Rhode Island

EDUCATION -- TEACHERS’ TENURE - Allows the dismissal of a teacher after the March 1 deadline if there is gross misconduct by a teacher upon a student. This act would allow the notice to be given at any time and will not have time constraints.

LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- LABOR RELATIONS ACT - Provides for the right to strike for public sector workers in Rhode Island, including teachers, with exceptions for police officers, firefighters, 911 employees, and correctional officers.

EDUCATION -- ESTABLISHMENT OF CHARTER PUBLIC SCHOOLS - Provides educators and administrators employed in a charter public school or mayoral academy with prevailing wage and benefits oversight and recourse if found in violation of the same.

TOWNS AND CITIES -- RETIREMENT OF MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES - Allows any peace officer working in a Rhode Island school as a full or part-time resource officer to work in excess of the 75 working days in a calendar year and not have an interruption in their benefits.

EDUCATION -- REGIONAL VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS - Provides for better communication between sending and receiving districts regarding students receiving CTE or pathways education.

TOWNS AND CITIES -- RETIREMENT OF MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES - Increases the number of days a retired municipal employee could work in a calendar year without interruption of pension benefits to 90 days.

LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- EMPLOYMENT SECURITY -- BENEFITS - Allows unemployment benefits for workers who are on strike or are locked out of their workplaces by their employer due to a labor dispute.

TOWNS AND CITIES -- LOW AND MODERATE INCOME HOUSING -- TIVERTON - Prohibits applications filed in the town of Tiverton, for comprehensive permit projects, for low- and moderate-income housing, to include accessory dwelling units.

TOWNS AND CITIES -- TIVERTON'S NEW CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS ACT - Sets timelines for Tiverton's new construction, including one year for final approval, two (2) years for building permits, and temporary inclusion of units in the town's count until completion or three (3) years, whichever comes first.

EDUCATION -- THE SUPPORT AND ACCESS TO BILINGUAL EDUCATION ACT - Appropriates nine hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($950,000) to establish a bilingual education support fund within the department of elementary and secondary education and provides for implementation of support and access to bilingual education.

HEALTH AND SAFETY -- DETERMINATION OF NEED FOR NEW HEALTHCARE EQUIPMENT AND NEW INSTITUTIONAL HEALTH SERVICES - Limits the application fees paid under the certificate of need program within the department of health to twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000

THE BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF RHODE ISLAND -- 2026 BOND REFERENDA - Proposes a bond measure to authorize the State of Rhode Island to issue up to $36,000,000 in bonds, subject to voter approval, to support the Boys and Girls Clubs.

PUBLIC OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES -- RETIREMENT SYSTEM -- CONTRIBUTIONS AND BENEFITS - Adds the administrator of community confinement and the home confinement coordinator to the state retirement system.

HEALTH AND SAFETY -- LEAD POISONING PREVENTION ACT - Amends current law so that private side lead service replacement costs, financed by the water supplier's customers that may be eligible for reimbursement from the state, would no longer be subject to appropriation by the general assembly.

TOWNS AND CITIES -- LOW AND MODERATE INCOME HOUSING - Permits the town of Tiverton to require additional testing, to be performed by and at the expense of the developer, to ensure that there is no dewatering or loss of effective recharge to surrounding wells within close proximity of the new construction.

TOWNS AND CITIES -- STATE AID - Includes municipal detention facility corporations as exempt from taxation, and requires that an amount equal to 27% of all tax that would have been collected if the property was taxable be paid to the municipality annually.

TAXATION -- EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP TAX CREDIT - Establishes a tax credit for businesses transitioning to employee ownership.

CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- BURGLARY AND BREAKING AND ENTERING - Adds a rebuttable defense if any person shall die or sustain a personal injury while committing robbery of the owner, lessor, or occupant of a motor vehicle and that the owner or occupant of the vehicle acted in self-defense.