I’m sure that most of you are unaware of house Bill 6419A, which was passes by the Rhode Island legislature in the final hours of its rush to adjournment. This bill will have adverse effects on the ability of RI fishermen to compete in the big money multi-state fishing tournaments that are becoming more and more common on the east coast.
Background
Most of these big money multi-state tournaments require the winners to pass a polygraph test to insure that all of the tournament rules have been complied with. All of these tournaments require the various official weigh stations for the tournament to forward their weigh-in slips to the central office to be sure that there hasn’t been any misunderstanding in their verbal (telephone) reports. This process can take anywhere from one day to several days, depending on whether they use an overnight delivery service or the U.S. mail.
The problem
The bill contains a provision that would require the tournament organizer to conduct any polygraphs tests required by the tournament rules within “several hours” of the end of the tournament. For the multi-state tournaments and their organizers this provision is impossible to meet, since the official winners won’t be known for one or more days after the tournament ends. If this bill becomes law, the only option for the organizers of these tournaments is to exclude RI fishermen and weigh stations from the tournament.
What You Can Do
Write or call to the Governor Carcieri and ask him to veto House bill 6419A. You can reach his office via phone at (401) 222-2080. You can write to the Governor at:
…………………………Governor Donald L. Carcieri
…………………………Office of the Governor
…………………………State House, Room 115
…………………………Providence, RI 02903
Or you can e-mail him via a link on the governor’s website at
http://www.governor.ri.gov/contact/
I have attached my letter to the Governor as a reply to this message. Please feel free to copy it or compose you own letter. Thanks!
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