 |
|
4/29/2024
|
Media Advisory: Senate Judiciary Committee to meet twice to consider and hear a variety of bills
|
STATE HOUSE – The Senate Judiciary Committee will meet Tuesday and Thursday this week to vote on bills related to assisted living facilities, legal name changes and the jurisdiction of crimes involving residents of a military base, and to hear a variety of bills relating to the ability to waive a jury trial, affirmative defense for educators and librarians and the rights of tenants.
The committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday, April 30, at the rise of the Senate sometime after 4:30 p.m. in Room 313 on the third floor of the State House to vote on several bills, including:
-
2024-S 2263 — This bill introduced by Senate Judiciary Chairwoman Dawn Euer (D-Dist. 13, Newport, Jamestown) would allow for electronic monitoring of residents’ rooms in nursing homes and assisted living facilities, provided all residents in the room consent in writing. The consent can be withdrawn at any time, and a variety of safeguards exist for protect resident privacy.
-
2024-S 2667 — This bill introduced by Sen. Tiara Mack (D-Dist. 6, Providence) would outline the process for a person petitioning to change their name in the probate court in the town or city where they reside. It also makes the statute regarding name change gender neutral.
-
2024-S 2457 — Also sponsored by Senator Euer, this bill would establish concurrent jurisdiction between the Rhode Island Family Court and the Federal Government for minors who are alleged to have committed a crime while residing on a military base located in Rhode Island.
The committee will also hear several bills, including:
-
2024-S 2098 — This bill introduced by Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio (D-Dist. 4, North Providence, Providence) would require prosecutorial consent in order for a defendant to waive a jury trial.
-
2024-S 2429 — This bill introduced by Sen. Mark P. McKenney (D-Dist. 30, Warwick) would provide an affirmative defense for libraries, schools, museums and their employees against charges of promoting obscene material. It would not remove or alter the existing process for evaluating an item that a member of the public has complained is obscene.
The committee is also scheduled to meet Thursday, May 2, at the rise of the Senate sometime after 4:30 p.m. in Room 313 on the third floor of the State House to hear a variety of bills, including:
-
2024-S 2417 — Also introduced by Senator Mack, this bill would create a tenant bill of rights including the right to counsel, the right to habitability, the right to organize free, the right to be free from discrimination, the right to first refusal if the landlord decides to sell the property and the right to renew a lease.
-
2024-S 2893 — This bill introduced by Sen. Jacob Bissaillon (D-Dist. 1, Providence) would make it a deceptive trade practice for landlords to conspire with each other to set rents or withhold rental dwelling units from the market in order to increase demand.
-
2024-S 2824 — This bill introduced by Sen. Melissa A. Murray (D-Dist. 24, Woonsocket, North Smithfield) at the request of the Department of Housing would require that landlords would pay interest on security deposits.
Written testimony must be submitted to the committee clerk at senatejudiciary@rilegislature.gov prior to 3 p.m. on the day of the meeting in order for it to be provided to the members of the committee at the hearing and to be included in the meeting records.
These meetings will be televised by Capitol Television, which can be seen on Cox channel 61, on i3Broadband channel 15 and on Verizon channel 34. They will be live streamed at capitoltvri.cablecast.tv.
For more information, contact:
Tristan Grau, Publicist
State House Room B20
Providence, RI 02903
401.222.4935
|
|