This week, five bills with potential food system impacts were introduced in the General Assembly. The majority of the legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives. A brief description of all new bills is below (a full description of the bills is available in the bill tracker.)
Only two committee meetings are scheduled for the coming week, and neither one will include bills currently being tracked.
- HB5251 – requires all public high school students to participate in a nutrition, food preparation and cooking course annually. (Rep. Sanchez)
- HB5250 – limits multipurpose commercial fishing licenses to Rhode Island residents only, unless no resident has applied, and restricts the number of new licenses to the number of surrendered or retired licenses from the previous year. (Rep. McEntee)
- HB5232 – allows manufacturer-wineries to sell three 5oz glasses of wine onsite per visitor per day and sell up to three 750ml bottles of wine for off-site consumption. (Rep. Kazarian) This is a companion to Sen. Lawson’s bill, SB39
- HB5264 – extends the emergency COVID-19 provisions for food businesses or food service establishments and establishes accessibility provisions for outdoor dining. (Rep. McEntee)
- SB37 – sets the minimum wage at $15.00 per hour on January 1, 2024 and $20.00 per hour on January 1, 2025. (Sen. Frank Ciccone)
The RIFPC Bill Tracker is a reference, covering all legislation affecting the Rhode Island food system and all topics of interest to Council Members. The Tracker is updated daily during the legislative session (January-June), and organized by major impact areas.