Under The Dome

Last Week At the State House
 
Governor McKee delivered his “State of the State Address” as required by the Rhode Island Constitution.  He highlighted what he considers his accomplishments and then he proceeded to outline his priorities for 2024 which included insights into items to be included in his FY 2025 budget proposal.  The Governor’s budget was formally introduced as H.7225.  As a reminder, the Governor submits the budget to the House of Representatives.  The language is then formally introduced by the House Finance Chairman, Representative Marvin Abney at this time, on behalf of the Governor; and now the House and Senate will begin to hold hearings on the 226 - page document.  We will be breaking down the budget articles of interest in upcoming editions.
 
This Week At the State House
 
Tuesday, January 23^rd
 
The Senate Committee on Finance in conjunction with the Senate Committee on Environment & Agriculture, will meet at 5:00 pm in the Senate Lounge to hear a presentation from DEM Director Terry Gray and Karen Bradbury from the Office of Energy Resources.  The presentation is an update on the activities of the Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council (EC4).  The EC4 is legally bound by statutory law to adopt a plan to meet the mandatory climate change emission reduction targets.  The Chamber has been following this issue closely.  We do expect the EC4 to include, in its plan, policy changes such as building heat source conversions to electric or geothermal heat, and requiring the phase-in use of electric vehicles state-wide.  The meeting will be televised by Capitol Television on: Cox Communications, channels 15 and 61 for high definition; i3Broadband (Formerly Full Channel) on 15; and Verizon, on channel 34. Livestreaming is available at https://capitoltvri.cablecast.tv.
 
Thursday, January 25^th
 
Vehicle barriers at retail establishments is a topic of discussion at the House Corporations Committee at the Rise (approximately 4:30pm) in the House Lounge.  H.7084, An Act Relating to Health and Safety – Vehicle Barrier requires commercial property owners in install these barriers as part of any new construction or renovation of a retail property.  The bill “encourages” business owners to install barriers to protect pedestrians at existing properties.  Lastly the bill “asks” insurance companies to consider offering insurance discounts to businesses that install barriers.  The full language of the bill can be found at: https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText24/HouseText24/H7084.pdf
 
The House Committee on Municipal Government & Housing is meeting at the Rise (approximately 4:30 pm) in Room 101.  On the agenda is H.7108, An Act Relating to Health and Safety – Refuse Disposal.  H.7108 bars trash haulers from emptying dumpsters within 100 feet of a dwelling unit between 10pm and 8am.
 
 
What’s in the Governor’s Budget?
 
Article 6 – Relating to Taxes and Fees. 
 
Article 6 addresses a variety of fee eliminations, targeted tax increases and shifting of revenues. 
 
The Governor proposes to waive a number of what he termed “nuisance fees.”  The Governor estimated the changes to the business fee portion of the elimination to save businesses about $50,000. 

• Manufacturers that also must obtain a rectifier’s license or other state license to perform operations are the first mentioned in the Article.  The fee for the additional licenses would be waived
• $25 fee for real estate brokers and salespersons that move from one firm to another
• $50 filing fee for estates of decedents with a death on or after January 1, 2025
• $30 surcharge added to moving vehicle violations and speeding violations (the revenue collected was allocated to the substance abuse prevention program and the school student substance abuse assistance program).  In the Governor’s briefing to the business community, it was not clear whether this portion of the fee elimination was included in the $50,000 estimate of savings.  It is unlikely that this was included in the estimate.