Adds "providing for residential development in all or some of the areas encompassing commercial districts" as a purpose a zoning ordinance must address.
Amends the administration requirements a zoning ordinance must provide and/or designate and would require that zoning certificates be issued within 20 days of the written request.
Authorizes the establishment of a Rhode Island housing champion designation program and makes qualified municipalities eligible to receive preferential access to state resources, including discretionary state infrastructure funds, as available.
Maddy summaryThis bill makes technical updates to how Rhode Island towns and cities manage local planning boards and commissions. It requires board members to complete floodplain and sea-level rise training every two years, limits annual amendments to comprehensive plans to four, and clarifies procedures for reviewing land development projects and filing public access requests. These changes directly affect municipal planning boards across the state by defining their duties for preparing community plans, handling zoning matters, and coordinating with other agencies. The bill streamlines processes for plan adoption, public input, and board operations without altering land use regulations or development standards.
Prohibits utility companies from limiting the eligibility of a net metering site based on prior consumption and requires excess energy not consumed under the net metering system to be credited to the consumer.
Repeals the required HIV testing for an individual convicted under chapter 34.1 of title 11 and allows the option for HIV testing for any person convicted under this chapter.
Maddy summaryHB 5235 caps interest rates on medical debt owed to healthcare providers. It limits interest to the weekly average one-year Treasury yield (with a minimum of 1.5% and maximum of 4% annually), as reported by the Federal Reserve. This applies only to new medical debt incurred after the bill takes effect, directly affecting consumers with unpaid medical bills. The law aims to prevent excessive interest charges on healthcare costs without altering existing debt.
Requires that every institution of higher education provide training in the administration of opioid antagonists to every staff member on the institution's campus.
Ensures that RI DOH is able to access the full calendar year worth of housing choice voucher data by moving the report submission deadline to align with availability of federal data.
Maddy summaryHB 5357 repeals a provision that required women in the community corrections program for women offenders to pay additional fees for prostitution-related offenses. Specifically, it removes mandatory assessments of $500 for felony convictions or $350 for misdemeanor convictions, which were previously added to court fines. This change directly affects women sentenced to community correctional programs under the program’s eligibility criteria (those sentenced to two years or less or awaiting trial in women’s correctional facilities). The bill eliminates these financial penalties, ensuring women in the program are no longer subject to these extra costs. The bill became law after being signed by the governor on June 24, 2025.
