Citizens Bank, kratom users triumph in end-of-session whirlwind

Rhode Island Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, left, a North Providence Democrat, sits as Sen. Matthew L. LaMountain presides in the Senate Chamber on the last night of the 2024 legislative session on Thursday, June 13, 2024. (Will Steinfeld/Rhode Island Current)

From bank tax code to psychoactive herbs, lawmakers tackled a wide-ranging set of policies in a marathon final session Thursday.

Here’s a look at nine key bills that made it past the finish line as of 10 p.m.

The fight to save Citizens Bank

The off-again, on-again state bank tax rewrite requested by locally headquartered Citizens Bank emerged an early winner in the marathon last day of legislative action.

Lawmakers in both chambers approved the companion bills, sponsored by Rep. Joe Solomon, a Warwick Democrat, and Sen. Lou DiPalma, a Middletown Democrat, offering an alternative bank income tax calculation that, at least for Citizens, will lower its state tax bill.

The financial services giant warned that without the tax update, it might move its 4,200-person state workforce, most of whom work out of a sprawling, $285 million Johnston headquarters, for tax-friendlier pastures across state lines. Legislative leaders initially balked , citing the need for more time and detail, but came back to the table with a reworked deal on Monday, June 10 that raced through committee hearings just in time for session’s end.

But crossing the finish line was not so effortless.

Eight progressive Democrats – two representatives and six senators – voted against the tax change, while another six representatives abstained from voting at all (not including those who recused themselves due to conflicts of interest).

Rep. Enrique Sanchez, a Providence Democrat, railed against the proposal, calling it “corporate welfare” and accusing Citizens of “extortion.”

Attempting to call Citizens’ bluff, Sen. Sam Bell, a Providence Democrat, diminished the actual loss in employees and property that would result from failing to make the requested tax change.

“There’s no guarantee this bill will keep jobs in Rhode Island,” said Sen. Linda Ujifusa, a Portsmouth Democrat. Ujifusa added that $2.1 million in job tax credits awarded to CVS Health in fiscal 2023 under a separate state incentive program didn’t stop the company from laying off 500 local workers in August 2023.

Bell and Ujifusa also denounced the absence of the estimated $7 million revenue loss in the fiscal 2025 budget. The legislation advanced after the House approved the upcoming budget, essentially cementing the financial framework in place. The revenue loss will be offset by a portion of the state surplus and a supplemental rainy day fund begun in fiscal 2024.

“This is an extreme procedural anomaly to say the least,” Bell said.

Equally passionate were supporters, who described the legislation as a way to support working residents and small businesses.

Rep. Jacquelyn Baginski, a Cranston Democrat, credited her local Citizens branch for helping her family business, Professional Ambulance, apply for a forgivable loan through the Paycheck Protection Program during the pandemic, ensuring none of its 120 employees were laid off.

And, as Rep. Charlene Lima, a Cranston Democrat, pointed out, Citizens’ roots in Rhode Island date back centuries.

“They’ve been here longer than Del’s Lemonade,” Lima said. “Rhode Islanders, that’s who we’d be protecting. Rhode Islanders who need us to protect them, to keep their jobs so they can keep paying taxes in Rhode Island, so they can keep shopping and spending money in Rhode Island.”

Equally important to proponents, keeping pace with Massachusetts, which is set to offer the same tax option for banks starting in January.

“We missed an opportunity,” DiPalma said. We should have been ahead of the curve on this.”

Other Democrats who voted against the bill were Rep. Brianna Henries and Senators Jonathon Acosta, Victoria Gu, Meghan Kallman, and Ana Quezada.

Six Democratic representatives abstained from the vote: Cherie Cruz, Leonela Felix, David Morales, William O’Brien, Robert Phillips and Tina Spears.

Major move on tiny houses

The crown jewel in House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi’s housing package for two years in a row finally cleared the Rhode Island Senate.

The legislation aims to cut municipal red tape stifling the spread of accessory dwelling units (ADUs), which advocates say are key to addressing the state’s housing crisis.

Companion bills sponsored by Sen. Victoria Gu, a Westerly Democrat, and Rep. June Speakman, a Bristol Democrat, scraped through the Senate by a narrow 22-15 vote, despite outstanding concerns about the need for local control and the absence of an owner-occupancy requirement.

Gu, who previously pitched a compromise proposal featuring additional protections for municipalities, summed up her support in a single sentence: “The only difference between a pool house and an ADU is the pool.”

A revision incorporated earlier in the week specifies that only one ADU per property is allowed “by right” in circumstances involving a family member with a disability, or a structure built within the footprint of an existing home. The bulwark of the original framework put forth by Shekarchi remains intact, including banned use of secondary structures as short-term rentals.

The Senate also lent its support to most, but not all, of the other pieces of Shekarchi’s 15-bill housing package, all of which already cleared the House.

Pared-down boost to paid family leave likened to ‘scraps’

A push to double the amount of paid leave — from 6 to 12 weeks — for new parents and caregivers to sick family members was weakened in the final days of the session, requiring a second pass-through from the Senate on Thursday night.

The approved companion bills by Sen. Valarie Lawson, an East Providence Democrat, and Rep. Joshua Giraldo, a Central Falls Democrat, update Rhode Island’s Temporary Caregiver Insurance (TCI) program to offer seven weeks of paid time off in 2025, and eight weeks starting in 2026

Also removed in late-session negotiations: expanded eligibility parameters which would have let grandparents, siblings and other caregivers qualify for paid leave. Once considered a leader among states for its paid family leave program adopted in 2013, the Ocean State has now fallen behind, with most of the 13 other states with similar laws offering more generous policies in pay and time off.

Lawson described the paring-down process as “unfortunate,” while Sen. Jonathon Acosta blasted closed-door negotiations that gutted what would have been landmark advances, leaving behind mere “scraps.”

‘Forever chemicals’ in your carpet and cookware? Not for long

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, better known as PFAS, are everywhere: Carpets, cosmetics and menstrual products, to name a few.

After cracking down on these forever chemicals in drinking water and food packaging in previous years, lawmakers upped the ante this session, extending the PFAS ban to a range of popular consumer products starting, for the most part, in 2027.

The Rhode Island Senate’s unanimous vote Thursday on legislation sponsored by Pawtucket Democrat Meghan Kallman ignored an eleventh-hour campaign mounted by an industry group seeking to narrow the 14,000 toxic chemicals on the no-go list. A companion bill sponsored by Rep. Terri Cortvriend, a Portsmouth Democrat, passed the House earlier this week.

Smith Hill wades in to Tiverton oyster farm war

A 1-acre oyster farm proposed just off the shoreline in Tiverton’s Sapowet Cove offers a glimpse into the aquaculture wars pitting oyster farmers against property owners and in this case, fishermen. Lawmakers have stepped in with a bill that appears — though somewhat unclear even to the bills’ sponsors — to block the proposal altogether.

Revised companion bills sponsored by Rep. John Edwards, a Tiverton Democrat, and Sen. Lou DiPalma, a Middletown Democrat, would prevent the section of the Sakonnet River along the Tiverton shoreline from being used for anything other than “passive outdoor recreation” — meaning, no oyster farms. Jeffrey Willis, executive director of the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council, previously wrote to lawmakers worried that the bill interfered with an ongoing regulatory review of the oyster farm project.

Before giving a stamp of approval in a 27-7 vote Thursday, several senators questioned how the bill, if signed into law, would affect the fate of the oyster farm under review. DiPalma responded that there was no conflict, though he acknowledged he had not sought an opinion from State House legal staff.

Expungement expansion

Lawmakers gave approval to a package of bills that would allow more Rhode Islanders to wipe misdemeanor charges from their records. Matching bills by Rep. Carol Hagan McEntee, a South Kingstown Democrat, and Sen. Matthew LaMountain, a Warwick Democrat, let people expunge previous felony convictions for drug crimes.

In 2021, the state reclassified charges of possession of 10 grams or less of hard drugs — such as fentanyl, heroin, cocaine — as two-year misdemeanors. But wiping charges was not part of that change.

The House also approved revised legislation by Rep. Jason Knight, a Barrington Democrat, that lets first-time offenders who were convicted of a single misdemeanor and a single felony expunge records for nonviolent and victimless crimes after 15 years — revised from an initial, 10-year wait as requested by the Rhode Island Office of the Attorney General. While a handful of lawmakers urged more sweeping reforms, proponents said it’s an incremental step to updating a decades-old law barring people with a misdemeanor and felony from getting any misdemeanors expunged from their records. However, the Senate failed to advance Knight’s legislation, effectively killing the bill.

Constitutional convention? Yes, please

The once-in-a-decade question to hold a constitutional convention will be on the Nov. 5 ballot. The convention question typically goes on the ballot in years ending in the number four, but voters have not agreed to hold one since 1986.

Proponents for holding a convention to change Rhode Island’s governing documents say it gives the public a chance to update how the state government operates. Opponents argue a constitutional convention could roll back many of the state’s civil protections.

But senators offered no sign of hesitation before unanimously endorsing a pair of resolutions Thursday sponsored by Sen. Dawn Euer, a Newport Democrat. The resolutions send the convention question on the ballot and set up a 12-member panel to put together a report on potential questions and voter considerations beforehand.

The House passed companion resolutions Monday sponsored by Rep. Robert Craven, a North Kingstown Democrat.

Phones to keep ringing for PediPRN

In January, child wellness advocates were concerned that a psychiatric hotline for kids could get disconnected without finding a stable source of funding. The PediPRN program lets primary care pediatricians consult with psychiatrists for hastier prescribing of psychoactive meds, which can take months to obtain via the usual process of referrals and specialist visits.

Since 2016, the state’s health department has relied on an assortment of funding sources, including federal grants, to keep the program afloat. This year lawmakers found a rainy day fund from which to continue the program: the childhood and adult immunization accounts within the general fund.

On Thursday, the House approved revised legislation that allows the health department to use up to $850,000 from each account to fund PediPRN for fiscal year 2025. The legislation also covers the MomsPRN hotline, a hotline that caters to pregnant mothers or women experiencing postpartum mental health issues.

The revisions were still awaiting a second pass-through from the Senate (as required when bills are amended right before passage) as of 10 p.m.

Coming soon to a store near you: kratom

Kratom — a psychoactive herb that some people use as a replacement or cessation agent for opioids — has been available stateside for years. But it’s never been regulated in Rhode Island beyond an outright ban established in 2017.

Legislation to permit and regulate the sale of kratom passed the House June 6, and the Senate on Thursday. The legislation is meant to protect consumers from unknowingly purchasing kratom that has been cut with other substances. As of February 2024, Rhode Island was one of only six states that assigned Kratom Schedule I status, the most restrictive level of drug regulation.

The Senate votes — 19-14 on the Senate version, then 18-15 on the identical House companion — saw strange bedfellows aligned against the bill: Senate Republicans, progressives and health-conscious lawmakers. Each time, four senators didn’t vote.

Sen. Linda Ujifusa argued there were “no facts or data” surrounding kratom’s safety. The Mayo Clinic isn’t a fan either, and there’s a lack of large-scale research studies on its safety profile. That hasn’t stopped the kratom industry from filling its coffers. Recent estimates value the market at over $1 billion.

This story was updated to include that Rep. Jason Knight’s expungment bill did not reach the Senate floor for a vote.

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