Coming up in Committee: Twenty-Nine Sets of Bills Being Heard by the RI General Assembly, February 24 – February 26

1A. S0134: Creates a crime of “unlawful interference with traffic” with reference to “any federal or state highway”, with a minimum prison sentence of one year for a first offense, 60 days of which cannot be suspended or deferred. (At present, the definition of disorderly conduct includes obstructing a “highway…to which the public or a substantial group 12 of the public has access”, punishable by imprisonment of up to 6 months, and a fine up to $500) (S Judiciary; Tue, Feb 24)

1B. H5417: Eliminates the up-to six month prison sentence for most instances of disorderly conduct — including for “obstruct[ing] a highway…to which the public or a substantial group of the public has access or any other place ordinarily used for the passage of persons, vehicles, or conveyances” — except in cases involving domestic violence. (H Judiciary; Wed, Feb 25)

2. S0314: Extends the state’s “facilities support” funding to all charter schools (currently, it is only available to “district sponsored charter public schools”). (S Finance; Tue, Feb 24)

3. S0305 / H5228: Writes into law in-state tuition at RI public colleges and universities for students who graduated from a Rhode Island high school that they spent three years at, including illegal aliens (but not non-immigrant aliens) who have applied for “lawful immigration status” or who promise to when a process is made available under a Federal amnesty law. (S Finance; Tue, Feb 24 & H Finance, Thu Feb 26)

4. S0122: Tax credits for Rhode Island residents who are college graduates “in an amount equal to the payments made in a given tax year…toward undergraduate or graduate student loan debt, up to a maximum amount for single tax year of one thousand dollars for an associate’s degree holder, five thousand dollars for a bachelor’s degree holder, and six thousand dollars for a graduate degree holder”. (S Finance; Tue, Feb 24)

5. H5470: Regulations limiting political contributions that can be made by vendors with state contracts, beginning with vendors who have $5,000 or more in state contracts making contributions to “the officeholder responsible for awarding the contracts” or to any candidate for that office. (H Judiciary; Wed, Feb 25) Interestingly, members of “the joint committee on legislative services” are included as officeholders for the purpose of this law.

6. H5245: Creates a criminal offense for knowingly transmitting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) punishable by up to 15 years and prison and a fine of up to $5,000. (H Judiciary; Tue, Feb 24)

7. S0239: Clarifies existing law stating that the home address of someone confined to a correctional facility, for voting purposes, is the address they had before they began serving their sentence and creates processes to make sure this law is properly enforced. (S Judiciary; Tue, Feb 24)

8. H5158: Requires 1/2 of a sentence for 1st or 2nd degree murder to be served, before eligibility for parole begins (currently, only 1/3 of the sentence need be served). (H Judiciary; Tue, Feb 24)

9. H5289: Repeals the section of the law that currently exempts commercial loans larger than $1M from being subject to a maximum rate of interest. (H Corporations; Tue, Feb 24)

10. H5294: Price control of Verizon telephone services, limiting them to a maximum 5% annual increase on their charges. (H Corporations; Tue, Feb 24) Given the trend in this legislative session, we need clarification of whether the Rhode Island General Assembly (or any American legislative body) is allowed to pass laws that apply to only one company.

11. H5373: Prohibits an “agent of the state or any political subdivisions” from obtaining location information from an electronic device without a warrant (with various emergency exceptions). (H Judiciary; Wed, Feb 25)

12. H5469 defines crimes against the public trust. H5468 establishes a crimes against the public trust unit within the Attorney General’s office, and establishes various whistleblower protections. (H Judiciary; Wed, Feb 25)

13. H5316: Allows school bus drivers who have been laid off “under an employment agreement which stipulates a call-back date for resumption of their seasonal employment” to collect unemployment without meeting the usual looking-for-work requirements. (H Labor; Thu, Feb 26)

14. S0027: Sets a regionalization bonus in the state education aid “funding formula” at a permanent value of 2% (the previous “regionalization bonus”, for districts regionalized prior to 2010, has been phased out). (S Finance; Tue, Feb 24)

15. H5366: Establishes penalties for fraudulently evading a transportation fare (including “tolls”) of up to 6 months in prison and up to a $500 fine. The definition of the crime includes using a “a ticket good only for the transportation of another person, or by utilizing a transponder or other device…for which they have no right to possess”. This bill also makes it expressly illegal to resell or transfer a free or reduced price transportation ticket or pass obtained through a Federal or state program. (H Judiciary; Tue, Feb 24)

16. H5188: Decriminalizes a first offense for shoplifting. (H Judiciary; Wed, Feb 25)

17. H5273: Allows the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation to consider incineration, as part of its waste-management strategy. Also, H5476 says “no recyclable materials and/or recyclable waste shall be disposed of at the central landfill. (H Environment and Natural Resources; Thu, Feb 26) Both bills have the same four sponsors, who all represent the Town of Johnston, and are apparently an unofficial board of directors for the RI Resource Recovery Corporation policy

18. S0246: Increases penalties for drivers involved in collisions with a “vulnerable road user”, defined as “a pedestrian”, “a bicyclist”, “a police officer or emergency responder on duty while outside of a vehicle”, “a highway worker performing duties outside a vehicle”, “a person riding on or driving a wheelchair, motorized or not”, “a person using a skateboard, inline skates, or rollerskates”, “a person riding on or driving an animal” .(S Judiciary; Tue, Feb 24)

19. H5351: “Every person authorized to operate any vehicle owned or leased by the state, any municipality, any political subdivision of the state or municipality, any fire district, any quasi-public agency or any other entity or agency using vehicles paid for in whole or in part by public funds shall be administered an unannounced and random drug and alcohol test by the department of health at least once every three years”. (H Labor; Thu, Feb 26)

20. S0310 exempts military pension income from Rhode Island’s income tax. S0017 exempts military pension income and federal pension income from Rhode Island’s income tax. S0219 adds people receiving veterans’ affairs disability benefits to the definition of disabled for property tax assessment purposes. (S Finance; Thu, Feb 26)

21. H5315: Prohibits employers from discharging or taking temporary actions against employees because they responded to an emergency as part of the duties as a member of a volunteer fire company or ambulance department. (H Labor; Thu, Feb 26)

22. H5352: Repeals the license-requirement for saltwater fishing in Rhode Island. (H Environment and Natural Resources; Thu, Feb 26)

23. H5292: Gives the state of Rhode Island “exclusive legal authority” for the regulation of unmanned aerial drones (perhaps while a study commission on aerial drones will do its study commission thing). (H Corporations; Tue, Feb 24)

24. H5187: Bans use by the general public of any fireworks larger than “paper caps containing not more than twenty-five hundredths grains of explosive mixture ammunition”. (H Judiciary; Tue, Feb 24)

25. S0246: “The Rhode Island public transit authority shall provide basic public transit services to all cities and towns with the exception of the town of New Shoreham”. (H Finance; Thu, Feb 26)

26. H5081: Authorizes a licensing regime for retail mail-order wine sales in Rhode Island. (H Corporations; Tue, Feb 24)

27. H5472: Requires children 14 years or older and under the age of 16 to complete a “training 5 program on worker rights” before receiving the “work permit” from their school committee that allows them to hold a job. (H Labor; Thu, Feb 26) Also, did you know that RI still has a section of the law titled “Employment of Women and Children”?

28. H5363: Requires that the total amount of tips paid by customers at service establishments be paid out to “waitstaff employees, service employees or service bartenders. (H Labor; Thu, Feb 26)

29. H5228: Allows bake sales to be held at polling places on election day. (H Finance; Thu, Feb 26)

Ranking Indeterminate: H5220 / S0134: Rewriting of the law concerning the responsibilities that “municipal agencies, state agencies or persons” have to protect personal data. (H Corporations; Tue, Feb 24 & S Judiciary; Tue, Feb 24)

Inobvious Priorities: H5285 >> Subjects unsolicited newspapers to littering laws; S0333 >> $500 fine if leaves from a tree on your property land on your neighbor’s property.

Local Impact: Central Falls.

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