STATE HOUSE – The Senate Committee on Environment and Agriculture is scheduled to meet this Wednesday, April 26, at 4 p.m. in the Senate Lounge on the second floor of the State House.  The committee will vote on three bills and hear seven others.

The committee will vote on:

• 2023-S 0770 — This bill, introduced by Sen. Dawn Euer (D-Dist. 13, Newport, Jamestown) and entitled the Environmental Justice Act, would require the Department of Environmental Management (DEM) to create a list of environmental justice areas. Upon adoption of the list of environmental justice areas, the act would establish requirements which would have to be met by an applicant prior to DEM or the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) issuing permits for any activity that would have an environmental impact or would increase the cumulative impacts on an environmental justice area.
• 2023-S 0771 — This bill, introduced by Sen. Robert Britto (D-Dist. 18, East Providence, Pawtucket), would amend the definition of covered project having a total nameplate capacity of three megawatts down to one megawatt for the purposes of labor standards.
• 2023-S 0704 — This bill, introduced by Sen. V. Susan Sosnowski (D-Dist. 37, South Kingstown), would amend the revenue decoupling reconciliation mechanism used by a gas distribution company for the purposes of revenue decoupling to not require that distribution be determined on a revenue-per-customer basis.
   

• 2023-S 0014 — This bill, introduced by Sen. Joshua Miller (D-Dist. 28, Cranston, Providence), would prohibit covered establishments from preparing, selling, processing or providing food or beverages in or on a disposable food service container that is composed in whole or in part of polystyrene foam, commonly known as Styrofoam.
• 2023-S 0196 — This bill, introduced by Sen. Meghan E. Kallman (D-Dist. 15, Pawtucket, Providence) would prohibit the use of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances or “PFAS” in various products including carpets, cookware, cosmetics, ski wax and various other items.
• 2023-S 0200 — This bill, introduced by Sen. Bridget Valverde (D-Dist. 35, North Kingstown, East Greenwich, South Kingstown), would establish the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Program which would require a gradual reduction in the amount of packaging material used for products.