Table Of Content

At the top of our home page, you'll find a link to news, where you'll find news releases about the latest action in the General Assembly. Click on View all Recent Press Releases for a more comprehensive list, or use the search function if you're looking for something particular. Click on Weekly Highlights for a weekly news roundup issued each Friday when the Assembly is in session. For the fourth consecutive year, lawmakers have been saying this will be the year changes will be made to the Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights, which functions as the bible for police disciplinary issues.
How to navigate the Capitol TV website?
Lightning has hit the statue over the decades, with a strike in 1927 causing damage, according to Journal archives. State Director of Administration Jonathan Womer said it is not clear how the platform was damaged, but the gaps do not appear to have been caused by normal aging and were not visible eight months ago. Video from a drone inspecting the upper reaches of the State House revealed two gaps, like slices removed from a cake, in the domed marble platform that the Independent Man stands on. Self-guided audio tours ands self-guided tour brochures are also available at the building entrance and in the State Library. The building served as the United States Capitol exterior in the 1997 film Amistad and the City Hall of Capital City in Disney's Underdog.
Tough decisions coming for RI's budget
Visit the Representatives or Senators pages, which are linked at the top of the home page. On each page is a button that will bring you to a page with contact information for that chamber's members. Those pages also include links to each legislator's page, where you can access their biographical information and photos, as well as links to the legislation they are currently sponsoring and news releases they have issued. You can check Bill Status/History on our Bills & Laws page regularly, or you can use the bill tracker tool on our website. Set up a free account, enter the bill numbers of the legislation you wish to track, and you will receive an email each time there is an update on any bill you are tracking, including when they are posted for upcoming committee hearings or votes in committee or before a chamber.
Breaking News Alerts

There you will find the day's television schedule, including the web channels to use if you want to stream an event live. Below the web channels are links where you can access, on demand, video of past House and Senate sessions, committee and commission meetings, and a variety of special events and programming. Over the course of the 19th century, Providence – geographically positioned to take advantage of an industrializing economy – overtook Newport as Rhode Island’s political, financial and civic center.
As well as presiding over the body, the Speaker is also the chief leadership position, and controls the flow of legislation. Other House leaders, such as the majority and minority leaders, are elected by their respective party caucuses relative to their party's strength in the chamber. Gov. Dan McKee said that during this upcoming repair period the Independent Man statue will be put on public display somewhere, but it is too early to know where. But before workers dropped the statue back on top of the State House – by helicopter – he had a brief public tour, appearing in the State House rotunda and for a while outside the Warwick Mall, where folks could take photos with him. Researchers in the 1970s uncovered McKim's architectural drawings for the State House showing at one point a statue of a female figure holding a stalk on top of the building, but it is unclear if this was ever considered.
Labor shortages, LEOBOR and public records
Working closely with partners across the state, this winter the administration was able to increase seasonal shelter beds by 32 percent over the previous year. While federal funding for these efforts was temporarily increased in the wake of the COVID-19 emergency, the fact remains that this one-time federal funding will not be available in the future, further underscoring the need for a permanent funding stream. It’s an election year, and there’s talk of trying to end the legislative session by June 14, which gives lawmakers about seven weeks to finish their work.
Each commission has a page there for its membership, and there is a link that will provide a list of upcoming commission meetings. Each posted agenda will tell you whether public testimony is being accepted at that particular meeting. If you wish to submit written testimony, each agenda will also provide the address to which you can email your testimony. You can use our site to watch the action live or on-demand through Capitol Television.

In his opening-day speech Tuesday, House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi reminded his troops of what waits ahead as they begin a new election-year session with "most Americans ... still feeling the pinch of inflation." The Lavin family of Narragansett won the raffle and in 2000 donated the head to the University of Rhode Island, where it is now on display. The last time the Independent Man was brought down to earth for repairs, lasting about a year from 1975 to 1976, cracks were also discovered in the marble base. Instead, the board overseeing State House construction commissioned a sculpture symbolizing "freedom" or "sovereignty." But McKim wanted the figure standing with its legs kind of akimbo, so it would be visible from far away.
Capitol TV launches app to live stream video on smartphones, Firestick and ROKU devices - What'sUpNewp
Capitol TV launches app to live stream video on smartphones, Firestick and ROKU devices.
Posted: Wed, 24 Apr 2024 17:28:36 GMT [source]
The issues that will define the rest of Rhode Island’s legislative session
"State employees with the Department of Housing continued to be on site at the encampment last night and transported four individuals to shelter," Matt Sheaff, a spokesman for McKee, said Saturday morning. Lawyers representing encampment residents on Friday had said at that time that four people remained in the tents, which at one point were said to house as many as 50 people. In this building, Rhode Island renounced allegiance to the British Crown on May 4, 1776, the first of the thirteen colonies to do so. The General Assembly, meeting in the Old State House, repealed restrictions on the voting rights of Roman Catholics in 1783; passed the Gradual Emancipation Act in 1784, one of the first such laws in the United States; and was one of the first state legislatures to abolish the death penalty, in 1852. As the Governor has indicated, it is important to identify new recurring funding sources that can help address our housing and homelessness challenges over multiple years – to partner with municipalities, non-profits, and advocacy groups to help fund and carry out this work moving forward. There are several bills in House Speaker Joe Shekarchi’s latest housing package, but the most contentious issue continues to be a proposal to allow homeowners to build an accessory-dwelling unit within the existing footprint of their structures or on any lots larger than 20,000 square feet.
While General Assembly sessions continued to rotate among the five colony houses until 1854, and then alternated between Newport and Providence, by the latter part of the century the Old State House had become Rhode Island’s principal seat of legislative power. The city’s growing primacy, as well as important political developments, influenced the building’s appearance, with renovations and additions designed by some of Rhode Island’s most prominent architects. The Rhode Island State House is the seat of state government, and a magnificent example of American Renaissance architecture. The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State and General Treasurer have their principal offices in the building, and it also holds the legislative chambers for Rhode Island’s General Assembly. Other building highlights include the State Reception Room, the State Library, and the Charter Museum, which houses Rhode Island’s 1663 Royal Charter alongside other historic documents and objects. The State House and Charter Museum are open to the public during regular business hours.
It was not immediately clear whether the lawyers representing the people remaining in the homeless encampment will appeal his rejection of their bid for an injunction. "We need to more carefully review the judge's [oral] decision ... and talk with the clients," said Steven Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island chapter of the ACLU. Back on the House side of the marble divide, Shekarchi named "safe and affordable housing" as a second top priority.
An architectural landmark in Providence’s College Hill Historic District, the Old State House has played a pivotal role in the political life of Rhode Island since the colonial period. It is one of just six surviving colonial-era state houses in America, three of which are in Rhode Island. The building’s historical development reflects Providence’s growing political prominence and the changing nature of Rhode Island’s state government.
If it has been signed into law or enacted without the governor's signature, that will be the final action listed for the bill. Due to the volume of bills passed in the final days of the legislative session, it is not unusual for there to be a lag between when a bill passes the chambers in concurrence and when it is transmitted to the governor for consideration. The General Assembly often forms special legislative commissions to study topics of concern. Those commissions meet publicly, and generally accept relevant public testimony at one or more meetings during that process, and in writing.
But "we'd encourage the state not to take any action against the four people who are remaining, but in light of the judge's decision, they have the right to remove them." On Friday evening, the McKee administration opened a new temporary shelter at the Cranston Street Armory on Providence's West Side. Ruggerio pledged his commitment "to enacting sensible, meaningful reforms' of the law governing police discipline – and an unrelated proposal to double the coverage period for paid leave from the state's Temporary Caregiver Insurance (TCI) from six to 12 weeks. The Speaker is elected by the majority party caucus followed by confirmation of the full House through the passage of a House Resolution.
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