RILBMDA 2023 Legislative Priorities
HB.5902 Payment of Wages Act RILBMDA asks that members of the General Assembly oppose this bill or at the very least make amendments to account for human error and accidental mistakes. This bill lacks verbiage that would protect employers from innocent human and technical error. “Any employer who knowingly or willfully violates…” is left up […]
Rhode Island Legislative Update
April 2023
Bill Decision Time is Approaching Since the General Assembly (G.A.) returned from its spring recess the pace has quickened. This is evidenced by lengthy hearings as more legislation is being heard. Most bills are heard and held until its decision-making time on a bill’s passage or failure during the 2023 General Assembly Session. The G.A. […]
Rhode Island Legislative Update
March 2023
State News: The first two plus months were extremely quiet for even the Rhode Island General Assembly.However, the pace for both bill introductions and lengthy committee hearings have quickenedovernight. This is evidenced by some legislative committees recently scheduling as many as 37pieces of legislation for hearing and/or votes (so far bills of virtually no consequence) […]
Rhode Island Legislative Update
February 2023
State News: We are now in the third month of the 2023 General Assembly (GA) session, and finally the GA is in full speed. To date, almost 1600 pieces of legislation and resolutions have been introduced, and we are told to expect more than 1000 additional bills. If so, we will be reviewing many bills […]
Paid Sick Leave Regulations Overview
Healthy and Safe Families Workplace Act: What You Need to Know In 2017, the Rhode Island General Assembly passed the Healthy and Safe Families Workplace Act, which mandated that employers offer employees paid sick leave. The Governor signed the legislation into law in September 2017. After months of proposed rule making by the Dept. of […]
Rhode Island Legislative Update
January 2023
State News: The 2023-24 General Assembly session has started with a whimper. Both the House and Senate have scheduled limited sessions for the month of January. The Senate has formally announced committees and in fact two Senate committee have a scheduled hearing the week of January 31. The Senate Composition remains the same i.e. 33 […]
Rhode Island Legislative Update
May 2022
Entering the Home Stretch The Rhode Island General Assembly has entered the home stretch. This means, both the House and the Senate will be negotiating on legislation, as will the Governor’s office. Many of these bills are the more important and many times more controversial bills. The tentative date for completing the 2022 legislative session […]
Rhode Island Legislative Update
April 2022
One of the most onerous bills introduced this General Assembly Session is H.7677 entitled An Act Relating to Labor and Labor Relations-Payment of Wages. This legislation was introduced at the request of Peter E. Neronha, Attorney General of the State of Rhode Island. He testified at the bill’s hearing and stated that this was his […]
Rhode Island Legislative Update
March 2022
The General Assembly activity has increased to the point where some committees have scheduled for hearing as many as 24 bills. This will continue until the spring recess, (the week of April 18-22) as bills introduced should have had a hearing by the break to remain alive for the legislative session. One bill, H-7934 – […]
Rhode Island Legislative Update
February 2022
As I write this article, I am reviewing one of the General Assembly session’s most anti-business, anti-competitive bills I have had the displeasure of reading in my many years of walking the State House Hallways. Once again, the business community, including your association, strongly opposes Senate Bill 2486 – An Act Relating to Labor and […]