During last week’s special session held to complete some unfinished business, the legislature passed approximately 200 new laws.

But some Warwick legislators are saying that the real business at hand went unattended to.

“It was horrible,” said State Representative Robert Flaherty (D-Warwick), a persistent critic of Speaker William Murphy (D-Coventry, Warwick, West Warwick).

“There wasn’t one piece of legislation that was geared towards addressing the biggest single issue in the state, which is how to deal with the biggest economic crisis since The Great Depression.

Flaherty said the House leadership was mostly grandstanding – tackling easy to deal with issues in order to get Majority Leader Gordon Fox elected Speaker after Murphy steps down at the end of next year.

Flaherty was irked when Murphy removed him from his position as House Judiciary Chairman 2005 and the two haven’t gotten along since. Murphy said Flaherty was gathering votes behind his back to usurp him as Speaker.

State Senator Leonidas Raptakis (D-Warwick, Coventry, East Greenwich, West Warwick), who is reportedly exploring a run for Secretary of State, agreed.

“I think the session was a missed opportunity because we didn’t take into account the state’s fiscal crisis,” said Raptakis, who seems to enjoy his reputation as a statehouse outsider.

In the same way Flaherty has been a constant thorn in the side of Murphy, Raptakis has been highly critical of Senate President Teresa Paiva-Weed. Raptakis was just one of four Senators to vote against her appointment, despite the fact that it was all but a done deal.

Raptakis said the Senate responds to problems in two fashions: late or never.

“People are worried about unemployment and what’s going to happen when the housing foreclosure crisis plaguing this state. People are worried about how they’re going to figure out how to pay their utility bills,” said Raptakis.

“We didn’t address those issues.”

Indeed, much of the talk surrounding the special session centered on some high profile bills that didn’t see passage as opposed to the 200 some odd bills that did.

Much to the delight of pro-taxpayer advocate groups, the Governor, and Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Deborah Gist, a bill to set up a system of binding arbitration for teachers, which would have allowed an un-elected arbitrator to resolve disputes between school committees died when the legislature failed to act. Legislative inaction has the same affect as a majority ‘no’ vote; it dies either way.

In the same respect, a bill to keep the labor agreements between school committees and teacher’s unions in place until a new agreement is reached also died when the House neglected to act upon it.

A bill that would have allowed low-income residents who are behind on their utility bills to have their service restored for a percentage of income, as opposed to an agreement with the Division of Public Utilities and Carriers, also wasn’t acted on.

But Larry Berman, a spokesman for Murphy said much good was accomplished during the session.

Berman said that bills criminalizing indoor prostitution, banning text messaging while driving, strengthening the law against drunk driving, increasing the penalty for minors who drive boats while intoxicated and banning underage girls from working at strip clubs were all significant accomplishments.

Rhode Island became the last state in the country to make prostitution illegal last week.

With respect to drunk driving, a motorist who causes an accident with a death or serious injury and appears impaired will now be forced to submit to a blood test, providing a judge issues a warrant.

“Those are five good examples of bills that were very important to public safety and the quality of life in Rhode Island,” said Berman.

It’s currently unknown how many of the 200 bills that will cross Governor Donald Carcieri’s desk are destined for a veto; but Berman said Speaker Murphy expects the governor to sign those five bills.

Berman acknowledged that the legislature passed few bills based on the economy, but said that the House would address the issues in upcoming weeks. The House will hold a Democratic caucus today to discuss the state’s economic problems and possible solutions. On Dec. 1, the legislature will host an “economic summit.”

“It’s still in the planning stages, but they plan on bringing in experts from Washington, D.C., to talk about how serious these economic issues are [and] some ways to pull Rhode Island out of this economic crisis,” said Berman, “because these issues are more than a Rhode Island problem; they’re a national problem.”

Greg Pare, a spokesman for the State Senate Leadership, said much good had been accomplished during the session.

“The economy and the state’s budget challenges continue to be our top priority in the Senate,” said Pare.

Pare said the full Senate hosted Bryant University Professor Economics Professor Edward Tebaldi for a discussion on the state’s economic climate.

Pare pointed out that the Senate passed legislation requesting the Governor to submit his budget correction plan by November 16, restructuring the Economic Development Corporation, making the state’s efforts to grow the renewable energy sector a reality, reducing the burden of unfair regulations on small businesses, and helping to save people from losing their homes to foreclosure.

“The Senate Finance Committee has never stopped working. In fact, since the close of session they have held four hearings, two just last month on state aid to cities and towns,” said Pare.

“We await the governor’s corrective action plan, and the committee will continue to meet to develop solutions to the economic crisis and to help out of work Rhode Islanders.” State Representative Eileen Naughton (D-Warwick) an ally of Murphy, said she was proud of what the legislature accomplished last week.

“There were a lot of good pieces of legislation that came through. You have to keep in mind that it was a wrap-up session,” said Naughton.