Coming Up In Committee: Forty-Nine Sets of Bills to be Heard by the RI General Assembly, April 23 – April 25

1. On Thursday, April 25, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hear the Rhode Island “gun safety agenda“.

2. On Tuesday, April 23, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hear the same-sex marriage bills (that have been amended to add meaningful religious freedom protections!)

3. On Thursday, April 25, the House Oversight Committee and the Senate Finance Committee will hold simultaneous hearings (not joint but simultaneous, i.e. two separate hearings, meaning any one individual can only be at one hearing at any one time) on the Economic Development Corporation’s “Job Creation Guaranty program” aka the 38 Studios deal. The Senate will specifically discuss the appropriation of $2.5M for bond payments this year. Senate Finance will also discuss a bill to create a select commission to investigate the program.

4. H5236: Requires Rhode Island employers with 3 or more employees to “apply to participate” in E-Verify by 2015. (H Labor; Wed, Apr 24)

5. S0117: Bans “standardized testing program[s] or assessment[s]” from being used as a high-school graduation requirement. (S Education; Wed, Apr 24)

6. H5742: Beginning on July 1, 2013, all tax cuts except for an across-the-board-rate cuts would be required to expire seven years after being adopted. Also, at least once during that seven-year period, they would have to be analyzed with respect to objectives that “lend themselves to measurement” stated in their enabling legislation. (H Finance; Wed, Apr 24)

7. S0669: Limits “student growth and achievement” to one-third of what can considered in a teacher evaluation. (S Education; Wed, Apr 24)

8. H5279: Authorizes campus police at RI public colleges and universities to carry firearms. (H Judiciary; Wed, Apr 24)

9A. H5176: Allows a fire districts to adopt four-part property classification systems for assessing taxes and to adopt supplemental tax-increases, and mandates that the prior year’s budget is automatically renewed (with an escalator for bonded indebtedness) if the referendum on the budget proposal for the next year fails. (H Finance; Tue, Apr 23)

9B. A set of bills to appropriate the Central Coventry Fire District the same amount of money it was appropriated last year, then divide it up amongst the other three Coventry Fire Districts going forward.
Central Coventry

10. S0531: Extends various time-limits for welfare eligibility. (S Finance; Tue, Apr 23)

11. S0528: Restores cost-of-living adjustments for state pensioners whose annual benefit is less than 150% of the federal poverty level. (S Finance; Tue, Apr 23)

12. H5344: Disability pensions from municipal or quasi-municipal entities would be reduced by any amounts that a pensioner earned from other sources. (H Municipal Government; Thu, Apr 25)

13. S0065: Currently, the Rhode Island death tax is paid on 100% of the amount of estates larger than $675,000. This bill would convert that floor amount into an exemption, i.e. for all estates, the death tax would be paid only on the amount that exceeds $675,000. (S Finance; Wed, Apr 24)

14. H5137: Undoes the legislation passed last year allowing for tolls on the Sakonnet River bridge. H5644 is narrower ban on Sakonnet River bridge tolls, plus a $10M appropriation for bridge maintenance. (House Finance; Thu, Apr 25)

15. H5906: Adds a five-dollar surcharge to traffic offenses “for the sole purpose of funding the cost of highway repair and maintenance”. (H Judiciary; Wed, Apr 24)

16. H5140: Repeals the June 30, 2013 sunset on the law that makes driving without wearing a seat belt a primary motor vehicle offense. (H Judiciary; Tue, Apr 23)

17. H5541: Authorizes the Attorney General to create a “certified list” of brokers for state tax-credits, and requires that “sellers must use brokers or salespersons, on a fair and rotating basis, from the attorney general’s certified list”. H5547 allows the tax administrator to require “(1) All persons, brokers, entities and professionals receiving compensation in connection with the sale or brokerage of the tax credit; (2) The purchaser of the tax credit; and (3) The purchase price of the tax credit… prior to the sale or brokering of any tax credit”. (H Finance; Wed, Apr 24)

18. H5911: Requires the school committee and town/city council of every community that would send students to a proposed mayoral academy to approve the mayoral academy’s charter school application. (House Health, Education & Welfare; Thu, Apr 25)

19. H5246: Changes car-tax assessments from retail to trade-in value. (H Finance; Tue, Apr 23)

20. S0093: Changes to the Bristol County Water Authority. Previous versions of this bill required the BCWA to come into compliance with the “‘Access to Public Records Act’…and the ‘Open Meetings Act'”. The version of the bill that will be considered removes those provisions. (H Municipal Government; Thu, Apr 25)

21.S0272: “No person shall knowingly use or accept direct cash assistance funds held on electronic benefit transfer cards or access devices for the purchase or sale of…alcoholic beverages…lottery tickets…tobacco products…[pornography]…firearms and ammunition…vacation services; tattoos or body piercings; jewelry; [or] for gambling or for the payment…of any [government] fees, fines, bail, or bail bonds”. S0821 is similar, with a slight different list of prohibited items. (S Finance; Wed, Apr 24)

22. S0527: Two-percent surtax on all incomes over two hundred fifty thousand dollars. (S Finance; Tue, Apr 23)

23. S0256: Raises the minimum wage to $8.25 per hour with automatic increases for inflation (or to $0.15 more than the Federal minimum wage, if the Federal minimum in increased in a future year). (S Labor; Wed, Apr 24)

24. S0306: Limits health insurance rate increases to an amount less than the percentage increase of the Consumer Price Index, i.e. to less than the rate of inflation. (S Health & Human Services; Tue, Apr 23)

25. H5403: Statewide ban on use of “plastic checkout bag(s), not including plastic barrier bags or double-opening plastic bags” at retail stores, to be implemented by 2015. (H Environment and Natural Resources; Thu, Apr 25)

26. H5156: Increases the state share from 18% to 20% of net table-gaming revenue at Twin River. (H Finance; Wed, Apr 24)

27. H5813: Creates tax-credits for fuel vendors for installing facilities that dispense compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, hydrogen, any liquid at least eighty-five percent of the volume of which consists of ethanol or electricity. (H Finance; Tue, Apr 23)

28. H5383: Creates a good-conduct certificate that can be awarded by the state parole board to individuals who have served prison sentences, with the intent of helping them “to reestablish themselves as law-abiding members of society”. (H Judiciary; Wed, Apr 24)

29. H5814: Creates a separate “Unemployment Management Fund” in state government, funded by annual appropriations of $8M for the next two fiscal years and $5M per year after that, to pay for “the provision of benefit claims specialists and employment and training specialists at the department of labor and training” and “tuition costs for unemployed individuals at any college or university operated by the state”. It also contains this interesting provision, regarding surplus funds: “The general treasurer as custodian of this account is authorized to invest any monies not immediately necessary for the execution of the purposes of this account in the class of securities legal for the investment of public funds of this state”. (H Finance; Tue, Apr 23)

30. H5985: Narrows the jurisdiction of the state’s Workers’ Compensation Act from people injured or hired in the state of Rhode Island, to only people who injured in the state of Rhode Island. (H Labor; Wed, Apr 24)

31. H5638: Imposes a maintenance of effort requirement on the state’s contribution to the state employee pension system. (House Finance; Thu, Apr 25)

32. S0681: Changes the law regarding the judicial review of the administrative approvals required as part of the change of ownership or control of a hospital. The law makes a point of placing appeals of Attorney-General decisions on a slightly different track than appeals of Department of Health decisions, and appears to make the criteria that the Superior Court is to use in making a decision on an appeal much more fuzzy. Submitted at a joint request of the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor (S Health & Human Services; Thu, Apr 25)

33. H5205: Extends the current requirement that persons convicted of sexual and violent offenses provide DNA to be logged in a database, to a requirement that persons arrested for “murder, manslaughter, first degree arson, kidnapping with intent to extort, robbery, larceny from the person, first degree sexual assault, second degree sexual assault, first and second degree child molestation, assault with intent to murder, assault with intent to rob, assault with intent to commit first degree sexual assault, burglary, and entering a dwelling house with intent to commit murder, robbery, sexual assault, or larceny” or convicted of any felony do so. (H Judiciary; Wed, Apr 24)

34. S0473: Gives the governor the power to appoint judicial system magistrates, from lists of candidates created by the judicial nominating commission (Currently, magistrates are appointed by various top-level judges). (S Judiciary; Thu, April 25)

35. H5316: Creates a process for reviewing and retiring health insurance mandates (H Health Education and Welfare; Wed, Apr 24)

36. S0494: Appropriates $3,250,000 “out of a dedicated funding stream of money in the treasury appropriated for the fiscal year 2013-2014” for homeless rental assistance and winter shelter operations programs (even though the FY2014 budget is yet to be approved). (S Finance; Tue, Apr 23)

37. Multiple changes to insurance law will be heard by the House Corporations Committee on Tuesday, April 23.

38. S0231: “Establish[es], within the state temporary disability insurance program, a temporary caregiver insurance program to provide up to eight (8) weeks of wage replacement benefits to workers who take time off work to care for a seriously ill child, spouse, parent, domestic partner, or to bond with a new child”. (S Labor; Wed, Apr 24)

39. H5400/S0538: Extends a moratorium on licensing of new nursing facilities that was supposed to expire on July 1, 2013 to July 1, 2016. (H Corporations; Tue, Apr 23;S Health and Human Services; Thu, Apr 25 )

40. H5357: Appropriates a percentage of gambling revenue to maintenance of unsafe dams. (H Finance; Wed, Apr 24)

41. H5809: Creates a program to subsidize payment of workers’ compensation insurance, for the first year of companies with 10 or fewer employees. (H Finance; Tue, Apr 23)

42. S0476: Creates an underground utility contractor licensing process (and fee) where, apparently, none currently exists. (S Labor; Wed, Apr 24)

43. S0248: Tax-credits for businesses that spend money on “qualified English language training expenses” (S Finance; Tue, Apr 23)

44. H5519: Tightening of regulations on precious metal dealers, including a requirement that a licensed dealer have an address in an area zoned for business, and that a $50 fee per branch be paid on an annual basis. (H Corporations; Tue, Apr 23)

45. H5310: No sales tax on alcohol over certain holiday periods (H Finance; Tue, Apr 23)

46. H5957: Employees of the Rhode Island public transit Authority could only be medically examined once per year. (H Labor; Wed, Apr 24)

47. H5704: Lifts an existing cap on public employee retiree life insurance which freezes the retiree contribution to what it was at the time of retirement. (H Municipal Government; Thu, Apr 25)

48. H5067: A number of changes intended to improve the monitoring of fire-department compliance with NFPA 1500: Standard on Fire Department Occupational Safety and Health Program. (H Municipal Government; Thu, Apr 25)

49. H5893: Requires establishment of a schoolwide dress code policy for Central Falls. (House Health, Education & Welfare; Thu, Apr 25)

Local Impact: Burrilliville, Coventry (Western Coventry FD), East Greenwich, Narragansett, North Kingstown 2 3, Pawtucket, Richmond, Smithfield, West Warwick, Woonsocket 2 3 4.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in The Ocean State Current, including text, graphics, images, and information are solely those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the views and opinions of The Current, the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity, or its members or staff. The Current cannot be held responsible for information posted or provided by third-party sources. Readers are encouraged to fact check any information on this web site with other sources.

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