​Advocacy in Action: February 2, 2026

What is in the Governor’s Budget? In the coming editions of Advocacy in Action, we will highlight and summarize key articles of interest to the business community.
 
Article 2 – Relating to State Funds
https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText26/HouseText26/H7127.pdf
 
Article 2 provides for changes to certain state funding accounts.
 
Section 1 – Uninsured Protection Fund

• A technical correction, it exempts the Uninsured Protection Fund (UPF) at the Department of Labor and Training from the 15% assessment for indirect cost recovery to be consistent with the exemption of the Workers’ Compensation Administration Fund included in the FY2026 enacted budget. The UPF provides workers compensation benefits to employees injured while working for an employer that failed to carry valid workers’ compensation insurance.

 
Section 2 – RIPTA / Highway Maintenance Account

• As part of a plan to cover the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority’s $13.8 million operating deficit, it increases RIPTA’s annual minimum share of the Highway Maintenance Account from $5 million to $14.3 million for FY27 and annually thereafter

 
 
Article 4 – Relating to Debt Management
https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText26/HouseText26/Article-004.pdf
 
Article 4 authorizes new non-general obligation debt for three higher education projects.
 
Section 2 – Rhode Island College – Residential Life Renovations – Auxiliary Enterprise

• Approves financing of $20.6 million to enhances on-campus experience by renovating five residence halls, supported by revenue derived from residential life auxiliary student fees.

 
Section 3 – University of Rhode Island – Repaving and Hardscape Improvements

• Approves financing of $20 million to reconstruct and repave parking, roads and walkways at the Kingston, Narraganset Bay, and Alton Jones campuses, supported by repayments from unrestricted revenues and enterprise parking funds.

 
Section 4 – University of Rhode Island – Automotive and Administrative Services

• Approves financing of $14.4 million to construct a new automotive repair building and an addition to the central warehouse for mail/printing, supported by the University’s unrestricted revenue.

 
 
Article 7 – Relative to Education
https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText26/HouseText26/Article-007.pdf
 
Article 7 revises policies and funding relative to school construction, the education funding formula, and the Hope Scholarship at Rhode Island College.
 
Sections 1 & 3 – School Housing Aid

• Increases the project cost threshold that triggers a project manager and commission agent from $1.5 million to $10 million, subject to inflation, and limits its cost to 3% of total project costs, which is estimated to save $1.5 million annually (~$800,000 state share).

 
Section 2 – Education Aid Student Success Factor

• Increases the weight applied for children whose family is at or below 185% of federal poverty guidelines from 40% to 43%, which is funded with an additional $14.4 million to address for these changes.

 
Sections 4 & 5 – Hope Scholarship

• Eliminates the pilot program and makes permanent the Hope Scholarship at Rhode Island College, a merit based last dollar tuition reduction scholarship program that provides for tuition and fees in Junior and Senior years for qualifying Rhode Island students that are in good academic standing, with a 2.5 GPA or higher, and are on track to graduate or to earn an approved certificate in a total of four years.

 
Section 6 – School Building Authority Capital Fund

• Eliminates the depositing of any current year difference between appropriations and entitlements under the traditional housing aid program into the School Building Authority Capital Fund.

 
 
 
This Week at the State House
 
Tuesday, February 3rd
 
Prohibiting Credit Card Surcharges
 
The House Corporations Committee has on its agenda for Tuesday at the Rise (approximately 4:30pm) in the House Lounge, behind the House Chamber on the Second Floor, H 7409 (https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText26/HouseText26/H7409.pdf) which would make it a deceptive trade practice for any retail establishment to impose a surcharge fee on a customer for the use of a credit card. Testimony should be emailed to [email protected].  
 
 
Thursday, February 5th
 
At the Rise on Thursday in Room 135, the House Labor Committee will hear various bills impacting employers. Testimony on the bills below should be emailed to [email protected]. 
 
 
Workplace Bullying
H 7121 (https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText26/HouseText26/H7121.pdf) would
prohibit any type of psychological abuse in the workplace inflicted by an employer, upon an employee or by a co-employee upon an employee, that results in the violation of an employee's right to a physically and psychologically safe work environment. It would also provide an employee, subject to bullying, psychological abuse, psychological injury and/or physical injury, with protections in the workplace and civil remedies against perpetrators of any prohibited activity. This act would further assess civil penalties upon employers violating the act, based upon the gross amount of revenues earned by employers, in addition to civil liability for damages sustained by the employee, as well as civil and criminal liability for any such conduct of a co-employee.
 
 
Inspection of Personnel Files
H 7442 (https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText26/HouseText26/H7442.pdf) would greatly expand the obligations of employers to create, maintain and retain their employees’ personnel records, including retention for at least three years after termination, and doubles penalties for each violation to $3,000.
 
 
Restricting Self Service Checkouts
H 7290 (https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText26/HouseText26/H7290.pdf) would limit grocery stores by capping the number of self-service checkout stations they can operate and mandating a minimum ratio of manual checkout stations to self-service checkout stations. Further, it limits the workload and additional duties an employer can assign to an employee that monitors self-service checkout stations.
 
 
32 Hour Work Week
H 7362 (https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText26/HouseText26/H7362.pdf) would reduce the workweek to 32 hours without reduction in pay from a 40 hour week, and require that work in excess of 32 hours in any workweek to qualify for overtime pay.  H 7367 (https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText26/HouseText26/H7367.pdf) would create a nine member study commission to evaluate reducing the 40 hour workweek to 32 hours.
 
 
Warehouse Worker Standards
H 7364 (https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText26/HouseText26/H7364.pdf) would require employers to provide warehouse distribution center workers upon hire a written description of employee quotas applicable to their work, including any quantified number of takss to be performed on materials to be produced or handled, within defined time periods, and any adverse action that could result from failure to meet such quotas.
 
The following new bills have been filed
 
 
Senate Bill No. 2342 BY  Lawson, LaMountain, Bissaillon ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- RESTRICTIONS ON SELF-SERVICE CHECKOUT STATIONS ACT (Places limits on the number of self-service checkout stations a grocery store can have and on the workload of employees assigned to monitor those checkout stations.) https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText26/SenateText26/S2342.pdf
 
Senate Bill No. 2343 BY  Paolino, Dimitri, Rogers, Patalano, Thompson, Pearson, DiPalma, Ujifusa, Burke, Gu ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- SMALL BUSINESS REGULATORY FAIRNESS IN ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES (Expands the duties of the small business ombudsman, by also having the ombudsman serve as the Rhode Island commerce corporation's small business advocate.) https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText26/SenateText26/S2343.pdf
 
Senate Bill No. 2344 BY  Felag, Burke, Tikoian, Murray, Lauria, Vargas, DiMario ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO COMMERCIAL LAW -- GENERAL REGULATORY PROVISIONS -- INTERCHANGE FEES (Prohibits the charging of interchange fees on taxes and gratuities.) https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText26/SenateText26/S2344.pdf
 
Senate Bill No. 2346 BY  DiPalma, Tikoian, Ciccone, Britto, Gallo, Urso ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- RHODE ISLAND COMMERCE CORPORATION (Establishes property, tangible, sales and use tax exemptions as incentives for the location of qualified data centers in Rhode Island.) https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText26/SenateText26/S2346.pdf


Senate Resolution No. 2354 BY  DiMario, Britto, Zurier, Euer, Vargas, Lauria, Ujifusa, Mack, Bell, Valverde ENTITLED, SENATE RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE RHODE ISLAND PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION TO TERMINATE GAS LINE EXTENSION ALLOWANCES AS PART OF DOCKET 25-45-GE https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText26/SenateText26/S2354.pdf
 
Senate Bill No. 2361 BY  Mack, Acosta, DiMario, Murray, Lauria ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO TAXATION -- WEALTH TAX (Imposes a wealth tax on Rhode Island individuals and entities at a rate of one percent (1%) of worldwide wealth.) https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText26/SenateText26/S2361.pdf
 
Senate Bill No. 2370 BY  Thompson, Famiglietti, Patalano, Burke, Dimitri, Quezada, Pearson, Tikoian ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO TAXATION -- RHODE ISLAND TAX AMNESTY ACT OF 2017 (Authorizes the tax administrator to waive interest and penalties on delinquent taxes paid in full during a one week amnesty period. Also reinstates a suspended driver’s license upon payment in full.) https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText26/SenateText26/S2370.pdf
 
Senate Bill No. 2372 BY  Felag, Urso, Burke, LaMountain, DiPalma, Ciccone, Tikoian ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO TAXATION -- SALES AND USE TAXES -- LIABILITY AND COMPUTATION (Eliminates the sales tax on taxi services and pet care services.) https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText26/SenateText26/S2372.pdf
 
Senate Bill No. 2390 BY  Patalano, Ciccone, Tikoian, Famiglietti, Appollonio, Thompson, Raptakis, Burke, Dimitri, LaMountain ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO COMMERCIAL LAW -- GENERAL REGULATORY PROVISIONS -- GIFT CARD FRAUD (Makes offenses against gift card holders subject to the penalties for larceny.) https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText26/SenateText26/S2390.pdf
 
Senate Bill No. 2396 BY  McKenney, Burke, LaMountain, Appollonio, Bissaillon ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE -- PROCEDURE IN PARTICULAR ACTIONS -- ARBITRATION (Extends time for a party to apply for stay of arbitration to180 days; invalidates any provision that penalizes a party for seeking legal representation; requires arbitrator to provide notice of default to a party for failure to pay fees.) https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText26/SenateText26/S2396.pdf


Senate Bill No. 2406 BY  Lawson, DiPalma, Murray, LaMountain, Gallo ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO COMMERCIAL LAW -- GENERAL REGULATORY PROVISIONS -- AGE-APPROPRIATE DESIGN CODE (Requires that any covered entity that develops/provides online services, products, or features that children are reasonably likely to access shall consider the best interest of children when designing/developing such online service, product, or feature.) https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText26/SenateText26/S2406.pdf


Senate Bill No. 2408 BY  Mack, Valverde, Vargas, Quezada ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- MINIMUM WAGES (Commencing January 1, 2027, this act would increase the minimum wage for employees receiving gratuities, from the current three dollars and eighty-nine cents ($3.89) to six dollars and seventy-five cents ($6.75) per hour.) https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText26/SenateText26/S2408.pdf


House Bill No. 7440 BY  Furtado, Kislak, Bennett, Casimiro, Kazarian, Donovan, Alzate, O'Brien, Stewart, Messier ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- EMPLOYMENT SECURITY -- BENEFITS (Allows unemployment benefits for workers who are on strike or are locked out of their workplaces by their employer due to a labor dispute.) https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText26/HouseText26/H7440.pdf


House Bill No. 7449 BY  Paplauskas, Nardone, Fascia, Place, Newberry, Chippendale, Roberts, Brien, Santucci, HopkinsnENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- SMALL BUSINESS REGULATORY FAIRNESS IN ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES-ECONOMIC IMPACT STATEMENTS (Requires agencies preparing economic impact statements for small businesses contain findings that the anticipated compliance costs of a proposed rule scale proportionally with the business size, and do not impose fixed costs that favor larger businesses.) https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText26/HouseText26/H7449.pdf


House Bill No. 7467 BY  McEntee, Spears, Phillips, Casey, Shallcross Smith, Fogarty, Craven, Kennedy, Azzinaro, Cotter ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- TOURISM AND DEVELOPMENT (Removes the requirement that 5% of the hotel tax generated from regional tourism districts be paid to the Greater Providence-Warwick Convention and Visitors Bureau, and adds that 5% of the hotel tax to the existing tax paid to the RI commerce corporation. https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText26/HouseText26/H7467.pdf