Essay
That is correct; Kim Kalunian at WPRO reports that a bill … submitted by Rep. Charlene Lima (D-Cranston) would create a Rhode Island state bank. The bill would establish a Rhode Island state bank to “protect the financial welfare and economic vitality of the citizens” and create jobs. The state bank would have the same…
Here is a link the General Assembly press release on the 9 bills to be introduced, labeled as the “gun safety package”. The two items likely to be most controversial are…Gun Control and Safe Firearms Act: This bill bans the manufacture, sale, purchase or possession of semi-automatic assault weapons after July 1, 2013. It also…
1G. H5746: Limits the Economic Development Corporation’s total liability for loans, bonds, guarantees and other financing instruments to $1B, unless a larger amount is authorized by a General Assembly joint resolution. (H Finance; Tue, Apr 9) 1F. H5268: Caps EDC loan guarantees to any one entity at $10M. (H Finance; Tue, Apr 9) 1E. H5745:…
9. H5748/H5371/H5303: Mandates state use of “data verification and provider screening technology solutions” and “state-of-the-art predictive modeling and analytics technologies in a pre-payment position within the healthcare claim workflow” to reduce Medicaid, RIte Care and RIte Share fraud and waste. H5734 is a variation on the same theme, repeating some of the same descriptions of…
19. H5285: “The Comprehensive Racial Profiling Prevention Act of 2013”, including such provisions as requiring police officers to document the grounds of their “reasonable suspicion” or “probable cause” searches and to contact a dispatcher or supervising officer where practicable before such searches, and requiring traffic stops to be recorded when a police vehicle is equipped…
29. H5132: Families qualified to receive child-care subsidies because their incomes were less than 180% of the Federal poverty level would continue to receive the subsidy if their incomes rose to 225% of the poverty level “provided that the family requires child care in order to work at paid employment”. H5409 and H5473 would allow…
Local Impact: Burrilliville 2, Glocester, Pawtucket 2, Portsmouth 2, Providence/Pawtucket. Inobvious Priorities: S0648 >> Creates a new board to oversee licensing of massage therapists; H5445 >> Licensing of music therapists; H5853 >> Regulations on the treatment of circus elephants; S0676 >> Procedures for resolving “ownership of unclaimed property on loan to a museum” (primary sponsor…
NAIC model legislation — There was much consternation last year, locally and nationally, over the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) drafting “model legislation” that might be submitted in Rhode Island. Model legislation was heard at the statehouse this very week — but not from ALEC. Three bills heard on Tuesday by the House Corporations Committee…
NSL court decision — In mid-March, a Federal district court judge in California ruled the use of “national security letters” to be unconstitutional (Wall Street Journal story here). NSL’s are letters issued by the FBI, without prior judicial approval, that require telecommunications companies to provide data to the government. There are two major issues with…
O’Neill and the Democratic platform — Rhode Island Republicans get regularly beaten up for not being able to agree on a party platform. On the other hand, when appearing on WPRI’s Newsmakers two weekends ago, Representative Patrick O’Neill (D – Pawtucket) had this to say about one of his disappointments with the Democratic leadership in…