Sen. Dawn Euer

Maddy summaryThis Senate resolution formally welcomes Boys Town New England to the Rhode Island State House on May 23, 2024, and thanks the organization for its work supporting children and families. The bill recognizes the organization's history and current services, which include residential care, foster care initiatives, and community-based programs that have helped over 20,000 individuals in the past year. It also highlights the organization's high financial rating from Charity Navigator and its behavioral intervention model aimed at helping students succeed. The resolution directs the Secretary of State to send a certified copy to the organization's president and executive director.

Maddy summaryThis bill directs the Department of Administration to create an online portal that tracks the number of funded full-time equivalent positions in the Departments of Children, Youth and Families and Human Services. The portal will display data broken down by specific job titles, such as social caseworkers and clinical social workers, showing how many positions are budgeted versus how many are currently filled. It requires the site to be updated monthly with side-by-side comparisons of budget proposals and finalized figures to allow for easy tracking of staffing changes over time.

Maddy summaryThis bill removes a current exemption that allows certain nursing service agencies accredited by the Joint Commission to operate without state licensure. Under the new rules, these agencies, which currently provide temporary staff to hospitals, will be required to obtain a state license like other nursing services. The change applies specifically to organizations that were previously able to bypass state regulation by maintaining accreditation from the Joint Commission or another entity approved by the state director.

Creates new definition for the term "employee", for purposes of wages, workers' compensation, temporary disability and unemployment insurance benefits, which deems a worker to be an employee, as opposed to an independent contractor.

Maddy summarySB 2328 grants the town of Jamestown the authority to offer property tax reductions to two specific groups: parents whose children died in military service and individuals who are legally blind. Under this bill, Jamestown can provide a tax dollar reduction of up to $5,000 for gold star parents and a separate credit for visually impaired residents, provided the town adopts an ordinance to do so. The legislation also updates statewide tax exemption rules for these groups in other municipalities, allowing various towns to set their own specific reduction amounts or credits. This change does not automatically apply the benefits but gives Jamestown the legal option to create a local program for these residents.

Maddy summaryThis bill prevents health insurance plans from requiring approval reviews for prescriptions used to treat alcohol or opioid use disorders. It specifically protects medications containing methadone, buprenorphine, or naltrexone, as well as drugs approved for opioid withdrawal, from being subjected to prospective or concurrent utilization reviews. The law applies to all health benefit plans issued or renewed after the bill becomes effective and also mandates that Medicaid managed care organizations follow specific state criteria for these determinations. By removing these review barriers, the legislation aims to streamline access to addiction treatment medications for covered individuals.

Directs the department of transportation to prepare a monthly "Washington Bridge snapshot report" containing information on the progress of repairs and other actions pertaining to the Washington Bridge.

Requires every individual or group health insurance contract effective on or after January 1, 2025, to provide coverage to the insured and the insured's spouse and dependents for all FDA-approved contraceptive drugs, devices and other products.

Requires executive climate change coordinating council (EC4) to develop a template to be used by all agencies of the state to track their climate emissions to uphold the pathway to Rhode Island's act on climate legislative goals.

Maddy summaryThis bill authorizes the city of Newport to collect a 9% amusement tax on tickets for specific events held within its borders. The tax applies only to events selling more than 100,000 tickets in the previous year and excludes movie theaters and smaller gatherings. Collected funds must be used exclusively for public infrastructure and public safety projects. The city council will be responsible for creating the necessary rules to implement this new tax.