Coming up in Committee: Nineteen Sets of Bills Being Heard by the Rhode Island General Assembly, March 25 – March 27

2. H7540: Salary controls for certain hospital personnel, excluding licensed doctors and nurses (leaving administrators, I presume), limiting them “to a rate of compensation greater than one hundred and ten percent (110%) of the amount determined annually by the director to constitute the northeast regional average compensation level for comparable personnel serving in comparable hospitals”. (H Corporations; Tue, Mar 25)

3. H7623 requires at least 15% of the work done on public works contracts of a million dollars or more to be done by apprentices. H7697 changes a current requirement that contractors working on public works contracts of a million dollars or more employ apprentices to a much milder requirement that “all specifications in any invitations to bid in any public works contract awarded by the state valued at ten million dollars or more shall include a notice that all bidders responding to an invitation to bid on a public works project may employ apprentices for apprenticeable crafts”. H7964 makes clear the Federal rules override state rules regarding apprenticeship requirements on state contracts of a million dollars or more.  (H Labor; Tue, Mar 25)

4. S2594: Creates a new section of the law relating to “crimes against the public trust”. (S Judiciary; Tue, Mar 25) With the recent Federal Court decision making bribery-on-retainer legal in Rhode Island, the Judiciary Committee should go over this bill with a fine tooth comb, to make sure it covers the type of “gratuities” that transpired in the Central Falls Mayor’s case.

5. S2653: Defines four elements that must be satisfied in order to establish “criminal intent” with respect to laws that do not have their own specific criminal intent requirements (S Judiciary; Tue, Mar 25The fourth of the four requirements is that a person act “with either specific intent to violate the law or with knowledge that the person’s conduct is unlawful”. Doesn’t this run counter to centuries of legal tradition, where ignorance of the law is not an excuse?

6. A set of bills on various types of computer and technology related crimes: H7456 modifies the basic definitions of cyberstalking and cyberharrasment; H7509 makes it a felony to access protected information on a computer without the proper authorization; H7845 creates a felony crime of online impersonation. (H Judiciary; Tue, Mar 25)

7. H7508: Makes it illegal to make audio or visual recordings anywhere in Rhode Island, without notifying the Secretary of State first. (H Judiciary; Wed, Mar 26) Yes, as written, the scope of the bill really is that broad.

8. H7536: Requires all public utilities in Rhode Island to “maintain a customer service operation physically located within the state which is reasonably staffed to meet the expectations of the public”… (H Corporations; Wed, Mar 26) …mainly, I believe, to attempt to prevent Cox Cable from relocating its West Warwick call center.

9. S2701 creates new insurance requirements for coverage of “addiction and behavioral health care and surgical services”. S2769 creates new regulations related to the practice of behavioral healthcare, as well as new insurance regulations. S2359 adds a section on “mental, emotional, or substance abuse disorders” into the law controlling utilization review procedures. (S Health and Human Services; Tue, Mar 25)

10. S2598: Makes the knockout-game into a felony punishable by up to 3 years in prison and/or a $1500 fine. (S Judiciary; Tue, Mar 25)

11. H7518: Requires operators, employees, and independent contractors of adult entertainment businesses to undergo a criminal background check. (H Judiciary; Tue, Mar 25)

12. H7645: Creates a special commission “to make a comprehensive investigation of United Healthcare’s practices as they relate to the healthcare of the consumer, and to make recommendations to ensure compliance with contractual provisions and the scope of covered services”. (H Corporations; Tue, Mar 25)

13. S2684/H7724: Phases out the use of cesspools, including a requirement that cesspools be replaced as a condition of selling any properties that currently use them. (S Environment and Agriculture; Wed, Mar 26 & H Environment and Natural Resources; Thu, Mar 27)

14. S2633: Decriminalizes a first offense for shoplifting (S Judiciary; Tue, Mar 25)

15. S2639: Increases penalties for crimes committed in association with criminal street gangs. (S Judiciary; Tue, Mar 25)

16. H7304: 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, Mar 26)

17. H7643 : Prohibits group health insurers from not contracting with pharmacies who meet their terms, for example, barring practices like not contracting with pharmacies who do not want to participate in all of an insurer’s networks. (H Corporations; Tue, Mar 25)

18. The House Oversight Committee (chairman Michael Marcello) is scheduled on Thursday, March 27 to hear a “presentation by the Rhode Island Housing Authority on the Madeline Walker Act”.

19. S2398: Given it’s high-profile nature, deservedly or not, we can’t ignore that the calamari bill is up this week in the Senate Special Legislation and Veterans’ Affairs Committee on Wednesday, March 26.

Ranking Indeterminate: H7526 /S2502: Eliminates the 2015 sunset date on the “Health Care Services Utilization Review Act” (H Corporations; Tue, Mar 25 & S Health and Human Services; Thu, Mar 27)

H7880: “Any managed long-term care arrangement shall offer beneficiaries the option to decline participation and remain in traditional Medicaid and, if a duals demonstration project, traditional Medicare”. (H Corporations; Tue, Mar 25)

H7699: Allows local property exemptions for industrial/commercial properties that are “manufacturing or commercial enterprise’s which are new to the city or town, and constructing a new manufacturing or commercial facility, “manufacturing or commercial enterprises which are existing city or town but constructing an additional manufacturing, research, technological development, and/or financial services facility…”, or “property providing manufacturing and/or commercial services in the city or town”. (H Municipal Government; Thu, Mar 27)

S2503: Requires the state health insurance commissioner to give his approval to “contracts providing supplemental coverage to Medicare or other governmental programs, as well as qualified health plans sold in the health exchange (‘The Marketplace’) and in the small group and individual markets that market a preferred provider benefit plan”. (S Health and Human Services; Thu, Mar 27)

H7727: From the official description: “This act would create a tariff-based renewable energy distributed generation financing program, or ‘Distributed Generation Growth Program’, with the intention of continuing the development of renewable energy distributed generation in the load zone of the electric distribution company at reasonable cost”. (H Environment and Natural Resources; Thu, Mar 27)

Local Impact: North Providence 2.

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