When the Rhode Island General Assembly adjourned its 2026 session on June 11, it left behind a body of law that will reach into courtrooms, grocery aisles, school budgets, apartment lots, and the civil claims of people abused as children decades ago. Governor Daniel McKee, a Democrat facing reelection, signed most of it over the following two weeks — including several measures that reversed his own budget proposals.
The most immediate change is already live. On July 1, a two-year revival window opened for survivors of child sexual abuse whose claims had expired under prior deadlines. The law, sponsored by Sen. Mark McKenney and passed by the Senate on June 3 in a 37-0 vote, lets those survivors sue institutions and supervisors accused of enabling or concealing abuse. The window closes June 30, 2028; once it does, previously expired claims may be barred again, potentially for good. The measure followed a 284-page report released in March 2026 by Attorney General Peter Neronha documenting more than 300 survivors of abuse within the Diocese of Providence and identifying 75 clergy members with credible allegations dating to 1950.
Jobs, checkouts, and criminal records
Rhode Island became the first state in the country to cap grocery self-checkouts. The law (2026-S 2342B, 2026-H 7290A) requires one staffed checkout for every three self-checkout stations in operation, mandates at least one self-checkout meeting federal accessibility standards, and bars workers monitoring the machines from being assigned other duties. It exempts hours before 8 a.m. and after 8 p.m. and periods of declared emergency. "Today, we're protecting jobs and strengthening customer service," McKee said at a Providence signing. The rules take effect January 1, 2027, with fines of up to $500 a day for violations.
Local sponsorWorld-class website design at a small business priceCompany 50For Rhode Islanders carrying old convictions, the door to expungement widened. A bill McKee signed June 22 lets people with up to four nonviolent felony convictions petition to clear their records 15 years after completing their final sentence. Convictions for driving under the influence, elder abuse, and child endangerment remain ineligible.
Housing, transit, and courthouses
A housing measure sponsored by Rep. Joshua Giraldo, a Central Falls Democrat, caps how much parking cities and towns can require for multifamily developments near public transit — a cost reduction supporters argue will spur construction in a state that has ranked last for new housing starts. The revised fiscal 2027 budget, released by the House Finance Committee late on June 10, redirected roughly $15 million to the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority, including $4.2 million above what McKee had proposed, closing a projected operating deficit that had threatened service cuts.
Lawmakers voted mostly along party lines on the session's final night to pass the Protect Our Courts Act, sponsored by Sen. Meghan E. Kallman and Rep. José F. Batista. The law bars U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from entering state courthouses without a judicial warrant and from coming within 200 feet of polling places. It was filed in direct response to incidents in Providence, including a January 15 episode in which agents ran through the first floor of the Garrahy Judicial Complex.
Schools and the environment
On June 18, McKee signed identical bills — S 2787 and H7415 — imposing a moratorium on new and expanded district charter schools through the 2028-2029 school year and cutting the statewide charter cap from 35 to 28. The reversal is notable: McKee built his political brand championing mayoral academies as Cumberland's mayor and, in 2021, suggested he would veto similar legislation. House Education Committee Chair Joseph McNamara backed the bill, arguing charters were drawing too much money from traditional public schools under an inadequate funding formula. A separate 16-member commission will study that formula for the first time in more than a decade.
The budget also revived clean energy programs McKee had moved to gut. His fiscal 2027 proposal sought to cap energy efficiency spending and delay renewable electricity deadlines, offered as relief against some of the highest utility bills in the country. The Democratic-controlled House and Senate stripped those cuts out. A one-year moratorium on new sewage sludge processing facilities and a 21-member commission, sponsored by Rep. Terri Cortvriend of Portsmouth, will study biosolids disposal and report by April 1, 2027 — a response to a proposed facility in North Kingstown.
Not everything survived. The Building Benchmarking Act passed both chambers before McKee vetoed it, and climate superfund legislation never advanced.