoring

• 1992 CCMP not implemented
• Bay Summit recommendation
• PNB Ten indicators defined
• Governors Commission develop an
  Interinstitutional Monitoring Council by
  executive order

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Where are we today?

• Same issues
• Same people
• No workable plan
• Shifting and unclear goals/policies/priorities
• Lack of multi-year funding strategy
• Inadequate monitoring
• Inadequate coordination

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Bay Planning Process
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Legislative Oversight in other Bays

• Creation of a structure for unified approach and
  continuity over time that coordinates the work of
  bay planning
• Setting goals
• Annual work plans and associated budgets required
  to be submitted to legislative environment and
  fiscal committees
• Annual performance assessments

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How to ensure a successful planning process this
time for Rhode Islands bays and watersheds?

• Creation of a structure for a coordinated
  approach and continuity over time
• Legislative oversight
• Setting overall goals for the management of
  natural resources
• Fiscal accountability Is money appropriated
  being properly and efficiently spent in relation
  to those goals, missions and purposes
• Performance accountability Are statutory and/or
  regulatory goals, missions and purposes being
  met?

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Summary of Responsibilities

• Executive Branch
• Plan development
• Implementation
• Legislature
• Goal setting
• Oversight