Legislation

For the second year in a row, there’s a focus on whether to allow 18-20 year olds into nightclubs.

A liquor store owner who sells alcohol to a minor faces a $250 fine for a first offense. However, a major push is being made to amend the state’s “social host” law to subject teenagers under 21 to a six-month prison sentence if they give alcohol to someone else also under the age of 21.

A bill from the Attorney General’s office has again been introduced and heard this year that would set enhanced and mandatory sentences for “criminal street gang” activity.

This legislation, based on a federal law, would make it a felony for a public employee to “engage in any conduct that deprives the public of the intangible right of his or her honest services.”

Under a bill proposed by the Attorney General, any person who posts on a website opinions or information – even factual data – could be potentially subject to criminal charges if the posting is designed to “harass” and could cause a person “substantial emotional distress.”

The ACLU testified against a bill that would authorize the license suspension of teachers who engage in a strike, defined so broadly as to include a teacher’s “abstaining” even in part “from the full performance of his or her duties in his or her normal manner without permission.”

This pro-civil rights legislation clarifies that plaintiffs have three years, rather than one year, to sue under the Rhode Island Civil Rights Act, a major state law prohibiting discrimination in employment and other settings.

Retailers are currently required by law to post signs where tobacco products are sold to remind minors that it’s illegal for them to purchase cigarettes and other tobacco products. Proposed legislation would require those signs to add a warning to pregnant women that smoking is bad for them.