The 2024 Rhode Island General Assembly has finally quickened its pace. Bill introductions have increased dramatically as evidenced by the Senate releasing over 250 new bills this past weekend. The initial bill introduction period has passed. As expected, there are countless bills of interest and concern for the business community.
The Senate, not always friendly to the business sector when it comes to health insurance issues, has released its 24-bill package of healthcare-related legislation. It is titled “The Rhode Island HEALTH Initiative (Holistic Enhancement and Access Legislation for Total Health). The legislation will focus on four key areas of the healthcare system.
- Consumer protection
- Provider availability
- Cost containment
- Health system financial stability
I mention this because health care and health insurance are important to all and can be a major cost of doing business. There will be a follow-up report on this issue.
Several bills that your association has been tracking are scheduled for committee hearings. This includes hearings in both House and Senate Labor Committees. For example, House Bill No. 7319 titled “Healthy and Safe Families and Workplace Act proposes to mandate the work week be reduced to thirty-two (32), yes, 32 hours, and the rate of pay for the 32 hours of work would remain the same rate of pay for forty (40) hours. This bill will increase labor costs and discourage employment. Thankfully passage even in our state is not likely. RILBMDA is on record as opposed to this bill. Lastly, the bill states that it applies to businesses with more than 500 employees but after creating for business an exemption it goes on to list numerous exceptions to the proposal.
H-7650- Fair Employment Practices- Extreme Temperature Employment Protection. This bill would require employers to take special precautions when employees are working in temperatures at or above 90 degrees or below 32 degrees. H-7457 Payment of wages – Frequency of Payment- would require all employers to pay their employees weekly unless the employees’ wages are fixed at a different payment schedule. Several years ago, businesses legislated for the passage of biweekly pay to all employees. The enacted compromise allowed businesses that pay a certain percentage above the state’s minimum wage and other conditions and could pay bi-weekly. This bill would remove the compromise. Most states today allow for biweekly pay. Our state is the only state that requires employers to pay premiums on Sunday even if it’s part of the employees’ normal forty (40) hour work week.
Recently the Rhode Island Public Expenditures Council more popularly known as RIPEC released its policy brief. It concludes that Rhode Island has marginally improved its national business Tax Climate Ranking based on the Tax Foundation Business Tax Climate Analysis. However passage of some of the bills presently before our General Assembly could significantly worsen Rhode Island’s national ranking. Their analysis was based on five tax categories, individual income tax, corporate income tax, property tax, sales tax, and unemployment tax.
While Rhode Island has inched ahead of both Connecticut and Massachusetts, it remains in the bottom ten (10) in ranking nationally.
Lastly, your Association is in support of the Department of Labor and Training’s “Real Jobs Programs”. It has the power to be a mechanism aligning with the changing employer/employee needs. Any proposed reduction in the program should take a priority initiative to fully fund the budget; without any funding reduction!