The American Petroleum Institute (API) lobbyist Lenette Boisselle, however, reported lobbying on 11 bills. She opposed bills to reduce diesel emissions, mandate that new state vehicles use low-sulfur fuel, and require shuttered gas stations to remove underground storage tanks within two months of closing. The oil industry trade group also opposed a ban on importation and distribution of invasive aquatic plants that can destroy native ecosystems. (Many scientists blame ballast water from tankers and cargo ships for spreading invasive species.) Finally, API opposed state Representative Peter Palumbo's (D-Cranston) controversial legislation to require state agencies to cooperate with the federal government to enforce immigration laws.
The world's second-largest corporation, ExxonMobil, also reported its specific legislative activities. Brown Rudnick lobbyists Farrell, Sanders, and Ross were paid $5000 a month to defeat legislation banning phthalates from children's toys and requiring toy companies to disclose when their products contain chemicals determined by the Department of Health to be dangerous.
HOSPITALS: $383,874
Rhode Island's two largest hospital networks, Care New England ($143,996) and Lifespan ($128,998), were the biggest spenders, but smaller hospitals including Landmark Medical Center ($30,000), St. Joseph Health Center ($28,350), South County Hospital ($12,000), and Westerly Hospital ($12,500), also hired lobbyists. The Hospital Association of Rhode Island ($28,030) represented the industry.
Care New England paid Brown Rudnick $75,000 for the lobbying expertise of Farrell, Sanders, and Ross. They also hired former Johnston state representative Alfred Russo and East Greenwich lawyer Robert Rainville. Senior vice-president for government relations Mark Montella lobbied for Lifespan, in addition to lawyers Leonard Lopes and Matthew Lopes Jr.
Among other issues, the two hospital networks lobbied against higher taxes on net patient revenues and requirements that they report hospital-based infections and pressure ulcers to the Rhode Island Department of Health.
Some issues only affect one hospital. Lifespan, for example, opposed repeal of the requirement that the state reimburse Hasbro Children's Hospital for educating children living at the hospital for long periods of time. Care New England, whose network includes the state's primary obstetric hospital, Women & Infants Hospital, fought three bills pushed by right-to-life advocates to increase criminal penalties for assaulting a fetus or a pregnant woman and to prohibit discrimination against health care providers who refuse to participate in medical procedures which violate their consciences.
The hospitals also do not always agree. When Land-mark pushed for legislation to allow bankrupt hospitals like itself to merge more quickly with other hospitals, Lifespan opposed the exception.
DRUGS: $337,921
When the Phoenix last examined lobbyist expenditures in 1992, the drug industry was not a major force at the State House. Today, in part due to wider use of prescription drugs and the location of several pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms in the state, they are. Drug-industry lobbying was led by Amgen ($75,899), Eli Lilly ($65,942), and the industry's trade group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America ($60,402).The three groups opposed bills to require disclosure of drug company gifts to physicians, hospitals, and nursing homes, and to allow punitive damages in wrongful-death suits. They also allied themselves with ExxonMobil in opposing legislation to ban the use of phthalates and other chemicals in children's toys that the health department determines to be dangerous. In addition, Amgen, owner of a West Greenwich manufacturing plant, opposed the elimination of tax credits, an increase the capital gains tax, and expansion of the sales tax to pay for education and social service programs.
