Releases

The House Democratic Caucus endorsed Majority Leader K. Joseph Shekarchi to serve as the Speaker of the House for the 2021-22 legislative session. The caucus, at a meeting tonight at the Crowne Plaza, elected Deputy Whip Christopher R. Blazejewski to serve as the Majority Leader for the 2021-22 session. The Shekarchi-Blazejewski leadership team received 56…

The House of Representatives passed a resolution (2020-H 8106), sponsored by House Majority Leader K. Joseph Shekarchi, creating a special legislative commission to study and provide recommendations on the status and requirements for Rhode Island’s nursing homes.  “Rhode Island’s nursing homes are facing tremendous challenges.  COVID-19 has placed their residents and workers in potential danger,…

The House today voted to repeal a law that allows employers to pay workers with disabilities below the minimum wage. The legislation (2020-H 7287) to repeal the law, sponsored by House Majority Leader K. Joseph Shekarchi, eliminates a practice that resulted in a federal Department of Justice lawsuit against Rhode Island over the rights of intellectually…

The House has introduced a package of bills aimed at addressing the high price of prescription drugs. The eight bills aim to reduce the cost of prescriptions by providing a pathway to import less-costly drugs from Canada, providing more market transparency, raising consumer awareness around price changes and limiting patients’ share of the costs. “Patients…

House Majority Leader K. Joseph Shekarchi has introduced legislation to require health insurers in Rhode Island to cover the full cost of life-saving epinephrine injectors, commonly known by the brand name, EpiPen. The legislation (2020-H 7265) would address the high cost of the device, which is used to open the airway of severe allergy sufferers…

House Majority Leader K. Joseph Shekarchi has introduced legislation that would have Rhode Island join an interstate compact aimed at finding cures for deadly diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, HIV and diabetes. Known as the “Cure Bill,” the legislation (2020-H 7394) would add Rhode Island to a multistate compact that would offer very large monetary…

A new law sponsored by House Majority Leader K. Joseph Shekarchi will clarify and streamline Rhode Island’s financial regulatory structure for users of blockchain technology. The bill, which was signed by the governor July 15 after passage by the General Assembly in June, takes effect Jan. 1. The legislation (2019-H 5847A) consolidates two licenses that…

The governor has signed into law legislation passed by the General Assembly to better support Rhode Islanders affected by Alzheimer’s disease. The bill was sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Cynthia A. Coyne (D-Dist. 32, Barrington, Bristol, East Providence), who led the Senate’s Special Task Force to Study Elderly Abuse and Financial Exploitation this year.…

The governor has signed into law legislation sponsored by Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio and House Majority Leader K. Joseph Shekarchi to require pension plans managed by religious organizations in Rhode Island to send regular updates on the financial health of the pensions to their plan participants. “This is common-sense legislation that provides members of…

The budget passed by the General Assembly today incorporates legislation introduced earlier in the session by House Majority Leader K. Joseph Shekarchi and Sen. Mark P. McKenney to help the many Rhode Island small business owners who will be hit by higher federal taxes under President Trump’s new tax laws. The proposal will provide a…