3. On Wednesday, April 2, the House Finance Committee will hear a raft of bills on state income tax changes:

• H7207: Subtracts “amounts deemed taxable income to the taxpayer due to payment or provision of social security benefits” from adjusted gross income for calculating state income tax.
• H7418: Exempts from the Rhode Island income tax “any individual who has reached full retirement age as defined by the Social Security Administration” .
• H7423: Exempts from the Rhode Island income tax the first “$15,000 per year of income paid to an individual by a retirement plan qualified as such under federal law” .
• H7471: Adds a 8% tax-bracket for incomes over $250,000
• H7552: Adds a 10% tax-bracket for individual incomes over $200,000/married couple (filing jointly) incomes over $250,000.
• H7424: Allows teachers to claim a $250 tax-credit on their Rhode Island income tax “for any amount spent purchasing supplies and equipment, for use in the performance of their teaching duties”.

3B. H7429: Phases back in the former $6,000 car-tax exemption. (H Finance; Wed, Apr 2)

4. 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, Apr 1)

5.S2388: Prohibits law enforcement officers or state/local government officials from inquiring about the immigration status or social-security numbers of complainants and witnesses involved in law enforcement/judicial processes. (S Judiciary; Tue, Apr 1)

6. H7818: $75 million bond referendum, to be used “to produce an additional supply of housing units at rents affordable to families working at or near minimum wage”, “to produce additional housing for individuals with disabilities to be coupled with services and case management” and “to provide grants to local communities for renovation, demolition, and homeownership opportunities in neighborhoods designated for revitalization”. (H Finance; Tue, Apr 1)

7. H7066: Bases car-tax assessments on trade-in instead of retail value. (H Finance; Wed, Apr 2)

8. H7794: Requires the state to set up a “vehicle liability insurance confirmation and compliance system” that includes “an automatic license plate recognition system to electronically capture license plate images in two (2) seconds or less and noninvasively attempt verification of the insurance and when possible, the registration status of the vehicle”. (H Corporations; Wed, Apr 2) If you were to pick one substantial, statewide technological effort for the government of Rhode Island to undertake, would insurance verification be the one that you would pick?

9. H7878: The latest version of price controls on utility rates; “a public utility company shall not be allowed to increase its rates annually by more than five percent (5%)….In the event that the utility company wants to increase the rate by more than the rate set yearly, they must seek a waiver before the public utility commission and it must be approved prior to the additional increase being implemented”. (H Corporations; Wed, Apr 2)

10. H7071: Alters the method of selection of various administrator/magistrate positions in the Rhode Island Court system from appointment by senior judges, to gubernatorial appointment “on the basis of merit, from a list submitted by the judicial nominating commission”. (H Judiciary; Wed, Apr 2)

11. H7608: Awards “reasonable attorney fees” and (some) “expert witness fees” to parents who prevail in special education lawsuits. (H Judiciary; Wed, Apr 2)

12A. H7904: A 22-page bill to “protect public health, safety, and welfare of the people of Rhode Island in the face of probable, but not precisely predictable, effects of climate change by pursuing strategies of mitigation in order to contribute to the reduction of the risk of catastrophic change and by pursuing strategies of adaptation in order to achieve the benefits of resiliency”. The major concrete item in this bill is modifying the state building code, to achieve targets of 60% less energy use per square foot by 2050. (H Environment and Natural Resources; Thu, Apr 3)

12B. H7655: Places regulations on “geoengineering” activities, partially under the theory that if impacts of greenhouse gases are mitigated, the impacts of greenhouse gases won’t be observed. (H Environment and Natural Resources; Thu, Apr 3)

13. 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, Apr 1)

14. H7072: Makes statements by healthcare providers expressing “apology, sympathy, compassion, condolence, or benevolence relating to the pain, suffering, or death of a patient as a result of an unanticipated outcome of medical care” inadmissable as evidence in liability suits. (H Judiciary; Wed, Apr 2)

15. Sales tax exemptions for grooming and boarding of service animals, pet grooming in general, taxicabs, most all transit and ground passenger services, the trade-in value of motorcycles, the trade-in value of pickup trucks weighing less than 6,000 or 8,100 lbs, gun safes and vending machine items costing less than $3.50. (H Finance; Thu, Apr 3)

16. S2314: Beginning in 2014, retailers with $5M in annual sales “are prohibited from making available any plastic checkout bag, not including plastic barrier bags or double-opening plastic bags”. In 2015, the ban is extended to all retailers. (S Environment and Agriculture; Wed, Apr 2)

17. H7775 prohibits tobacco sales at pharmacies. (H Corporations; Tue, Apr 1); H7759 raises minimum age for purchase of tobacco products to 21. (H Health, Education and Welfare; Wed, Apr 2)

18. S2526 places a moratorium on “approvals for new healthcare equipment or new institutional health services prior to July 1, 2015″, with what appear to be exceptions for “domestic medical tourism” and “currently licensed multi-practice physician ambulatory surgery center[s]”. S2517 loosens regulations on the “development of any new institutional health services or new health care equipment” with regards to facilities with two or fewer operating rooms”. (S Health and Human Services; Thu, Apr 3)

19. S2820:Removes the civil forfeiture penalty for direct acts of prostitution, while adding civil forfeiture penalties to “pandering or permitting prostitution”. (S Judiciary; Tue, Apr 1)

20. S2437: Removes a prohibition in the law against building facilities to incinerate solid waste. (S Environment and Agriculture; Wed, Apr 2)

21. H7649/S2534 is a health insurance mandate prohibiting opioid drugs or non-abuse-deterrent formulations for the treatment of pain from being required, prior to the provision of other treatments. (H Corporations; Tue, Apr 1) S2358 is a health insurance mandate prohbiting “any alternative brand name prescription drugs or over-the-counter drugs” from being required, prior to the use of a brand-name prescription drug. (S Health and Human Services; Tue, Apr 1)

22. H7717: Health-insurance mandate for telemedicine, defined as “the use of synchronous video conferencing, remote patient monitoring, and asynchronous health images, or other health transmissions supported by mobile devices (mHealth) or other telecommunications technology by a healthcare provider to deliver healthcare services at a site other than the site where the provider is located relating to the healthcare diagnosis or treatment of a patient”. (H Corporations; Tue, Apr 1)

23. On Tuesday April 1, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hear a set of bills relating to expungement of criminal records, driving-without-a-license, and a bit of overlap though why driving without a license laws are legislative priority at this time is a bit of a mystery.…

• S2386: Defines a first-offender, in the case of a misdemeanor-only criminal record, as “a person who has been convicted of not more than two (2) misdemeanor offenses”. If you’re keeping score at home, that means a third offender can actually be a first offender.
• S2626: Allows expungement of up to six misdemeanors, provided there’s no felony on a potential expungee’s record.
• S2650: Allows expungement of certain deferred sentences upon their completion.
• S2753: Excludes driving-without-a-license from counting towards first offender status for purposes of expungement, and adds an evidentiary hearing step to the expungements process for non-first offenses.
• S2810: Decriminalizes a second-violation for driving without a license.

24. H7683: Extends the ban on cell phone-use by minors (and school bus drivers) into a ban on using “personal wireless devices”. (H Judiciary; Tue, Apr 1)

25. H7883: Appropriates $1 million to subsidize the payment of workers compensation of businesses with 10 employees or less. (H Finance; Tue, Apr 1) Questions should be raised about a program that gives government subsidies specifically for the purpose of paying taxes to the government.

26. H7881: Requires that wood burned in wood stoves be “clean wood”. Also requires that any new wood stoves installed in 2015 or after that are less than 50ft from the owner’s lot-line and 200ft from the nearest neighbor’s dwelling be certified. (H Environment and Natural Resources; Thu, Apr 3)

Ranking Indeterminate: H7832: Sets a $50 per-pupil cap on the state’s existing textbook reimbursement program for private K-12 schools. There are also some changes in the administrative money-flow through the program. (H Health, Education and Welfare; Wed, Apr 2)

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, Apr 1)

S2361: “The Narragansett bay commission shall own, operate and maintain sanitary sewer facilities in the city of Pawtucket, including sanitary sewer mains, laterals and appurtenances; combined sewer mains, laterals and appurtenances; and the five sewer pumping stations that are currently owned, operated and maintained by the city of Pawtucket”. (S Housing and Municipal Government; Tue, Apr 1)

Inobvious Priorities: H7600 >> Excludes “the property of any agency or public body” from the Rhode Island Museum Property Act.

Local Impact: North Kingstown 2, Smithfield.