1. H8343: Amends the budget, to create some kind of carve-out for a particular “healthcare corporation” or set of corporations in this year’s budget. (H Finance; Wed, Jun 18) Initially submitted yesterday, this is the same process that was used to renege on the original language concerning bridge tolls in last year’s budget.

2. S2565: Imposes an additional $46 fee for a marriage license, $44 of which is to be provided to the Rhode Island Coalition against Domestic Violence to fund domestic violence prevention programs. (S Judiciary; Wed, Jun 18) The Department of Justice reports that “intimate partner violence” rates for married women are significantly lower than are the rates for never married or divorced/widowed women, yet a bunch of RI legislators think it’s a good idea to make couples who are taking basic steps towards responsible commitment pay for the bad acts of everyone. This bill really creates the impression that our state’s dour progressives don’t like marriage very much.

3. S2014: Requires teachers to be notified of layoffs due to “fiscal exigency or program reorganization” by June 1. (Currently, layoff notices of any kind must be sent by March 1). (S Labor; Wed, Jun 18)

4. H7819: Creates a panel operated under the leadership of the healthcare commissioner (“referred to herein this chapter as ‘the authority’”) charged with creating a plan for making “HealthSourceRI the sole hub for securing insurance or health services coverage for all Rhode Island residents”, aggregating all medical funding for health insurance and/or health care services through HealthSourceRI, establishing “global spending targets” for the provision of healthcare, and developing a plan to pay for it all that includes a payroll tax. (H Finance; Wed, Jun 18)

5. S2853: Eliminates the the tax on ride-sharing services (such as Uber) by exempting rides that are “prearranged, and for which the rate is disclosed to the passenger in advance through a software application” from the public motor-vehicle tax. (S Commerce; Wed, Jun 18)

6. H8324: Exempts West Warwick from state laws allowing it “to establish and maintain a high performing public school program” through charter schools, for a period of five years. (H Municipal Government; Wed, Jun 18)

7. H7991: A complex energy bill that allows National Grid (under the guise of “the public utility company that provides electric distribution as defined in § 39-1-202(12) and public utilities that distribute natural gas as defined by § 39-1-2(20)”) to enter into various long-term hydroelectric, wind, and incremental gas pipeline contracts and to participate in multistate, regional “sharing of cost” programs which may include “tariff or cost recovery mechanisms”. (H Corporations; Wed, Jun 18)

8. H8265/S3038: Proposed constitutional amendment, to be submitted to the voters in November, specifying that the location of gambling facility previously approved by local voters cannot be changed without a further referendum. (H Judiciary; Wed, Jun 18)

9. H8294/S3056: Makes authorization of casino gaming Newport Grand contingent upon the approval of the constitutional amendment that requires any changes in location of existing gaming facilities to be approved by local voters. (H Judiciary; Wed, Jun 18 & S Finance; Wed, Jun 18)

10. H8140: Allows “a health care facility licensed as an organized ambulatory care facility” to operate at multiple locations without having to seek an individual license for each site. (H Finance; Wed, Jun 18)

11. H8007: Establishes racial and ethnic set-asides for loans to be made in 2014 from funds remaining in the State Small Business Credit Initiative program. (H Finance; Wed, Jun 18)

12. H7845: Creates a felony crime of online impersonation. (S Judiciary; Wed, Jun 18)

13. H7258: Makes it a misdemeanor “to knowingly install, conceal or otherwise place an electronic tracking device in or on a motor vehicle without the consent of all owners of the vehicle” punishable by “up to one year in prison, or up to a one thousand dollar fine, or both”. (S Judiciary; Wed, Jun 18)

14. H7623: Requires bidders of state contracts valued at $1M or more have an apprenticeship program, and that “no less than ten percent (10%) of the labor hours worked on the project shall be performed by apprentices in these programs”. (H Labor; Wed, Jun 18)

15. H7733: Extends a temporary program for providing short term state childcare assistance for people in job training for an additional six months. (H Finance; Wed, Jun 18)

16. H8296: Allows an ignition interlock system requirement as part of the possible sentence for many first DUI convictions, and makes it mandatory for most second or subsequent DUI convictions as well as for certain first convictions, e.g. if a person’s blood alcohol content is greater than 0.15. (H Judiciary; Wed, Jun 18)

17. H8129: Adds “the real property of any person having debts secured by casino-issued lines of credit” to the list of property “exempt from attachment on any warrant of distress or on any other writ”. (H Judiciary; Wed, Jun 18)

18. H8288: Brings agreements by multiple “cities and town councils, school committees, water and fire districts” to jointly “obtain or effect” insurance under Rhode Island insurance law, when they were previously exempt from it. (H Corporations; Wed, Jun 18)

19. H8172: Creates two (2) distinct grant programs within the RI Commerce Corporation, one “to address emergent needs relating to mission sustainment, encroachment reduction or prevention, and base retention”, and one “to assist defense-dependent municipalities to develop and implement alternative economic diversification strategies that repurpose surplus defense facilities and properties”. (H Finance; Wed, Jun 18)

20. Pin-pricking Rhode Island with the needle: H7110/S2749 requires a $5 “registration” fee be paid and proof of payment of municipal taxes be provided by all businesses in Smithfield, and imposes a $25 per day fine for operating a business in Smithfield without having so registered; H7771/S2229 allows the town of Richmond to set a maximum $10 fee to operate a business there.(H Municipal Government; Wed, Jun 18)

21. H8350: For inspections carried out under the state building code, “no fee shall be assessed for the first reinspection of work which has failed the initial inspection; provided, a fee shall be allowed for all necessary subsequent reinspections of the same work”. (H Municipal Government; Wed, Jun 18) Submitted yesterday

22. S2699: Bars the state from requiring cities and towns to make payments to the state, based on “automated traffic violation detection system” enforcement. (S Finance; Wed, Jun 18)

23. H8295/S2575: The amended version of this bill reads: “Any board or commission vested with governing powers over a mobile or manufactured home community, including resident-owned and nonresident-owned mobile home park resident associations, shall establish and/or adhere to fair and impartial written guidelines and bylaws for conducting elections, which have been provided to all residents of the mobile home park at least forty-five (45) days prior to any election”. (H Judiciary; Wed, Jun 18)

Local Impact: Cumberland 2, North Providence, Pawtucket, Providence 2, Scituate, Smithfield, Warwick.