Rhode Island

STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- THE OFFICE OF THE ELDER ADVOCATE - Establishes the office of the elder advocate to promote the rights of older adults in Rhode Island.

HEALTH AND SAFETY -- LICENSING OF HEALTHCARE FACILITIES - Requires approval by the Rhode Island commission the deaf and hard of hearing before any reduction in American Sign Language interpreter services in hospitals and other public service facilities.

HEALTH AND SAFETY -- ELECTRONIC MONITORING IN NURSING AND ASSISTED LIVING FACILITIES - Requires a nursing and assisted living facility to allow its residents to connect their electronic monitoring devices to its internet service without incurring any extra cost or charges.

HEALTH AND SAFETY -- PUBLIC HEALTH DATA PRIVACY AND PROTECTION ACT - Creates the public health data privacy and protection act to regulate the reporting of information relating to reportable disease data in the possession of the department of health.

CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- TRESPASS AND VANDALISM - Defines squatter as a person occupying a dwelling unit who is not authorized by the property owner, landlord or tenant to occupy the unit and provides remedies for property owner including police assistance to remove a squatter.

LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- MINIMUM WAGES -- OVERTIME - Requires small employers with one to fifty (1-50) employees and large employers with fifty (50) or more employees to pay overtime wages to exempt workers if their salary exceeds varying multipliers of minimum wage for a forty (40) hour workweek.

PUBLIC PROPERTY AND WORKS -- LABOR AND PAYMENT OF DEBTS BY CONTRACTORS - Amends the definition of public works so that it would include any public works projects performed for any city or town or quasi-municipal entity and the state and any quasi-state entity.

LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- PAYMENT OF WAGES - Requires the employer, at the time of hiring, to furnish to their employees an itemized list of the terms and conditions of the employment and mandates that each payday a pay stub explaining how their wages were calculated is provided.

PROPERTY -- FAIR CHANCE IN HOUSING CREDIT REPORTS ACT - Establishes the fair chance in housing credit reports act to provide standards for which a credit report can be used in considering a rental application.

HOLIDAYS AND DAYS OF SPECIAL OBSERVANCE -- WORK ON HOLIDAYS AND SUNDAYS - Excludes from the definition of an "employee" any individual employed in catering, commissary, or food establishment, for purposes of the provisions requiring payment of wages at one and one-half normal rate of pay for work on holidays and Sundays.

LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- PAYMENT OF WAGES - Makes construction contractors civilly liable and/or jointly civilly liable for any claims of wage theft or nonpayment from an employee against the contractor, its subcontractors and any subcontractor.

LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- MINIMUM WAGES - Sets the minimum wage for 2027 at twenty dollars ($20) per hour.

PROPERTY -- RESIDENTIAL LANDLORD AND TENANT ACT - Allows a tenant to pay an increased security deposit in monthly increments over the course of a twelve (12) month period.

PROPERTY -- RESIDENTIAL LANDLORD AND TENANT ACT - Permits a tenant, at the tenant’s expense, to implement energy conservation measures to any dwelling or dwelling unit such as removable weather-stripping around doors and windows.

PROPERTY -- RESIDENTIAL LANDLORD AND TENANT ACT - Prohibits the use of algorithmic pricing by landlords to determine the amount of rent to charge a residential tenant.

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.

LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- MINIMUM WAGES - Increases the minimum hourly wage commencing January 1, 2029, by an amount equal to the total percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the Northeast Region for the calendar year 2027.

PROPERTY -- RHODE ISLAND FAIR HOUSING PRACTICES ACT - Prohibits landlords from inquiring about an applicant's prior incarceration and from discriminating against those who have been released from prison.

CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- GAMBLING AND LOTTERIES - Allows nonprofit organizations to participate in permitted games of chance upon registering with the state police on an annual basis. The nonprofit would be exempt from any required background checks by local law enforcement.

CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- NON-CHARITABLE BINGO - Creates a new chapter to provide for non-charitable bingo by the state lottery division.

PROPERTY -- RESIDENTIAL LANDLORD AND TENANT ACT - Limits rent increases to 4% annually, but allows an additional increase for taxes, insurance, or health and safety costs if the landlord gets an exemption from the secretary of housing, and provides tenants civil remedies for violations.

LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- MINIMUM WAGES -- HEALTHCARE WORKER OVERTIME PAY - Requires all health care workers who are employed on any Sunday or holiday, to be compensated at the rate of time and one-half.

PROPERTY -- RESIDENTIAL LANDLORD AND TENANT ACT - Provides for the sealing of eviction records under certain circumstances.