Coming up in Committee: Forty Sets of Bills Scheduled to be Heard by the RI General Assembly, April 2 - April 4, Part 4

UPDATED:

Somehow, I missed the entire Senate Judiciary hearing for Tuesday, April 2, which includes:

• S0039/S0044: The bills to eliminate the master lever (which would have been rated #1).
• S0422: State-issued drivers' licenses for illegal immigrants (which would have been either #2 or #3).
• S0769/S0553: Two bills that create in-person early voting in Rhode Island elections, beginning several weeks before the "traditional" election day, and S0447 which eliminates the requirement that mail-in ballot applicants provide an explanation "setting forth the facts relating to the circumstances necessitating the application" (low to mid-teens).
• S0450: Senate companion to this week's #16.
• S0549: Prohibiting anyone who has contracted with the state for $5,000 or more from making a political campaign contribution to an officeholder responsible for that contract (high-teens or low 20s)

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10. S0681: Changes the law regarding the judicial review of the administrative approvals required as part of the change of ownership or control of a hospital. The law makes a point of placing appeals of Attorney-General decisions on a slightly different track than appeals of Department of Health decisions, and appears to make the criteria that the Superior Court is to use in making a decision on an appeal much more fuzzy. Submitted at a joint request of the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor (which is a rare occurrence). (S Health & Human Services; Tue, Apr 2)

9. S0234: Constitutional amendment to create 4-year terms with a limit of 3 consecutive terms for Rhode Island Senators and Representatives. (S Special Legislation and Veterans Affairs; Wed, Apr 3)

8. H5645: Limits unemployment benefits associated with a seasonal job to the season(s) when that job would be active. (H Finance; Wed, Apr 3)

7. S0618: "A healthcare entity or health plan shall not deny payment for a claim for medically necessary inpatient services resulting from an emergency admission provided by a hospital solely on the basis that the hospital did not timely notify such healthcare entity or health plan that the services had been provided". (S Health & Human Services; Thu, Apr 4)

6. H5791: Applies the annual property tax-cap currently applied to municipalities to fire districts and, in the event that a fire-district is liquidated, requires the containing municipality to automatically assume fire-protection responsibility including management and costs. (H Municipal Government; Thu, Apr 4)

5B. H5030 reduces the corporate minimum tax to $250 for the first three year's of a corporation's existence, but has no impact on corporate tax liability, since they will still owe a $500 franchise tax. H5115 reduces the corporate minimum tax to $50, but has no impact on a corporation's tax liability since they will still owe the $500 franchise tax. (H Finance; Thu, Apr 4) Details on corporate minimum income versus franchise tax are available here.

5A. H5200: Repeals the franchise tax in its entirety, leaving the corporate minimum tax in place; one effect of this would be to eliminate the minimum annual tax on S-corps. (H Finance; Thu, Apr 4)

4. H5272: Ties the amount of the car-tax reimbursed to a municipality to the percentage of statewide vehicle value located in that municipality (rather than to tax rates that have been frozen arbitrarily by state law). (H Finance; Wed, Apr 3)

3. H5320: Minimum staffing requirement for the number of social workers assigned to a public school. (H Health, Education & Welfare; Wed, Apr 3)

2. S0157: Requires health insurers to "disclose the insurance reimbursement rate to hospitals in this state, including, but not limited to, reimbursement for matters such as medical services and equipment. (S Health & Human Services; Thu, Apr 4)

1. S0260: Repeal of the sections of banking law that allow pay-day lending. (S Corporations; Tue, Apr 2)