S0353: Creates a business-entity called a “low-profit limited liability company”. The snarky angle on this bill would be to wonder why Rhode Island needs a separate category for low-profit ventures. (House Corporations, May 31)
S0855: Projects “to be financed with bonds issued by an issuer that does not have jurisdiction over the location of those facilities” would be require “prior host approval from the governor of the state”. This bill is somewhat unusual, in that it assigns a new power to the Governor directly, and not to an executive branch department head. (Senate Finance, May 31)
H5161: Various changes to Rhode Island’s campaign finance laws. The official description says “this act would eliminate the additional qualification requirements of independent candidates who wish to participate in the matching public funds program, clarify the time frame in which any candidate may apply for the matching public funds program, eliminate the two thousand dollar ($2,000) maximum annual contributions limit from any individual or political action committee and apply equally the minimum requirements for participation in matching funds for nominated and independent candidates. It would eliminate the requirement for an independent advocate to notify the candidate or political party committee on whose behalf the expenditure or contribution is made”. (House Finance, May 31)
H5276: A pilot project for “Patient Centered Medical Homes”. This bill appears to be founded on the assumption that system failures created by regulation can be fixed by piling new regulations on top of the broken ones. (House Coroporations, May 31)
H6143: Defines the car tax reimbursement in terms of “a rate that shall be determined by computing each municipalities percentage of the total assessed value of all motor vehicles and trailers in the state”. I believe this is intended to smooth out the impact that different community tax-rates can have on how much an individual is reimbursed. (House Finance, May 31)