Some of the issues affecting business that your Chamber of Commerce Coalition has represented you on at the State House
House bill number 7565 http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText12/HouseText12/H7565.pdf
Introduced by Representatives Slater, Blazejewski, DaSilva and Diaz
AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- RHODE ISLAND WORKER PROTECTION AND JOB LOSS NOTIFICATION ACT
This bill would require an employer to give certain notifications to employees in businesses where the workforce would be subject to layoff or temporary suspension
The Chamber Coalition opposed this legislation
House bill number 7760 http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText12/HouseText12/H7760.pdf
Introduced by Representatives Slater, Williams, Chippendale, Cimini and Diaz
AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- FAIR EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES
This bill would prohibit an employer from refusing to hire a person based solely on the existence of a criminal record
The Chamber Coalition opposed this legislation
House bill number 7233 SUB A http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText12/HouseText12/H7233A.pdf
Introduced by Representatives Walsh, Ruggiero, Valencia, Tanzi and Ferri
AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- PROPER MANAGEMENT OF UNUSED PAINT
This bill would create a program by which the disposal of unused paint products would be managed by a paint trade organization created for that purpose and funded by a tax on retail paint products
The Chamber Coalition opposed this legislation
Senate bill number 2756 http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText12/SenateText12/S2756.pdf
Introduced by Senators Moura, Pinga, Ottiano, Crowley and Shibley
AN ACT RELATING TO TAXATION - IMAGING SERVICES SURCHARGE
This bill would repeal the provision of the general laws which imposed a 2% surcharge on imaging services
The Chamber Coalition supported this legislation and another similar piece of legislation previously heard by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee
http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText12/HouseText12/H7003.pdf This bill gives the Attorney General supplemental jurisdiction under the deceptive trade practices act where a state regulatory agency does not have the authority to award a consumer a financial settlement
The Chamber Coalition opposed this legislation
http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText12/HouseText12/H7232.pdf
This bill would allow any anticipated arrearage and costs of administering repayment program to be recovered from all gas and electric customers through a funding mechanism which would be submitted annually
The Chamber Coalition opposed this legislation
A piece of legislation heard at the State House recently that the Chamber Coalition is closely tracking but did not testify on
House bill number 7927 http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText12/HouseText12/H7927.pdf
Introduced by Representatives Palumbo, Costa, Trillo, Brien and Jacquard
AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS
This bill would establish the E-Verify compliance chapter. It would also require all non-governmental employers within the state with three or more employees to apply to participate in the E-Verify program participate if accepted
Additional legislation not heard at the State House yet that the Chamber Coalition will offer testimony on
http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText12/HouseText12/H7073.pdf
This act would provide that if during any fiscal year the state reimbursement to cities and towns and school districts is insufficient to cover the costs of state mandates as reported by the department of revenue, those affected cities, towns and school districts may cease implementation of state mandates at their discretion up to 50% of the value of the reimbursement shortfall.
The Chamber Coalition supports this legislation
http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText12/SenateText12/S2049.pdf and http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText12/HouseText12/H7215.pdf
(Duplicate bills)
These bills would exempt package tour and scenic and sightseeing transportation services from sales and use taxes
The Chamber Coalition supports this legislation
http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText12/HouseText12/H7196.pdf
This bill would require business tax credit recipients to provide the state with confidential financial business records to document any benefit to the state from the issuance of the tax credit
The Chamber Coalition opposes this legislation
http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText12/HouseText12/H7342.pdf This bill would impose a $1.28 per gallon “sugar” tax The Chamber Coalition opposes this legislation
A very important piece of legislation with 37 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives and 18 co-sponsors in the Senate
House bill number 7729 http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText12/HouseText12/H7729.pdf
Introduced by Representatives Cimini, Guthrie, DaSilva, Savage, Valencia and 33 other State Representatives
AN ACT RELATING TO TAXATION -- PERSONAL INCOME TAX
Senate bill number 2622 http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText12/SenateText12/S2622.pdf
Introduced by Senators Miller, Crowley, Perry, Pichardo, Tassoni and 15 other State Senators
AN ACT RELATING TO TAXATION -- PERSONAL INCOME TAX
These bills would increase the tax imposed on the income of certain individuals and reverse the “income tax reform” of 2010
The Chamber Coalition was very involved in a broad based effort to reform RI’s tax code in 2010 and will vigorously oppose these (duplicate) bills that would reverse the reform
How tax policy can influence decisions
Considering the previously mentioned bills, Chamber members may be interested in the previously published Wall Street Journal opinion piece regarding tax policy highlighting the fact that in recent years states with a more competitive and business friendly tax policy realized more jobs and faster income growth than states with tax policy to the contrary. This piece is certainly one that Rhode Island lawmakers should take note of. (If they have not already.)