Legislation Would Fold CRMC into DEM, Remaking Controversial Executive Council Into an Advisory Board

One way to deal with a dysfunctional agency

By Rob Smith / ecoRI News staff

Mergers and acquisitions isn’t usually a process that applies to the public sector, but under proposed legislation this year it is something that could happen with the state’s environmental agencies.

Rhode Island government splits environmental management and protection into two separate agencies. Broadly, the Department of Environmental Management handles much of the state’s interior, oversees air and water permits, and oversees the state’s food production.

The Coastal Resources Management Council has jurisdiction over developments within 200 feet of Rhode Island’s coastline and 3 miles out to sea, an area that covers all of Narragansett Bay and most of Block Island Sound.

New legislation (H7996/S3082) proposes to merge the two entities, with CRMC — as the smaller of the two agencies — becoming a bureau within DEM. CRMC’s director would become a deputy director within DEM, and the politically appointed board that oversees the coastal agency would be transformed into an advisory body with little decision-making power.

For advocates of the legislation, the bills kill two birds with one stone. The controversial 10-member CRMC board is nerfed, and the state’s two environmental agencies receive a synergistic boost by joining forces. CRMC’s executive director would go from a position confirmed by the Senate to one hired by DEM.

“By putting CRMC in DEM, you have the benefit of being able to share legal resources, administrative resources, communications resources, and lobbying resources,” said Jed Thorp, director of advocacy for Save The Bay. “By being in a bigger agency, you have a greater pool of people to draw upon.”

In some ways slotting CRMC into DEM makes sense. DEM is bigger than the coastal agency by order of magnitude. CRMC has a budget of around $5 million, a good chunk of which comes from the federal government, and a staff of 32 full-time equivalent employees. DEM, meanwhile, has a budget of around $164 million, and 439 full-time equivalent employees.

Thorp said environmental advocates were keen to write the best possible version of the bill, modeling the legislation off DEM’s already existing structure. The department has two main bureaus: environmental protection, which houses much of the permitting, enforcement, and brownfields infrastructure and natural resources, which houses marine fisheries, wildlife, parks, and recreation, among other offices.

“DEM is aware of this legislation and will continue to monitor its progress,” Evan LaCross, a spokesperson for the agency, said.

The impetus for this year’s legislation is the unresolved issue of CRMC reform. The agency, since its creation in the early 1970s, has always had a politically appointed board overseeing staff and making final decisions for the agency, as opposed to DEM, which has a single executive director serving the same function.

CRMC’s political nature has proven complicated. Past decisions have gone against staff recommendations, agency policy or state law, and frequently ended with CRMC in court.

Past decisions have ranged from a secret backdoor agreement to expand a marina on Block Island, to abrogating the General Assembly’s power to negotiate submerged land leases, with the council voting on a lease by itself. (Legislation reinforcing the Legislature’s power has been introduced again this year, at CRMC’s request.)

“Many of the issues that have plagued CRMC for years — chronic delays in making simple permitting decisions, lack of members and frequent missed/canceled meetings, and the increasing number of flawed decisions being overturned by the courts — are caused by CRMC’s politically appointed board, and can only be solved by a complete overhaul,” Rep. Jay Edwards, D-Tiverton, said in a statement announcing the House version of the merger legislation.

In previous years, advocates such as Thorp have preferred a bill that would spin off CRMC into the Department of Coastal Resources and turn the appointed council into an advisory body. Lawmakers eschewed this in previous sessions, citing a questionable fiscal note prepared by the House Fiscal office, which reported the move would cost around $2 million.

Last year at the Senate’s request, the state Office of Management and Budget released a report outlining the costs for different CRMC reform scenarios: one that kept the status quo, one that estimated the costs of spinning off into a new department, and two additional options integrating it into DEM.

Integrating CRMC as a bureau within DEM would bring Rhode Island in line with the way Massachusetts organizes its environmental agencies, according to the report, although Rhode Island would be alone in having it in a single agency.

“The shift in decision-making authority to DEM leadership would streamline regulatory functions by eliminating the governance council’s role, but it would not fully resolve jurisdictional complexities,” wrote OMB in its report to the Senate. “Applicants may still require approvals from multiple DEM divisions, particularly for projects involving both coastal and freshwater resources, potentially maintaining some regulatory inefficiencies.”

The cheapest option, according to the report released in February 2025, is integrating CRMC inside DEM. Making it another bureau, with no other changes, would cost between $800,000 to $1.3 million, according to the OMB report. Full integration into the department, spreading CRMC’s functions across DEM’s existing administrative infrastructure, was estimated to cost between $500,000 and $1 million.

Thorp said he was skeptical of some of the estimated costs, saying it was more reflective of an agency wish list versus actual possible costs.

“It really shouldn’t cost anything,” Thorp said.

One thing included in the legislation is a dedicated staff attorney, said Thorp. As it is now, the CRMC executive board hires an outside firm, Anthony DeSisto Law Associates LLC, to handle much of the legal work. But actual agency staff have no legal representation during CRMC proceedings. Budget documents show CRMC spends $216,189 on legal services annually.

“If you get rid of the council, that goes away,” Thorp said. “They’d have to hire a staff attorney, but they’d save on that expense. I think it’d be a wash at the end of the day.”