Under the Dome: Advocacy in Action

​Legislative Break Week Begins April 14th
The General Assembly will be on legislative break April 14th – April 18th and will return to hearing calendars and floor session April 22nd. This will begin the third phase of the legislative process as bills begin to pass at an accelerated rate. The May Revenue Estimating Conference starts April 25th and will wrap up May 9th, providing the data needed to begin the final negotiations for the FY2026 budget.

This Week At the State House
Tuesday, April 8th
Attorney General Authority
The breadth of the Attorney General’s authority is a topic of discussion for the House Committee on State Government & Elections Committee at the Rise on Tuesday. H.6164, An Act Relating to State Affairs and Government – Department of Attorney General, creates a bureau of public protection within the AG’s office. The bill gives the AG authority to appoint special assistant attorneys general, experts, consultants, and other assistants as required. The bureau is designed to have four divisions: consumer protection and antitrust enforcement, health care regulation and access, environmental protection and energy regulation and civil rights protection. If the AG believes anyone or any business has engaged in repeated illegal acts (meaning multiple illegal acts or one illegal act that affects more than one person) the AG can file for an order in superior court, and can direct restitution, damages and penalties and can cancel any certificate filed with the secretary of state. This means the AG could rescind the right of a business to operate and he would have the right to issue civil investigative demands which is a form of subpoena to obtain information without a court order. The bill includes a requirement to annually report to the House and Senate the number of investigations conducted, the number of applications to the superior court submitted and the outcomes of such actions. H.6164 was submitted at the request of Attorney General Peter Neronha. Testimony can be emailed to [email protected] https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText25/HouseText25/H6164.pdf
Electric Grid Capacity
The Senate Committee on Commerce is scheduled to hear S.380, An Act Relating to Public Utilities and Carriers – Public Utilities Commission, at the Rise https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText25/SenateText25/S0380.pdf This simple bill requires the Public Utilities Commission to produce an annual report that analyzes the electric grid and its ability to handle increased load as the State continues to electrify cars, buildings and heating systems in order to meet the emission reduction mandates of the Act on Climate.

Wednesday, April 9th
The House Labor Committee is meeting at 4:00 in Room 101. Three bills of interest are on the agenda:
Unemployment Insurance Benefits
H.5448, An Act Relating to Labor and Labor Relations – Employment Security, proposes to remove a sunset provision in the unemployment benefit arena. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the General Assembly and Governor increased the total amount of earnings a partial-unemployment insurance claimant could receive before being entirely disqualified for unemployment insurance benefits and increased the amount of earnings disregarded when calculating a weekly benefit rate. At the time, it was deemed necessary because jobs were hard to find as many places were forcibly closed by the state. The law is about to sunset June 30, 2025. H.5448 removes the sunset, making the benefit calculation permanent. The bill was submitted at the request of the Department of Labor. https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText25/HouseText25/H5448.pdf
Overtime Pay
H.5678, An Act Relating to Labor and Labor Relations – Minimum Wages – Overtime changes the rules for payment of overtime to exempt employees. Under current law, employers are not obligated to pay overtime to their executive, administrative, and professional employees who are compensated through salary rather than hourly wages, unless the salary of such employees would, if calculated according to a 40-hour work week, fall below the state’s current minimum wage. This act would raise that cut-off and make additional salaried employees non-exempt and therefore eligible for overtime pay, by requiring small employers with one to fifty employees and large employers with fifty or more employees, to pay overtime wages to currently exempt workers, if their salary falls below a threshold based upon multipliers of minimum hourly wage, for a 40-hour workweek. For example, for the year 2026, the multiplier would be one and one-half (1½) times the minimum hourly wage for a 40-hour workweek for small employers with less than fifty employees and two (2) times the minimum hourly wage for a 40-hour workweek for large employers with more than fifty employees, resulting in overtime entitlement for more employees. https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText25/HouseText25/H5678.pdf
Benefits for Striking, Locked-Out Workers
H.5680, An Act Relating to Labor and Labor Relations – Employment Security - Benefits provides unemployment benefits to striking workers that are locked out as a part of the striking process. Unemployment benefits are designed to assist individuals who lose their jobs due to circumstances beyond their control, such as layoffs or business closures. However, when workers engage in strikes or are locked out as part of a labor dispute, they are actively choosing to withhold their labor or are being temporarily excluded from the workplace as part of a negotiated dispute. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Rhode Island ranks 42 in unemployment insurance rates in the country (50 being the highest), and we rank highest in the New England states. https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText25/HouseText25/H5680.pdf To submit testimony on any of these three bills, email it to [email protected]

The Senate Committee on Labor & Gaming is also meeting at 4:00 in Room 212 to hear testimony on overtime pay and premium pay on Sundays.
Overtime Pay
S.589, An Act Relating to Labor and Labor Relations – Minimum Wages – Overtime, is the companion bill to H.5678, meaning it is identical in language and intent. See above for the description. https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText25/SenateText25/S0589.pdf
Sunday Premium Pay
S.857, An Act Relating to Businesses and Professions – Holiday Business, exempts retail establishments with fourteen (14) or fewer employees from the Sunday and Holiday time and half payment rule and from the four (4) hour minimum work rule. Rhode Island is the only state in the country that requires employees who work on Sunday or holidays as a normal part of their forty (40) hour work week to be paid time and a half. https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText25/SenateText25/S0857.pdf Testimony can be submitted to: [email protected]


Building Decarbonization
The Senate Committee on Environment & Agriculture is hearing S.91, An Act Relating to Health and Safety – Building Decarbonization Act of 2025. The bill bans municipalities from issuing a permit for the construction or alteration of any commercial, residential, or mixed-use buildings if the initial application is submitted after December 31, 2025 and if the building is not made “electric ready.” Electric ready means the building is designed with sufficient capacity for a future retrofit of a mixed-use building to an all-electric building, including space, drainage, electrical conductors, etc. The bill also includes a benchmarking program for buildings over 25,000 sq.ft. The EC4 Committee is authorized under the bill to require owners to submit energy use information that can be used for planning and implementation purposes in meeting the greenhouse gas emission reduction targets related to Rhode Island’s Act on Climate law. https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText25/SenateText25/S0091.pdf Testimony can be emailed to [email protected]

Thursday, April 10th
New Employment Tax
The Senate Committee on Health & Human Services is meeting at the Rise to discuss, as part of the agenda, the creation of a new program funded by the business community. S.50 places a $1.50 per employee tax on businesses in order to finically fund a new state program entitled the “Catastrophic Illness in Children Relief Fund.” This fund is meant to financially aid families of children with serious illnesses. According to the Department of Labor and Training’s February 2025 data, there are 515,000 nonfarm employees in Rhode Island which includes 66,400 government employees. Presumably, this tax would raise over $670,000 for the fund. https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText25/SenateText25/S0050.pdf Testimony can be submitted by emailing it to [email protected]


The following new bills have been filed: Senate Bill No. 939 Bissaillon, AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY -- EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY FOR PACKAGING AND PAPER ACT (Creates the extended producer responsibility for packaging and paper program for the recycling of packaging and paper products.) https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText25/SenateText25/S0939.pdf Senate Bill No. 956 (Attorney General) LaMountain, AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- DEPARTMENT OF ATTORNEY GENERAL (Establishes a bureau of public protection within the department of attorney general.) https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText25/SenateText25/S0956.pdf