Monday, April 26, 2021

9am Revenue & Caseload Estimating Conference scheduled

Twice yearly, in the spring and the fall, the conference principals (the State Budget Officer, Senate Fiscal Advisor and House Fiscal Advisor) must reach a consensus on what the state general revenues and caseload expenses are estimated to be for the current fiscal year and the budget year. The General Assembly and the State Budget Office use these projections to prepare the budget. The principals include State Budget Officer Jonathan Womer; House Fiscal Advisor Sharon Reynolds Ferland; and Senate Fiscal Advisor Stephen H. Whitney.

The meeting schedule of the spring estimating conference is:

Testimony

• Cash assistance and medical caseloads – Department of Human Services and Executive Office of Health and Human Services

3pm Senate Committee on Finance

SCHEDULED FOR HEARING

• H6122 (Governor) by Abney ENTITLED, AN ACT MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE SUPPORT OF THE STATE FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2022
• Executive Office of Health and Human Services: FY2021 Supplemental and
  • FY2022 Budgets
  • Article 6, Section 5: Hospital License Fee
  • Article 12: Medical Assistance
  • Article 14: Hospital Uncompensated Care
  • Article 15, Sections 9-10: RIte Share

SCHEDULED FOR HEARING AND/OR CONSIDERATION

• S0101 by Calkin, Anderson, Mack, Mendes, Bell, Quezada ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO HUMAN SERVICES – HEALTH CARE FOR FAMILIES (Creates the “Medicaid Employer Assessment.”)
• S0576 by Cano, DiMario, Quezada, Calkin, Anderson, Goldin, Murray, Miller, Euer, DiPalma ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT – HEALTH CARE FOR CHILDREN AND PREGNANT WOMEN (Expands the Rite Track Program to provide health care coverage to children up to age nineteen (19) funded by federal funds, if available, or if not available, by state funds.)
• S0706 by Ruggerio, McCaffrey ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO TAXATION – PROPERTY SUBJECT TO TAXATION – EXEMPTIONS (Includes the real and tangible personal property of St. John Baptist De La Salle Institute, d/b/a La Salle Academy, a Rhode Island domestic nonprofit corporation, located in Providence, Rhode Island, on the list of properties exempt from taxation.)

3pm Senate Committee on Judiciary

SCHEDULED FOR HEARING AND/OR CONSIDERATION

• S0126 by Kallman, Ciccone, DiMario, Valverde, Mack, Cano, Coyne ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY – ANATOMICAL GIFTS (Require that all applicants for driver’s licenses and registry-issued identification cards automatically become organ donors unless they execute a declination card.)
• S0246 by Acosta, Miller, Mack, Calkin, Quezada, Kallman, Bell, Valverde, Mendes ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY – NONDISCRIMINATION IN ACCESS TO ANATOMICAL GIFTS AND ORGAN TRANSPLANT ACT (ISAAC’S LAW) (Prohibits discrimination against a potential organ transplant recipient based solely on a physical or mental disability.)
• S0267 by Valverde, Cano, Goldin, Mack, Sosnowski, Euer, Acosta, Kallman, Coyne, Pearson ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT – EQUALITY IN ABORTION COVERAGE (Provides for abortion coverage in the Medicaid program and repeal the abortion coverage exclusion for state employee insurance plans.)
• S0645 by de la Cruz, Morgan, Raptakis, Lombardo ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY – YEARLY INSPECTIONS OF HEALTH CARE FACILITIES (Requires health care facilities that perform abortions to meet the license requirements of similar health care facilities and allows the department of health to conduct unannounced inspections.)
• S0664 by Morgan, de la Cruz ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY – BORN-ALIVE INFANT PROTECTION ACT (Enacts the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act and provides for the duties and obligations of medical personnel in certain circumstances.)
• S0669 by de la Cruz, Morgan, Lombardo ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY – RHODE ISLAND PAIN-CAPABLE UNBORN CHILD PROTECTION ACT (Creates the Rhode Island Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, prohibiting the performance or induction of an abortion of an unborn child capable of feeling pain, unless necessary to prevent serious health risk to the unborn child’s mother.)
• S0775 by Miller, Goldin, Calkin, Kallman ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY – LILA MANFIELD SAPINSLEY COMPASSIONATE CARE ACT (Establishes detailed steps and safeguards to create the Lila Manfield Sapinsley Compassionate Care Act, to provide a legal mechanism whereby a terminally ill patient may choose to end their life using drugs prescribed by a physician.)
• H6137 by Kazarian, Alzate, Kislak, Casimiro, S Lima, Slater, Solomon, C Lima, Giraldo, Morales ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO SOLEMNIZATION OF MARRIAGES (Allows Christina Marie Tucciarone to join the Honorable Leonela Felix and Gregory Donald Kowalski in marriage on or about June 12, 2021, within the City of Pawtucket, Rhode Island.)
• H6138 by Solomon ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO SOLEMNIZATION OF MARRIAGES (Allows the Honorable Richard W. Dyer to join Elizabeth M. King and Dylan D. Smith in marriage on or about July 2, 2021, within the City of Newport, Rhode Island.)
• H6158 by Shekarchi, Abney ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO SOLEMNIZATION OF MARRIAGES (Allows the Honorable Marvin Abney to join Sydney Amado and Mandla Tuthill in marriage on or about June 4, 2021, with the City of Providence, Rhode Island.)
• H6176 by Potter ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO SOLEMNIZATION OF MARRIAGES (Allows Connor Lynch to join Meghan Lynn Palmer and John Joseph Falvey, IV, in marriage on or about June 5, 2021, within the City of Woonsocket, Rhode Island.)
• H6177 by Ackerman ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO SOLEMNIZATION OF MARRIAGES (Allows James F. Queenan, Jr., Esq., to join Mary Cheryl Queenan and Richard Earl Downes, Jr., in marriage on or about June 10, 2021, within the Town of South Kingstown, Rhode Island.)
• H6178 by Shekarchi, Blazejewski, Carson, Cortvriend, Barros, Hawkins ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO SOLEMNIZATION OF MARRIAGES (Allows the Honorable Marvin Abney to join Tess Abney and Derek Dunlea in marriage on or about July 26, 2021, within the Town of Tiverton, Rhode Island.)

4pm House Committee on Special Legislation

SCHEDULED FOR CONSIDERATION

• H6191 by Solomon, Vella-Wilkinson, Casimiro, Shekarchi, Bennett, McNamara ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO GENERAL ASSEMBLY – PERMANENT JOINT COMMITTEE ON NAMING ALL NEW BUILDINGS, BRIDGES, EDIFICES AND OTHER STATE CONSTRUCTIONS (Names the fishing pier at Rocky Point state park in Warwick after the former department of environmental management deputy director, Larry Mouradjian.)

SCHEDULED FOR HEARING AND/OR CONSIDERATION

• H6220 by Quattrocchi ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO SOLEMNIZATION OF MARRIAGES (Allows Gary Bucci to join Jennifer Heng and Griffin Pharr in marriage on or about June 19, 2021, within the City of Newport, Rhode Island.)
• H6221 by Quattrocchi ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO SOLEMNIZATION OF MARRIAGES (Allows Gary Bucci to join Taylor Dryden and Joseph Murray in marriage on or about December 11, 2021, within the City of Newport, Rhode Island.)
• H6242 by Kazarian ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO SOLEMNIZATION OF MARRIAGES (Allows David Klepper to join Brenna McCabe and Christopher Raia in marriage on or about July 17, 2021, within the City of Newport, Rhode Island.)
• S0659 by Cano, Kallman ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO SOLEMNIZATION OF MARRIAGES (Allows Christina Marie Tucciarone to join the Honorable Leonela Felix and Gregory Donald Kowalski in marriage on or about June 12, 2021, within the City of Pawtucket, Rhode Island.)
• S0661 by Coyne ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO SOLEMNIZATION OF MARRIAGES (Allows the Honorable Roger A. Picard to join Kimberly D. Pelland and Blake S. Morphis in marriage on or about May 22, 2021, within the City of Newport, Rhode Island.)
• S0720 by Sosnowski ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO SOLEMNIZATION OF MARRIAGES (Allows Everett Petronio, Jr., to join Bethany Josephine Coia and Mark Peter DeFanti in marriage on or about October 23, 2021, within the Town of Narragansett, Rhode Island.)
• S0721 by Sosnowski ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO SOLEMNIZATION OF MARRIAGES (Allows Fiona Fitzpatrick to join Jane Elizabeth Stanley and David Ethan Swee in marriage on or about May 25, 2021, within the Town of New Shoreham, Rhode Island.)

4pm House Committee on State Government & Elections

SCHEDULED FOR CONSIDERATION

• H5943 (Board of Elections) by Corvese ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTIONS – MAIL BALLOTS (Repeal is to follow the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and to account for permitting voters to cast provisional ballots at the polling place.)
• H5999 (Board of Elections) by Vella-Wilkinson ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTIONS – WRITE-IN VOTES (Requires all write in candidates to file prior to election a declaration of intent to run for office with the secretary of state. Finally it would require the board of elections to report all votes received by declared write in candidates.)
• H6095 (Judiciary) by Felix, Williams, Henries, Alzate, Potter, Tanzi, Baginski, Barros, Diaz, Morales ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE – SUPREME COURT – COURTS (Removes all references to “and Providence Plantations” in statutes relating to the judiciary, in accordance with the constitutional amendment approved by the voters on November 3, 2020.)

SCHEDULED FOR HEARING AND/OR CONSIDERATION

• H6240 by S Lima, Casey ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO MOTOR AND OTHER VEHICLES – DEFINITIONS AND GENERAL CODE PROVISIONS (Allows motorized campers trailers to qualify as an antique motor vehicle and display an “antique plate”.)
• H6241 (Secretary of State) by S Lima, Casey ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT {LC2485/1} (Allows the continuance of the remote notarization following the expiration of the executive emergency order currently in effect and requires a certificate of any notarial act.)
• H6252 by Ruggiero, Azzinaro, Abney, Carson, Speakman, Cortvriend, Knight, McEntee ENTITLED, HOUSE RESOLUTION CREATING SPECIAL HOUSE LEGISLATIVE COMMISSION TO STUDY THE EFFECTS AND PROCEDURES FOR THE REORGANIZATION OF THE RHODE ISLAND COASTAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT COUNCIL (CRMC) (Creates a 15 member commission to study the effects and procedures for the reorganization of the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council, and who would report back to the General Assembly by April 1, 2022, and expire on May 15, 2022.)
• H6253 by McGaw, McNamara, Donovan, Cortvriend, Potter, Cassar, Carson, Speakman, Ackerman ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO MOTOR AND OTHER VEHICLES – PARKING FACILITIES AND PRIVILEGES (Requires parking lots to designate parking spaces for electric vehicles/installation of charging stations for new existing public/private parking lots with fines for parking violations/compliance. Effective 7/1/21.)
• H6254 by Casimiro, Vella-Wilkinson, Noret ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT – STANDARDS OF CONDUCT FOR NOTARIES PUBLIC (Codifies in the general laws the standards of conduct for notaries public in the state of Rhode Island by the secretary of state which came into effect on April 3, 2020. Takes effect on July 1, 2021; sunsets and expires on July 1, 2023.)