Rhode Island Legislature Highlights Accomplishments for the 2025 Session

This year at the General Assembly – from the RI State House:

Here are the highlights from news and events that took place in the General Assembly this year. For more information on any of these items visit http://www.rilegislature.gov/pressrelease

HEALTH CARE

• The state budget bolsters primary care by putting more than $40 million — $15 million in state funding, the rest from federal sources — toward Medicaid rate increases for primary care providers. The budget also provides that a primary care rate review be completed by September 1, 2026.
• The General Assembly created a three-year pilot program prohibiting insurers from requiring prior authorization for medically necessary health care services ordered by patients’ primary care providers.
• The General Assembly helped patients get their prescriptions expeditiously in situations when their prescriber can’t be reached, or when their insurers want to substitute equivalent drugs or devices.
• The state budget added $38 million over the governor’s proposal for hospital reimbursement rates and direct support payments.
• The budget added $12 million above the governor’s proposal to increase reimbursement rates at nursing homes as part of its revision to the safe staffing law.

HOUSING

• The state budget increased support for programs to help Rhode Islanders experiencing homelessness, and provided dedicated on-going resources, for a total of $8.5 million.
• Legislators made various improvements to Rhode Island’s Low and Moderate Income Housing Act to encourage the construction of homes working families can afford.
• The General Assembly required municipalities to provide for village or mixed-use zoning to allow residential use in some or all areas of commercial zoning districts.

PUBLIC SAFETY

• The General Assembly banned the sale of certain military-style weapons in Rhode Island.
• Lawmakers established a “PURPLE Alert” system to help quickly find missing adults with serious disabilities whose health and safety is at risk.
• The General Assembly aided law enforcement in solving gun-related crimes by taking advantage of a national ballistics analysis database.

LABOR

• The General Assembly increased Rhode Island’s minimum wage from $15 to $17 over a two-year period.
• The state legislature expanded the wage replacement rate provided through the Temporary Disability Insurance, or TDI, and the Temporary Caregiver Insurance, or TCI, programs, and expanded TCI so that siblings qualify as caregivers.
• Legislators included casinos in the state’s law prohibiting smoking in workplaces.

CONSUMER PROTECTION

• The legislature repealed the law that allows payday lending to operate in Rhode Island.
• The General Assembly protected Rhode Islanders from a rapidly growing category of scams that use cryptocurrency ATMs to defraud victims.
• The General Assembly prohibited an unfair real estate practice that is often targeted at older homeowners, sometimes resulting in a lien against their property or other problems.

GOVERNMENT

• The General Assembly adopted the Anti-Bid Rigging Act to bring fairness to Rhode Island’s bidding process for entities that contract with the state.
• The General Assembly required nonprofit organizations to disclose their top salaries before receiving grants or funding from the General Assembly.
• The General Assembly named the Rhode Island Senate chamber in memory of the late Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio.

EDUCATION

• Lawmakers required every school in Rhode Island to have a policy on the use of personal electronics that prohibits students from having access to them during the school day.
• The state budget added $16.5 million in education aid to the governor’s proposal to cover data updates and some increased allocation through special education categorical funding, for a total of $59 million above the current year’s level for education aid.
• The General Assembly made federally mandated school 504 plans part of state law. A 504 plan is a formal plan for how a school will remove barriers so a student with a disability can learn alongside peers in general education.

SOCIAL PROTECTIONS

• Lawmakers passed the Freedom to Read Act protecting libraries and their patrons from partisan or doctrinal book-banning efforts and affirm the free speech rights of authors, publishers and readers in Rhode Island.
• The General Assembly prohibited discrimination on the basis of race by expanding the definition to include traits historically associated with race, such as hair texture and protective hairstyles.
• The General Assembly required universal changing stations in new public buildings.

TRANSPORTATION

• The state budget dedicated a 2-cents-per-gallon increase to the gasoline tax and additional allocations of other transportation revenues, which is expected to provide about $15 million to the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority, to help RIPTA with its budget with its budget shortfall.
• The legislators provided an additional $22 million in the budget from Rhode Island Capital Plan funds for the updated state match needed based on the increased costs for the replacement of the westbound span of the Washington Bridge.  The contract was awarded in June, with construction starting in July.
• The General Assembly implemented a 30-day waiting period following the issuance of a learner’s permit before taking a road test in order to obtain a full license for anyone over the age of 18.

ENVIRONMENT

• The legislature professionalized the composition of the Coastal Resources Management Council by reducing the council’s composition from 10 members to seven who possess background, qualifications and expertise in environmental matters.
• The General Assembly revived a state board that brings together leaders in land conservation, construction and affordable housing to promote sustainable housing growth throughout Rhode Island.
• Lawmakers required anyone applying for a permit to spread biosolids on land to first test the material for PFAS — per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

BUSINESS/ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

• The General Assembly allowed public utilities to purchase clean, safe nuclear power, at a competitive cost from out-of-state facilities.
• The General Assembly lifted a restriction on the investments of insurance corporations to enable them to grow in Rhode Island.
• Lawmakers enabled the Matunuck Oyster Bar to operate outdoors this summer on a temporary basis due to a fire that destroyed the facility.

MUNICIPAL

• Funding for distressed communities was raised by $2.5 million over the governor’s proposal.
• An increase in the general real estate conveyance tax includes monies directed to municipalities.
• The budget fully funded library aid and the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) program.

VETERANS and MILITARY

• Legislators protected veterans filing for disability benefits with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
• Lawmakers waived the fee for vehicle identification number (VIN) inspections for veterans and active-duty military personnel.
• The General Assembly gave Rhode Island Family Court concurrent jurisdiction on juvenile cases arising on military bases and installations located in Rhode Island.

ANIMAL PROTECTION

• Rhode Island joined the many places that prohibit the declawing of cats under legislation approved by the General Assembly.
• The General Assembly codified standards for the pet insurance industry.
• The legislature stiffened the penalties for animal abuse, particularly the practice of holding animal fights.

Photo: RI State House: Pamela Bhatia