BostonGlobe.com28%
R.I. legislators considering override of Governor McKee veto, House speaker says 5%
By Edward Fitzpatrick40%
7/15/2026, 9:55:00 AM
Keywords: Rhode Island, Politics, Mckee, Veto, Override, Blazejewski, Energy, Reporting, Legislation
BS Summary: This article contains 20 faulty reasoning types, including Ambiguity (Equivocation), Halo Effect, and Hasty Generalization, with Appeal to Emotion as the most egregious example at 11.7% saturation with 118 hits. Analysis detected 752 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,010 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 20% and a BS Rank of 5% (15,148 of 15,860 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 95.50% of the article peer group.
PROVIDENCE — Rhode Island House Speaker Christopher R.
Blazejewski said legislators are considering returning to session to override Governor Daniel J.
McKee’s veto of legislation to create an energy-use reporting requirement for large buildings and campuses.
Before this year’s legislative session ended on June 11, the House voted 48-15 and the Senate voted 33-5 for the Building Benchmarking and Reporting Act, which would require buildings larger than 25,000 square feet to report energy use to establish a baseline for future reductions in carbon emissions.
McKee rejected the bill with his only veto of the session, saying in part it “imposes new reporting and compliance obligations on private property owners without providing technical assistance or financial support.”
The group Climate Action RI called for the General Assembly to reconvene to override the veto.
On the Rhode Island Report podcast, Blazejewski said, “It’s something we’re considering.
I’ve got to talk to fellow legislators, to neighbors, to see what their response is.”
Blazejewski, who was elected House speaker on May 7, said, “I’m proud of that legislation,” and he said, “I would like to have seen it become law.”
He gave credit to Representative Rebecca Kislak, a fellow Providence Democrat, for working on the legislation for years along with Senator Meghan E.
Kallman, a Pawtucket Democrat.
Buildings produce about one-third of the carbon emissions in Rhode Island, Blazejewski said.
“In order to tackle the issue of building carbon issues, you need to be able to measure it,” he said.
“So all that legislation does is say that for very large buildings, you need to measure and report on carbon usage.”
In his veto message, McKee said the legislation conflicts with a plan he proposed in the state budget that would begin by reporting energy use at state-owned buildings.
But Blazejewski said there is no conflict, and state buildings aren’t the only large buildings in our state.
He noted the City of Providence is already collecting energy use data on big buildings, and he said legislators worked hard to make sure the bill didn’t add any costs and simply collected data.
Earlier this year, McKee proposed lowering energy costs by $1 billion over five years in large part by rolling back renewable energy targets and programs.
But Blazejewski, who sponsored an earlier version of the Act on Climate, said, “I believe in continuing to make every effort we can in our state to meet our Act on Climate goals.”
He noted gasoline prices have spiked amid the war in Iran.
And, he said, “We in our state need to find whatever we can do to push renewable energy, support renewable energy, because I think that’s the future of smoothing out costs for our state residents.”
In the state budget, legislators rejected McKee’s plan to push back the 2033 deadline to reach 100 percent renewable energy sources for state electricity, but they embraced his plan to include large-scale hydroelectric and nuclear power as clean energy sources.
Blazejewski spoke on Tuesday, one day after an ICE agent shot and killed a man in Biddeford, Maine.
He said his “heart goes out” to the friends and family of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, 26, a Colombian native who was legally authorized to work in the United States.
Blazejewski noted the General Assembly this year passed several bills that were filed in response to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents seizing people outside courthouses and schools.
For example, one new law prohibits civil arrests at Rhode Island courthouses without a valid judicial warrant.
“In light of recent events in this country, we in the Legislature heard loud and clear that Rhode Island needed to take a stand, and we did that,” Blazejewski said.
“I’m proud of the legislation that we passed that protected our court system, that protected our polling places, that provided recourse to Rhode Islanders who feel like their rights have been violated by the federal government.”
The General Assembly did not pass legislation that would make 49 changes to Rhode Island’s public records law.
That bill has faced opposition from McKee’s administration.
Blazejewski’s predecessor, former House speaker K.
Joseph Shekarchi, had questioned whether that proposal is more of a priority for the press than the public, saying people don’t talk about the issue when candidates go door-to-door.
But Blazejewski said, “I’m very open to looking at this.”
He noted that he worked with former Representative Michael J.
Marcello, a Scituate Democrat, on the last overhaul of the Access to Public Records Act in 2012.
“I know there’s a lot of detail, so I don’t want to speak specifically about a bill,” Blazejewski said.
“My understanding is it’s an omnibus bill that has a lot of stuff in it.
But I think access to state government is very important, and it’s something we’ll certainly look at.”
Shekarchi, a Warwick Democrat, stepped down as House speaker to apply for a vacancy on the state Supreme Court.
That prompted an Ethics Commission complaint that claims Shekarchi thereby violated a revolving door provision in the state ethics code, and that dispute is now before a state Superior Court judge.
Blazejewski said Shekarchi’s “heart is in the right place,” and he knows Shekarchi has worked hard for the state of Rhode Island.
“I think he would make a great Supreme Court justice,” he said.
But he noted the Assembly has no role in that decision until McKee nominates a candidate from a list of finalists and legislators are asked to confirm that nominee.
“Specifically, with respect to the Ethics Commission and the judicial process, I understand that there’s both going on right now,” Blazjewski said.
“They have their own proceedings.
However they’re decided, they’re decided.
And then it’ll go from there.”
The Rhode Island Report podcast is produced by The Boston Globe Rhode Island.
To get the latest episode each week, follow the Rhode Island Report podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other podcasting platforms, or listen in the player above.
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com.
Follow him @FitzProv.
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