To a standing ovation in state Senate chambers Tuesday afternoon, Rhode Island Supreme Court Acting Chief Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg, right, raises the hand of Senate President M. Teresa Paiva-Weed after administering the oath of office to Rhode Island’s first female Senate president.  Times photo/Butch Adams

By JIM BARON

PROVIDENCE — A get-down-to-business atmosphere replaced much of the usual first-day frivolity in both chambers of the General Assembly Tuesday as lawmakers confront a fiscal crisis more daunting than perhaps any since the Great Depression.

Part of Tuesday’s tension centered on Gov. Donald Carcieri’s televised address tonight, during which he will unveil the outlines of his supplemental budget for the current year that must sop up approximately $366 million in red ink.
Once that is done, the governor must present a balanced budget for 2010, which is currently in the hole to the tune of close to a half-billion dollars.
The Senate opened its session with a double dose of history as Maureen McKenna Goldberg, in one of her first acts as the first female Acting Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court,  administered the oath of office to Newport Sen. Teresa Paiva-Weed as the first female president of the Rhode Island Senate.
Paiva-Weed was elected to the top leadership post 35-0 with three abstentions that were effectively “no” votes.
Sitting this one out were Lincoln Sen. Edward O’Neill — who unseated the previous Senate president, Joseph Montalbano, in the November election — Coventry Sen. Leonidas Raptakis and new West Warwick Sen. Michael Pinga.
In the House, West Warwick Rep. William Murphy sailed to a fourth term as Speaker.
Murphy overcame token opposition from Minority Leader Robert Watson, who swept his tiny six-member Republican caucus but garnered no other votes. Murphy took 67 of the 69 Democratic votes; Reps. Peter Palumbo of Cranston and Robert Flaherty of Warwick were absent.
Paiva-Weed declared the Senate’s mandate to bring “meaningful change through decisive action.”
That would be accomplished, she said, “by working swiftly to address immediate economic concerns. And we will take a forward-looking approach to developing long-term strategies to secure a stronger economic future for our state.”
Asserting that compromise and consensus “are the only ways to ensure progress in our state,” Paiva-Weed pledged that the Senate will work with the House and Carcieri to help small businesses.
“We will work to create business-friendly policies to attract new businesses to our state but our main priority will be growing the businesses that are already here.”
Addressing the historic nature of her election as president, Paiva-Weed shifted the credit “to the women who have come before me and those who are here with me today.
“This is a moment I hope will inspire young women,” she said. “Young women should know: Anything is possible.”
Paiva-Weed concluded her remarks by saying, “Let’s get to work.”
In his opening day address, Murphy warned his colleagues that “2009 will be a watershed session. A session that none of us sitting in this chamber has seen the likes of before.”
Foreshadowing anticipated sharp cuts in aid to cities and towns, as well as local school districts, Murphy said, “This is a time of shared sacrifices. As we go about our duty to run a more efficient state government, our cities and towns must do the same. We will work with our local communities to review unneeded mandates that have been placed upon them in past years.”
Adding that “the tail must no longer wag the dog in Rhode Island,” Murphy told House members:
“The voters of our districts sent us here to do a job — to be state representatives and that is what we must be. Not school committee members. Not city councilors. But state representatives. There are many pressing needs and issues facing our state — from education to the environment — but there can be no doubt: reviving the economy is job one.”
For one thing, the Speaker said, “Economic development will require laser-like focus from the House of Representatives.”
For another, “We must live within our budget. The overspending by various state departments has to stop! And the House of Representatives, as the appropriating body, must give the departments a fair budget and oversee those budgets.”
On the other hand, he noted, “We cannot and must not try to tax our way out of this economic downturn. We must continue to hold the line on broad based taxes and do all we can to reverse Rhode Island’s image as a high tax state. We have made tremendous progress in recent years and we simply cannot afford to go backward.”
In other business, Pawtucket Sen. John F. McBurney III was elected president pro tempore of the Senate. He took the gavel to preside over the passage of a resolution honoring his father, John F. McBurney Jr., who became a senator 50 years ago on the same day, Jan. 6, 1959.
Also, Newport resident Joseph R. Brady was elected Secretary of the Senate. He replaces former Pawtucket City Councilman Raymond “Chip” Hoyas, who served in that capacity for nearly two decades. Hoyas was also deputy chief of staff for the Senate president. He quietly resigned from both jobs last week. Senate officials refused comment, calling it a “personnel matter.”
Former Pawtucket School Committeeman John Baxter was re-elected as the Senate’s reading clerk.
In the House, Pawtucket resident Frank McCabe was re-elected as reading clerk.
Before the session began, the Rhode Island Interfaith Coalition held a prayer vigil in the Rotunda of the State House, imploring state officials to pass a budget “that does not come at the expense of those most in need of our services.”
Reducing poverty, Rabbi Alan Flam said, “is not the issue du jour, it is the work of a lifetime.”
The group called prayed for state officials to work toward:
• abatement of hunger and poverty and enactment of policies benefiting the most vulnerable;
• sustainable communities marked by affordable homes, access to good jobs and public safety;
• high quality public education for all and universal, affordable and accessible health care;
• a system of criminal rehabilitation, based on restorative justice;
• full, civil, political and economic rights for women and men of all races.