Legislative Watch
Issues on the horizon in the RI General Assembly.
Our organization’s activities in government relations provide a significant service to CIRI members and the construction industry at large. During the 2019 General Assembly sessions, CIRI’s efforts have again included monitoring of all bills submitted to the General Assembly – along with active advocacy to make our views known on issues of importance.
Here are the proposed bills in the House and Senate the CIRI Legislative Committee has identified as significant to our industry — which warrant active support or opposition by our membership:
| Supporting |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Excavation near underground utility facilities | Requires any public utility or its contractor to reimburse an excavator for lost-time expense incurred, including manpower and equipment, from the utilities’ incorrect marking of underground utilities. | H 5692 | S 0539 |
| Opposing |
|||
| RI global warming solutions act | Establishes the Rhode Island global warming solutions act to reduce carbon emissions across various sectors of the local economy. | H 5444 | |
| Notice requirements for explosives | Expands the notice requirements relating to the use of explosives by requiring two (2) weeks’ notice of blasting to the municipality and to owners of structures within five hundred feet (500′) of the mutual property line. | H 5642 | |
| Subcontractor/DBE payments for state contracts | Helps expedite the payments made to subcontractors for work they perform on state contracts. It would also establish a new process to help minority business enterprises collect for their work on state contracts from their prime contractors. | H 5877 | |
| Direct payments to public works contractors | Public works project subcontractors may seek payment directly from awarding authority. | S 0616 | |
| Restoration requirements for altered roadways | Requires that any altered roadway be restored to the same or better condition than that which existed prior to the alteration. | H 5392 | |
| RIDOT use of steel plates: rules, regulations & requirements | Requires DOT to establish rules, regulations, and minimum requirements for the use of steel plates on roadway surfaces, and for towns and cities to adopt adopt the same for use on municipal highways. | H 5465 | |
