​Last Week at the State House
The members of the House passed a $9.97 billion budget for FY2020 on a 64-9 vote on Saturday afternoon.  The process began Friday evening at 4:48 pm, recessing around 10:30 pm to return Saturday morning to finish the work.  While the debate turned contentious during the Friday evening hours, the members seemed to come back Saturday with a renewed spirit of cooperation.  A freshman Republican legislator – Representative Nardone – successfully argued the need for protection for school nurses to administer limited marijuana (non smoke, non vapor) to qualified patients in school settings.  A new amendment was prepared and passed by the body.  The funds for an experimental medical program, which received public attention, was rescinded and reallocated.  The legislature took funds out of their own line item budget on Saturday to fund a non-violence program (Nonviolence Institute) that had not made the cut from the House Finance Committee.  All of these changes resulted in a budget that passed with a veto-proof margin in the House.  The budget moves to the Senate this week.  The Senate could take up the bill Tuesday, or wait until all of the other legislative matters have been decided.  Historically, Senate leaderships have chosen both alternatives for the end of session process.
A few key changes were made to the budget:

• The House removed a $.26 GIS fee on cell phones.  When taken together with the previous changes in the 911 Fund structure, the result is a $.01 per month decrease in cell phone fees.
• A $300,000 line item for the Blackstone Valley Park Improvements Project was added
• A change in the human services program allows individuals to remain on public assistance for four consecutive years instead of two consecutive years
• The budget gave Commerce RI the ability to increase the tax credits to the Providence Fane proposal to $25 million (the cap is normally $15 million).  The Rebuild RI tax credits were also bumped from $200 million to $210 million; and $1 million was added to Commerce RI for site development.
• The House Finance Committee recommended that a number of economic development programs under Commerce RI sunset in 6 months.  The following programs were amended by a vote of the house members to extend the sunset dates to December 31, 2020:  RI Tax Incremental Financing Act; Tax Stabilization Incentive; First Wave Closing Fund; I95 Redevelopment Project Fund; Small Business Assistance Program; Stay Invested in RI Wavemaker; Main Street RI Streetscape Improvement Fund; Innovative Initiative; Industry Cluster Grants; High School, Collect Employer Partnerships; Air Service Development Fund; and RI New Qualified Jobs Incentive Act.
• Any new rules or regulations promulgated by the Department of Business Regulation or the Department of Health under the Medical Marijuana law is subject to approval by the General Assembly prior to enactment.  A number of representatives argued against the approval of 6 additional medical marijuana dispensaries saying it was harmful to small businesses that invested money only to now have the rules changed.  Representative Jacquard from Cranston rightfully pointed out that when the medical marijuana law was passed and the dispensaries were created, the General Assembly heard testimony that approximately 2,000 individuals were expected to apply for medical marijuana cards.  The three dispensaries are currently selling to about 18,000 Rhode Island cardholders, increasing the demand for dispensaries.

 
An effort was made by Representative Cassar from Barrington to increase the hotel tax by a half percent and to use the new found funds to create a program to combat homeless.  After a lengthy, emotional debate, the proposal failed on an 18-55 vote.  Representative Ajello from Providence offered an amendment to add one person to the I95 Commission in an effort to force a “super majority” vote on any development project.  The amendment failed 22-50.
 
This Week at the State House
This edition of Under the Dome will not reflect all of the major activity that will take place this week at the State House, because hearings will continue to be posted as the week unfolds.  To date, hearings are only posted for Monday and Tuesday.
The most controversial bill at the moment appears to be the City of Providence’s proposal to apply differing homestead exemptions in a tiered fashion, thus increasing property taxes on residential properties of higher value. (see H.6232 and S.985 below).  S.985 was passed by the Senate Housing and Municipal Government Committee last week.  H.6232 has yet to be scheduled for a hearing this week.
On Tuesday, at the Rise, the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on S.74, An Act Relating to Taxation.  The bill enacts a ten year statute of limitations on any assessment of tax due or the start of any Division of Taxation collection action for tax due in the area of estate taxes, personal income taxes and corporate taxes.
 
The following bill was filed last week:
House Bill No. 6232  McKiernan, Williams, Almeida, Lima, Mendez, AN ACT RELATING TO TAXATION -- PROVIDENCE HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION (Authorizes the city of Providence to adopt by ordinance a homestead exemption for local taxation on owner-occupied residential real property.
 
House Bill No. 6242  Ucci, Kennedy, Craven, McKiernan, Place, AN ACT RELATING TO WATERS AND NAVIGATION - RHODE ISLAND INFRASTRUCTURE BANK (Expands the definition of “approved project” to include resiliency related infrastructure projects, and further prohibits the award of financial assistance for a water pollution abatement project.)
 
Senate Bill No. 985  Ciccone, Quezada, Bell, AN ACT RELATING TO TAXATION -- PROVIDENCE HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION (Enables the city of Providence to adopt a homestead tax exemption. The value of the $350,000 would receive a homestead exemption of 40% of value while the remaining value would receive a homestead exemption of 28% of value.)
 
Senate Bill No. 994  DiPalma, Seveney, Euer, Felag, AN ACT RELATING TO WATERS AND NAVIGATION - RHODE ISLAND INFRASTRUCTURE BANK (Expands the definition of “approved project” to include resiliency related infrastructure projects, and further prohibits the award of financial assistance for a water pollution abatement project.)
Senate Bill No. 997  Coyne, Lynch Prata, Seveney, DiPalma, Euer, AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- EXPLOITATION OF ELDERS (Changes the definition of "elder person" for purposes of exploitation of elders from a person sixty-five (65) years of age or older to a person sixty (60) years of age or older.)
 
Senate Bill No. 1000  (By Request) Ciccone, AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS - MINIMUM WAGES (Provides that employers who permit employees to report to work shall pay the employee for not less than 3 hours wages if 3 hours work does not exist. Exceptions for agreed shifts of less than 3 hours and for employee students of a college.)
 
 
 
 
 
 

​Waterfront Festival
Presented by Full Channel
Saturday, June 22nd, 10am-2pm

The Herreshoff Waterfront Festival is a FREE event for the whole family! Stop by the docks and enjoy a spin around the Bay on an historic Herreshoff 12½ or watch Fulcrum Speedworks demo their foiling UFO dinghy. Stay for lunch and picnic on the waterfront with Granny Squibb's Organic Iced Tea, Castaway Gourmet Food Truck and Pete's Ice Cream Truck. Museum Admission is FREE all day, from 10am-5pm. You can even find a great deal on sailing-related items at the Annual Wharf Sale, occurring simultaneously.

​Last Week at the State House
Last week the Senate Labor Committee amended S.174, a minimum wage bill, to require a $1.00 increase in the minimum wage starting January 1, 2020.  The new minimum wage would be $11.50 per hour.  The bill will be voted on by the full Senate Tuesday, June 18th .
 
The House Finance Committee passed a $9.9 billion budget Friday night at 11:50 pm.  The timing allows the full House to take up the bill – H 5151 SubA – this Friday, June 21st with a scheduled start time of 2:00 p.m. 
From a business point of view, this is a much better budget than the one unveiled by the Governor in January.  The House and Senate members heard the concerns raised by the business community and responded.  The following is a list of changes:

• The amended budget does not include the Medicaid assessment fee on employers.  It does require the Executive Office of Health and Human Services to develop a plan to identify Medicaid eligible individuals who have access to employer sponsored insurance.  The plan must include reports to the legislature outlining the number of Medicaid recipients with access to employer sponsored insurance, the number of plans that did not meet the cost effectiveness criteria for Rite Share and enrollment in premium assistance programs.  This issue, depending upon the results of the study, could resurface in future years.  Businesses may want to review their insurance plans and employee participation rates.
• The amended budget does not include an increase in the minimum wage
• It does not include the Governor’s proposed expansion of the sales tax to business services (landscaping, cleaning, extermination etc.), to interior design services, to lobbyist services, to gun and ammunition products, nor to non-profits related to taxable services.  The budget did include the sales tax on digital downloads.
• The licensing fee for loan originators does increase from $100 to $400
• No increase in the cigarette tax, cigar tax or to vaping products was included
• The proposed budget does not include an increase in the hotel tax
• The increase in the beverage container tax from $.04 to $.08 on each case of beverage containers sold by a beverage wholesaler to a retailer or consumer did survive and is in the amended budget; as is the increase in tax on “hard-to-dispose” materials such as lubricating oils ($.05 per quart increase), antifreeze ($.10 per gallon increase), organic solvents ($.025 per gallon increase), and tires ($.50 per tire increase).
• The car tax phase out remains intact.  The Governor had proposed to slow down the phase out
• The amended budget does delay the Northern RI Education Center site for one year.  The delay, according to the House fiscal staff, is due to a delay in securing a site for the Center; therefore the 1.0 FTE and $100,000 was removed from the FY2020 budget
• There is a net $.25 per month increase in wireless telephone fees.  The amended budget creates a restricted receipt account for 911 fees to be used for training and equipment.  The 911 monthly surcharge on wireless lines reduces from $1 to $.50 for each line.  But a new monthly surcharge is assessed on phone lines for first responder services of $.75 for each wireless line.
• Rhode Islanders will finally be required to obtain new license plates, but the cost is lower than originally expected - $8.00.
• No adult recreational marijuana legalization is included in the budget.  The language does increase the number of medical marijuana dispensaries from three to nine.  Testimony was given earlier that most medical marijuana states have a dispensary for every 3,000 patients.  Rhode Island’s three dispensaries currently service 12,000 patients each.
• The amended budget includes a new Article that creates an Opioid Stewardship Act.  The Opioid Stewardship Fund will collect $5 million from manufacturers or distributors of opioids (a formula for the share is in Article 13 SubA); and use that money for opioid treatment programs, recovery and prevention programs and related services. 
• The amended budget increases the Small Business Assistance Program.  The Governor included $250,000 in her budget; the amended budget increases the fund by $500,000.
• The prekindergarten program is expanded under the amended budget, but does not go as far as the “universal pre-k” proposal put forth by the Governor.  The program is funded to the tune of $14.9 million which funds the existing 60 classrooms and also covers the addition of two additional students per existing location as well as ten new classroom of twenty students each and an extension of the school day for 100 Head Start students.
• The budget does not include an expansion of the college tuition program
• Lastly, the ReBuild RI program under Commerce RI received some “tweaking.”  The Governor had requested authorization for an increase in subsidies from $150 million to $250 million.  The amended budget gives Commerce RI the ability to go to $200 million, but the sales-tax exemption for building material must count toward the cap – that is new.

 
This Week at the State House
On Wednesday, the House Small Business Committee is scheduled to vote on S. 253, An Act Relating to Labor and Labor Relations – Local Ownership.  This bill states that when an employer, covered by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act), provides advance notice of a plant closing or mass layoff as required by law, the director of the department of labor and training, must give the employer’s workers notice of their right to bid to purchase the business and must provide information on how to form a workers’ cooperative in order to purchase the company if they so choose.
The full House will take up the budget (H.5151 SubA) Friday at 2:00 pm.
 
The following bill was filed last week:
House Bill No. 6214   Noret, Solomon, Jackson, Serodio, Amore, AN ACT RELATING TO BUSINESSES AND PROFESSIONS -- REAL ESTATE SALES DISCLOSURES (Requires that any use of a premises for marijuana cultivation be disclosed in any real estate transaction.)
 
House Bill No. 6215  Jackson, McNamara, Costantino, Lima, McLaughlin, AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY -- STATE BUILDING CODE (Authorizes building inspectors to affix their signatures to permits that pertain to work they inspect.)

​Last Week at the State House
 
The plastic bags debate seemed to take on a life of its own last week.  Governor Raimondo brought together members of the business community with members of the environmental advocacy groups to work out a compromise plastic bag ban bill.  The task force met over the course of three months.  In the end, a bill was presented to the Governor that included: (1) a ban on non-reusable plastic bags; (2) a mandatory charge of five cents per bag for an alternative, heavier plastic bag or a paper bag, the money remaining with the retailer to help cover the cost of the more expensive bag alternative; (3) a state-wide preemption clause to ensure all communities were enforcing consistent rules to avoid confusion for businesses.  Two bills reflecting this long debated compromise were introduced at the request of DEM.  That’s when everything started to fall apart.  At the senate hearing on S.410, members of the environmental community, who participated in the Governor’s taskforce, pushed hard to add a stitching requirement to the alternative re-usable plastic bag alternative, to eliminate the per bag fee, and to change the preemption language.  The Senate Environment Committee added the “stitching” language (which further increases the cost of providing alternative bags) but kept the preemption language as is. The House passed its version H.5671 by removing the five cent per bag fee and keeping the preemption language in place (the stitching language was not added).  It is unclear how the two competing bills will fair in the end.
 
This Week at the State House
This week the House Finance Committee will vote out their version of the FY2020 budget.  Both the House Speaker Mattiello and the Senate President Ruggerio are warning that this will not be an easy budget.  House Finance Chairman Abney was quoted in GoLocal as saying the “candy store is not open.”  The House Finance Committee had hoped to meet Tuesday, but as of Sunday night, the meeting had not been publicly posted (meetings require 48 hour public posting at this time – that requirement will be waived in the last days of session).
Rhode Island’s population is about 1.057 million.  According to the Department of Labor website, approximately 438,000 individuals are working in the Rhode Island private sector.  Approximately 61,400 people work for state, local and federal governments.  While those numbers do not include transient farm workers, it still means roughly 47% of Rhode Islanders are working.  At the last revenue Estimating Conference, members referenced the fact that about 320,000-340,000 Rhode Islanders are participating in public assistance programs during the year (30-32%). 
The latest economic forecast released declared Rhode Island’s economy to have shown sluggish growth in 2018, expanding .6% ranking 47th out of 50 states (Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council Report).  The gap is expected to widen in the next quarter.  Rhode Island lost 2,800 jobs between December, 2018 and March, 2019.
This is the difficult backdrop legislators face as they try to present a balanced budget this week.  
Tuesday Set To Be a Difficult Day
If you plan to be at the State House Tuesday, get there early and bring earplugs.  The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a vote on reproductive rights which will bring out many people, so prepare accordingly.
The Senate Finance Committee plans to vote on S.134, An Act Relating to Taxation – Withholding of Tax, which lowers the non-resident withholding requirement for a corporation that sells real estate to be consistent with the 7% corporate income tax rate.  The Chamber has supported this change for a few years.  The committee will also take testimony on S.278, An Act Relating to Taxation.  S.278 makes it clear that a tax payment received by midnight on the date in which the tax becomes due and payable shall be considered “on time.” The bill also reduces the amount of penalty for taxes unpaid from a maximum of 21% to 10%.  This is another pro-business, pro-taxpayer bill.
 
Senate Labor Committee Considers Minimum Wage Increase
On Wednesday, the Senate Labor Committee is scheduled to vote on S.174.  The bill increases the minimum wage effective January 2, 2020, to $11.50 per hour and effective January 1, 2021, to $12.50 per hour.  The Committee will also take testimony on S.908, An Act Relating to Labor and Labor Relations – Establishing the “Commuter Transportation Benefits Act.”  The bill requires businesses with 20 or more employees to establish a pre-tax transportation benefits program; or provide transit passes to employees; or create a free transportation program to the worksite for employees.  The act would become effective January 1, 2020, if passed.
 
The following bill was filed last week:
House Bill No. 6184  Caldwell, Speakman, Mendez, Vella-Wilkinson, Ackerman, AN ACT RELATING TO INSURANCE -- LIFE INSURANCE POLICIES AND RESERVES (Prohibits insurer from denying application/exclude/limit coverage under any life insurance policy based solely on prescription to carry or possess naloxone.)

​Last Week at the State House
 
Last week saw a couple of business unfriendly bills pass.  The Senate Labor Committee took testimony on S.172, An Act Relating to Labor and Labor Relations – Equal Pay Data Collection and Reporting and then passed it on a 5-1 vote.  The bill requires employers with 100 employees or more to file an annual report with the Department of Labor and Training providing employee compensation information broken down by age, gender, race, ethnicity, job category and occupation title.  The Chamber provided testimony against passage of the bill.  It is expected to be voted on by the members of the Senate this week.  The Senate Labor Committee also passed S.509 on a 6-0 vote.  S.509 requires employers to pay employees the same wage for “comparable work.”  While meant to address gender pay inequality, this bill extends this wage payment system to religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age and ancestral origin.  If an employer hires a female age 35 and pays her more than a 41 year old male because they want more diversity in the workplace, a lawsuit could be triggered based on age discrimination.  It is also hard to determine “what is comparable work?”  Both bills passed the Senate last year and died in the House. 
 
The Senate Environment and Agriculture Committee amended and passed the plastic bag ban bill and held the plastic straw bill for further study.  S.410 was created by a stakeholder group comprised of business and environmental representatives.  As was stated in last week’s Under the Dome, the Governor brought both sides together to work out a compromise which was reflected in S.410.  The bill banned retailers from providing single-use plastic bags and required them to charge a customer five cents for a paper bag should the customer require a bag.  A few exceptions existed such as the very important restaurant wine bottle take-home bag. Every retailer was to be under the same rules to help with compliance issues.  Certain members of the environmental community changed their position on S.410 calling for an elimination of the five cent per paper bag fee – siting a harm to the poorer communities.  Interestingly, the same environmental groups advocated for a ten cent fee in the stakeholder meetings.  It was the business community that suggested the fee be lowered to five cents to cover the additional cost of the paper bag.  For the business participants in the stakeholder process, the last minute amendment was very disappointing. 
 
This Week at the State House
 
Committees are voting on bills fast and furiously, signaling an approaching end to the 2013 legislative session.  At the time this newsletter was written, the House Finance Committee has only posted a meeting for Tuesday, leaving the Thursday normal meeting time as a remote possibility for the unveiling of the House budget, although the following week would be more likely. 
The Senate Judiciary Committee is meeting on Tuesday to vote on a number of bills.  S.479, An Act Relating to Businesses and Professions – Real Estate Sales Disclosures, requires owners of real estate to provide and annual energy cost estimate to potential buyers.  The estimate must be prepared by an “approved energy rater” registered with the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources.  S.607, also applies to real estate disclosures and requires sellers state if the property is in a flood zone, if the seller has flood insurance (and if so, the amount of the annual premium), and details surrounding the historical frequency of water damage to the property and the amount of repairs necessary.  Lastly, the committee plans to vote on S.493, a deceptive trade practice bill submitted by the Attorney General.  This bill would place all businesses – even heavily regulated industries - under the Deceptive Trade Practice.  Any business practice not specifically stated in a state regulation could be used to bring a case against the business.  The goal of the bill is to allow the AG to participate in multi-state class action lawsuits; but it also places heavily regulated entities in a trap between competing state agencies.
 
The Senate Commerce Committee is set to pass both the Senate and House versions of the cash requirement bills.  S.889 and H.5116 require retailers to accept cash as payment for goods or services.  Exemptions are included for online internet sales.
 
On Thursday, the House Environment Committee is scheduled to vote on H.5671, the plastic bag ban bill.  To date, the bill reflects the language adopted by the Governor’s stakeholder group.  The Committee could post an amended version next week to mirror the Senate bill (S.410 above), but the committee may also adopt the compromise bill in its original form.  The Committee will also take testimony on H.6126, An Act Relating to Food and Drugs – Disposable Food Service Containers.  The bill prohibits most food establishments from preparing, selling, processing or providing food or beverages in or on a disposable food service container that is composed in whole or in part of polystyrene foam.
 
The following resolution was read on the on House floor May 23, 2019.  Congratulations to NRICC President/CEO on the House Resolution
House Resolution No. 6144   Newberry, Mattiello, Shekarchi, Filippi, Ackerman, HOUSE RESOLUTION HONORING AND RECOGNIZING JOHN GREGORY FOR HIS SERVICE TO THE PEOPLE AND BUSINESSES IN THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND
 
The following bill was filed last week:
House Bill No. 6159  Nardone, Place, Quattrocchi, Filippi, Roberts, AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- MECHANICAL TRADES (Provides for a limited license to be issued to HVAC service personnel to work on electrical wiring, equipment and components when servicing HVAC systems.)