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3/7/2014
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House Judiciary Committee to hear abortion, driving bills
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STATE HOUSE – The House Judiciary Committee will meet on Tuesday for hearings on bills concerning abortion, and on Wednesday for hearings on bills involving driving.
On Tuesday, March 11, at the rise of the House session (around 4:30 p.m.) in Room 101 on the first floor of the State House, the committee will hear the following bills concerning abortion:
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2014-H 7222 – This bill sponsored by Rep. Lisa P. Tomasso (D-Dist. 29, Coventry, West Greenwich) would prohibit the state from interfering with certain personal decisions of a woman regarding pregnancy, including her decision to terminate pregnancy prior to fetal viability or at any time if such termination is necessary to protect the life or health.
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2014-H 7223 – This bill sponsored by Rep. J. Patrick O’Neill (D-Dist. 59, Pawtucket) would repeal the requirement that physicians performing abortions notify the husband of the patient before the abortion is performed.
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2014-H 7303 – Sponsored by Rep. Karen L. MacBeth (D-Dist. 52, Cumberland), this bill would require that an ultrasound image be made of every fetus about to be aborted for review by the woman seeking the abortion, and would add language that makes it clear that a woman can refuse an abortion.
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2014-H 7330 – This resolution sponsored by Rep. James N. McLaughlin (D-Dist. 57, Cumberland, Central Falls) would recognize the fetus as a human life upon existence of a heartbeat.
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2014-H 7383 – This bill sponsored by Rep. Deborah A. Fellela (D-Dist. 43, Johnston) would ban abortions solely as a means of sex selection.
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2014-H 7403 – This bill sponsored by Rep. Arthur J. Corvese (D-Dist. 55, North Providence) would prohibit state or federal funds from being used for abortions except where the life of the mother is endangered or the pregnancy results from rape or incest.
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2014-H 7472 – Sponsored by Rep. Linda Finn (D-Dist. 72, Middletown, Portsmouth), this bill would allow the RIte Start Program to pay for abortions necessary to preserve the life of the mother, or in the case of pregnancies as the result of rape or incest.
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2014-H 7779 – Sponsored by Rep. Frank Ferri (D-Dist. 22, Warwick), this bill would repeal the provisions of the general laws that prohibit health insurance coverage for induced abortions for all contracts including those policies covering state and municipal employees.
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2014-H 7837 – This bill sponsored by Rep. Arthur Handy (D-Dist. 18, Cranston) act would provide for freedom of access without interference to entrances of clinics as well as places of religious worship.
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2014-H 7853 – Sponsored by Rep. Teresa Tanzi (D-Dist. 34, South Kingstown, Narragansett) this bill would prohibit the disclosure of records of any client of a pregnancy resource center.
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2014-H 7854 – This bill sponsored by Rep. Peter G. Palumbo (D-Dist. 16, Cranston) would revise the definitions and penalties pertaining to partial-birth abortions, and provide that any physician who knowingly performs a partial-birth abortion would be guilty of a felony and may be liable for civil penalties and fines.
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2014-H 7890 – Sponsored by Rep. Joseph S. Almeida (D-Dist. 12, Providence), this bill requires the general public and medical assistance benefits plan recipients, including rape and incest victims, to have abortions covered.
On Wednesday, March 13, at the rise of the House in Room 205 on the second floor of the State House, the committee will hold hearings on a number of bills concerning driving, including, among others:
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2014-H 7682 – Sponsored by Rep. Raymond E. Gallison Jr. (D-Dist. 69, Bristol, Portsmouth) on behalf of Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin, this bill would allow judges and magistrates the authority, and in some cases require them, to prohibit drivers guilty of certain motor vehicle offenses from operating a motor vehicle that is not equipped with an ignition interlock system.
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2014-H 7329 – This bill sponsored by Rep. John J. Lombardi (D-Dist. 8, Providence) would increase the penalties for driving so as to endanger, death resulting, by increasing the maximum term of imprisonment from 10 years to 20 years, and the maximum term of license suspension from 5 years to 10 years.
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2014-H 7597 – This bill sponsored by Rep. Donald J. Lally Jr. (D-Dist. 33, Narragansett, South Kingstown) This act would require drivers to move a vehicle into a lane that is not the lane nearest a parked or standing piece of highway maintenance equipment.
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2014-H 7461 – This bill sponsored by Rep. Larry Valencia (D-Dist. 39, Richmond, Hopkinton, Exeter) would bar the use of automated license plate reader systems, except for outstanding parking or traffic violations, identifying a vehicle registered to one for whom there is an outstanding warrant, identifying a vehicle associated with a missing person or for electronic toll collection.
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2014-H 7681 – This bill sponsored by Rep. Charlene M. Lima (D-Dist. 14, Cranston, Providence) would make the use of a hand-held mobile phone while driving a commercial motor vehicle a traffic violation.
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2014-H 7761 – This bill sponsored by Rep. Deborah Ruggiero (D-Dist. 74, Jamestown, Middletown) would increase the fines for the use of a cell phone by a minor while driving and for texting while driving.
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2014-H 7498 – This bill sponsored by Representative Lima would add a mandatory requirement that, upon conviction, a device that prevents text messaging and cell phone calls be installed in vehicles belonging to those convicted of texting while driving.
For more information, contact:
Meredyth R. Whitty, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 222-1923
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