Home | Join Us | Directory | Events

East Bay Chamber of Commerce

  • Why Join
    • Become a Member
    • Artisan Membership
    • Market Your Business
    • Networking & Exposure
    • See Who's Joined
  • Member Benefits
    • Membership Directory
    • Free Marketing Tools >
      • Ribbon Cuttings
      • Chamber Blog
      • Event Calendar
      • M2M Discounts
      • Speaker's Bureau
      • Bay Bucks >
        • Participating Businesses
    • Premium Marketing Tools >
      • Making Connections
      • Tuesday at Two
    • Networking Groups >
      • WEBOND
      • CEO Manufacturers Round Table
      • EBYP
    • Coggno Online Training
    • US Chamber
  • Economy
    • Existing Business Support
    • Starting a Business >
      • Barrington
      • Bristol
      • Warren
    • State Government
    • RI Chamber Coalition
    • Job Bank
  • Events /Tourism
    • Chamber Events
    • Community Events
    • Submit an Event
    • Bristol County >
      • Points of Interest
      • Map of Area
    • Plan Your Visit
    • Shop Local
    • Live & Work >
      • Barrington
      • Bristol
      • Warren
    • Coronavirus (COVID-19)
  • Member Login
  • About Us
    • History
    • Board of Directors >
      • Chairman's Message
    • Committees
    • Membership Directory
    • Affiliates & Associates
    • Contact Us
  • Blog
  • Why Join
    • Become a Member
    • Artisan Membership
    • Market Your Business
    • Networking & Exposure
    • See Who's Joined
  • Member Benefits
    • Membership Directory
    • Free Marketing Tools >
      • Ribbon Cuttings
      • Chamber Blog
      • Event Calendar
      • M2M Discounts
      • Speaker's Bureau
      • Bay Bucks >
        • Participating Businesses
    • Premium Marketing Tools >
      • Making Connections
      • Tuesday at Two
    • Networking Groups >
      • WEBOND
      • CEO Manufacturers Round Table
      • EBYP
    • Coggno Online Training
    • US Chamber
  • Economy
    • Existing Business Support
    • Starting a Business >
      • Barrington
      • Bristol
      • Warren
    • State Government
    • RI Chamber Coalition
    • Job Bank
  • Events /Tourism
    • Chamber Events
    • Community Events
    • Submit an Event
    • Bristol County >
      • Points of Interest
      • Map of Area
    • Plan Your Visit
    • Shop Local
    • Live & Work >
      • Barrington
      • Bristol
      • Warren
    • Coronavirus (COVID-19)
  • Member Login
  • About Us
    • History
    • Board of Directors >
      • Chairman's Message
    • Committees
    • Membership Directory
    • Affiliates & Associates
    • Contact Us
  • Blog
​

​​Chamber Connections BLOG

Under the Dome: Update from the Chamber Coalition

6/27/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
​Legislature Adjourns for 2022
 
The Legislature adjourned at 1:00am on Friday, June 24th, following a few hours of impasse over the Speaker’s affordable housing package and the Senate leadership’s desire to name a CCRI building after former Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed.  The housing package did pass; the naming of the building will be an issue for another year.
The Senate passed the budget and transmitted it to the Governor who is expected to sign it this week.
Over the next couple weeks, the legislature will transmit bills to the Governor for his consideration.  Should he veto any bill, the legislature will then decide whether to come back into special session to address those vetoes.  Once that procedure is complete, the Chamber will send out a special edition of this publication to provide a list the new laws and links to those laws for your use.
The end of session includes the reading of a resolution for each house and senate member that has decided not to run for re-election.  This year provided one surprise as Minority Leader Blake Filippi of Charleston/New Shoreham/South Kingstown/Westerly announced he will not run again.  He immediately submitted a letter of resignation as Leader. Representative Michael Chippendale of Coventry/Foster/Glocester was named the new Minority Leader with Representative David Place of Burriville/Glocester as Minority Whip.
 
Chamber Legislative Wins
  1. Unemployment Trust Fund will be replenished $100 million.  While this does not fully restore the fund to pre-pandemic levels, it is expected to decrease the UI tax rate by one schedule.  Keep in mind that most employers have experienced an increase in wage bases; the rate may go down, but the overall tax may stay the same or increase.
  2. The legislature did NOT pass the wage theft/misclassification felony bill.
  3. The legislature did NOT pass any new significant labor bills like minimum wage, family leave expansion, employer contributions to TDI or TCI, workplace bullying, etc.
  4. No tax increases were included in the budget
  5. A last-minute bill to place an assessment on self-insureds and health insurance premiums to pay for psychiatric services for Rhode Island residents (currently paid for with a federal grant until June, 2023) did NOT pass.
  6. Efforts to place additional data transparency requirements on businesses that use the internet for customers did NOT pass.  This issue may be discussed over the fall with stakeholders.
 
New Laws of Note
H.8056SubA and S.2666SubA, Acts Relating to Labor and Labor Relations – Department of Labor and Training – Digital Credentialing were signed into law June 21st.  Starting July 1, 2023, the DLT will be required to obtain verified electronic credentials such as certifications, licenses, degrees and training completion certificates issued by workforce and training programs in addition to any paper-based credentials that it receives from participants. law22115 (state.ri.us) law22116 (state.ri.us)
 
Also signed on June 21st were H.7863SubA and S.2816SubA, Acts Relating to Labor and Labor Relations – Employment Security.  These laws extend the increase in the total amount of earnings a partial-unemployed insurance claimant can receive before being entirely disqualified for benefits and an increase in the amount of earnings disregarded when calculating a weekly benefit rate.  This COVID-19 program was set to expire June 30, 2022.  It is now extended to June 30, 2023.  law22117 (state.ri.us)  law22118 (state.ri.us)
 
2022 Campaign Update – How Can You Help
With the session now over, the campaign season will ramp into high activity mode.  If your Representative or Senator (or a business-friendly candidate running for a seat) has been helpful to business, we ask you to consider helping them in the following ways:
  1.  After filing for candidacy, which takes place this week, they must collect signatures in order to qualify to be on the ballot – consider helping them collect signatures.
  2. They will be walking door to door to greet residents.  Volunteer to walk with them or to introduce them to your neighbors.  This is extremely helpful to a candidate.
  3. Offer to place a campaign sign on your property.
  4. Volunteer to work on Primary Day – September 13th.  This could mean holding a sign at a polling place, making phone calls to those who have not yet voted, driving voters to the polls, etc.
  5. Make a donation to the individual’s campaign to help them pay for mailers, signs, postage, etc.  (this helps, but your time is even more valuable if possible)
Any of these efforts could help a business-friendly candidate win their way to the state house.  T


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    November 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016

    Categories

    All
    Chamber News & Updates
    Meet Our Members
    Member News & Press Releases
    Ribbon Cuttings
    Under The Dome

    RSS Feed

Copyright East Bay Chamber of Commerce. All rights reserved.
16 Cutler St., Warren, RI 02885 
Phone: (401) 245-0750  |  Fax: (401) 245-0110  | info@eastbaychamberri.org