Coming up in Committee: Thirty-Two Sets of Bills Scheduled to be Heard by the RI General Assembly, March 12 - March 14, Part 1

For the first time, the list goes to three parts...

Local Impact: Central Falls 2, One or a Few Big Employers.

Inobvious priorities: S0498 > Adds the executive director of the Economic Development Corporation to the Interagency Council for the Homeless; S0353 > Sets weekend fees for justices of the peace; H5395 > Golf carts allowed to operate on roads near golf courses.

32. H5775: The redefinition of the meaning of red, yellow and green traffic lights goes to committee for a second time. (H Judiciary; Tue, Mar 12)

31. S0517: Adds a Division of Agriculture to the Department of Environmental Management. (S Environment and Agriculture; Wed, Mar 13)

30. H5322: No pretending to be the Attorney General or using the office's emblem, if you're not the Attorney General. (H Judiciary; Wed, Mar 13) Is there a specific incident that led to this bill?

29. S0209: Adds the mayor of Newport and the town council presidents of Portsmouth, Tiverton, Jamestown, Middletown, and Little Compton to the Rhode Island Bridge and Turnpike Authority (giving 6 of 9 members to the East Bay). (Senate Housing and Municipal Government; Thu, Mar 14)

28. H5450: Allows a telephone company to use wireless or VoIP service to meet the requirement that it be able to cover everyone in a given geographic area. (H Corporations; Wed, Mar 13)

27. H5454: "Notwithstanding any general or public law to the contrary, the [Public Utilities Commission] and the division shall have no jurisdiction or authority over wireless service". (H Corporations; Wed, Mar 13)

26. {S0093/H5454}: Changes to the Bristol County Water Authority, the most interesting of which are ones like "All actions taken by the board of directors must be in compliance with the Rhode Island General Laws 'Access to Public Records Act'...and the 'Open Meetings Act'", which basically make clear that the BCWA cannot claim that it has some nebulous not-quite-government status that allows it to evade requirements for conducting business in the open. (S Housing and Municipal Government; Tue, Mar 10 & H Municipal Government; Thu, Mar 12)

25B. S0486: Knocks out a section of the law that says compensation for traffic tribunal magistrates "shall be determined by the chief magistrate of the traffic tribunal subject to appropriation by the general assembly". And replaces it with nothing. (S Judiciary, Tue, Mar 12)

25A. S0702: Promotes a position of family court general magistrate to a family court judgeship. (S Judiciary, Tue, Mar 12)

24. H5075: Lifts the prohibition on classified state employees running for state office. (H Judiciary; Tue, Mar 12)

23. Two committee agendas this week are filled with bunches of technical commercial regulatory bills; people with an interest in the insurance, real estate, design or banking industries may be interested in looking over the Senate Commerce Committee agenda and the House Corporations Committee agenda for Tuesday, March 12.

22. S0426: "The Rhode Island department of human services shall require all generic manufacturers whose products are to be provided to Medicaid recipients to engage in a competitive bidding process created by the department of health to ensure that it is providing Medicaid recipients with quality generic products at a competitively bid cost". (S Health and Human Services; Thu, Mar 14)

21. S0198: "Any emergency services system operated by the department of children, youth and families...shall direct families with children in need of behavioral health crisis evaluation to community-based settings unless the hospital emergency services are voluntarily sought by the family or child, or is deemed medically necessary by any involved party". (S Health and Human Services; Tue, Mar 12)