2019 Legislative Agenda
ECRI has considered these bills and has decided to support or oppose them at hearings. People interested in tracking legislation during the session are encouraged to sign up for an account in the General Assembly's Bill Tracker system.
FYI, all blue-headed columns are sortable, e.g., by bill number, topic, support/oppose, etc.
Legislative Topic | Title and Description | House Bill# | Senate Bill # | Link(s) to Bill text pdfs | ECRI's Position | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Land |
Conservation Easement Restrictions. Requires conservation and preservation restrictions to be liberally interpreted in favor of the grants awarded. |
0170 | S0170 | Support | Legislative Agenda | |
Pollution |
Polystyrene Ban / Plastic Bag Bill. Prohibits retail sales establishments from providing plastic checkout bags and all retail establishments from providing expanded polystyrene disposable food containers and would be enforced by municipal designees, with an opt out provision. |
0268 | S0268 | Support | Legislative Agenda | |
Transportation |
Vulnerable Road User Protections. Provides for specific fines and sanctions to operators of motor vehicles who fail to exercise due care to avoid colliding with a vulnerable road user causing injury, serious injury, or death to the vulnerable road user. |
0596 | S0596 | Support | Legislative Agenda | |
Waste |
"Ask First" Plastic Straw Bill. This act would prohibit a food service establishment from providing a consumer with a single-use plastic straw, unless the consumer requests such a straw. |
5314 | 0202 | H5314, S0202, S0202subA | Support | Legislative Agenda |
Government |
Energy Facilities Siting Amendments (Burrillville). Makes changes to the membership of the energy facilities siting board by increasing the size of the board from three (3) to seven (7) members for certain applications, and also imposes additional requirements on applicants for energy facilities. |
5446 | H5446 | Support | Legislative Agenda | |
Health |
Eliminate PFAS from Food Packaging. This bill prohibits PFAS, a class of fluorinated organic chemicals, from being used in food packaging. |
5565 | 0218 | H5565, S0218 | Support | Legislative Agenda |
Climate |
Climate Change Adaptation Fund. Establishes OSCAR, The Ocean State Climate Adaptation and Resilience fund, a fund which provides grants to support projects that adapt infrastructure to address climate change; assess eligibility of projects, allocation, disbursements and the fund's financing. |
5628 | 0412 | H5628, S0412 | Support | Legislative Agenda |
Government |
Green New Deal Resolution. This bill requests that the Rhode Island Green New Deal Research Council report their findings and recommendations regarding the potential benefits of green new deal initiatives to the General Assembly by May 15, 2019. |
5665 | 0659 | H5665, S0659 | Support | Legislative Agenda |
Planning and Development |
Woodland Preservation & Stewardship Act. Establishes and implements woodland stewardship and preservation programs managed by the Department of Environmental Management administered by cities and towns through local comprehensive planning and zoning. |
5813 | 0663 | H5813, S0663 | Support | Legislative Agenda |
Health |
Personal Care Products Disclosure. Requires the personal care product industry to more fully disclose the ingredients they use and, where applicable, identify ingredients that have been published as a chemical of concern on one or more designated lists included in the act. |
5826 | 0447 | H5826, S0447 | Support | Legislative Agenda |
Legislative Topic | Title and Description | House Bill# | Senate Bill # | Link(s) to Bill text pdfs | ECRI's Position | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Climate |
RI Global Warming Solutions Act. This bill would require our State to take action on climate change. It would require reducing carbon emissions economy-wide by 80% below 1990 levels by 2050, with interim targets for 2020 and 2035. |
5444 | 0658 | H5444, S0658 | Support | Legislative Priority |
Waste |
Plastics Pyrolosis Solid Waste Amendments. (ECRI OPPOSES) This bill would exempt plastics from being considered solid waste, creating a loophole in existing state law to circumvent the prohibition of incineration of solid waste. |
5448 | 0408 | H5448, H5448subA, S0408 | Oppose | Legislative Priority |
Conservation |
Energy & Consumer Savings Act: Efficiency Standards. This bill would establish new energy and water efficiency standards for appliances and other products sold in Rhode Island. |
5667 | 0552 | H5667, S0552 | Support | Legislative Priority |
Pollution |
Plastic Bag Bill. Creates the "Plastic Waste Reduction Act" designed to reduce the use of plastic bags by retail establishments by offering recyclable bag options and providing penalties for violations. |
5671 | 0410 | S0410, S0410subA amended, H5671, H5671subA | Support | Legislative Priority |
Planning and Development |
RI Energy Resources Act: Solar Siting. (ECRI PRIORITY) This bill includes a suite of strategies to incentivize proper siting and minimize the size of commercial solar in environmentally sensitive areas. It also requires the establishment of comprehensive solar energy siting ordinances in each Rhode Island town and city and requires the state to develop a renewable energy siting plan. |
5789 | 0661 | H5789, S0661, S0661subA | Support | Legislative Priority |
Government |
Energy Facility Siting Amendments (TEC-RI/OER). (ECRI OPPOSES) Amends provisions relative to the energy facility siting act including designating the public utilities commission as the public advocate and creates certain pre-application requirements. |
5804 | H5804 | Oppose | Legislative Priority | |
Climate |
Economic & Climate Resilience Act Of 2019. This act would establish a fee on companies that sell fossil fuels in Rhode Island and establish an economic and climate resilience fund to disburse the collected revenues. It requires that both Massachusetts and one additional Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative state pass a carbon fee of at least five dollars ($5) per metric ton of carbon to take effect. |
5869 | 0662 | H5869, S0662 | Support | Legislative Priority |