Rhode Island House of Representatives

The House celebrated Dominican Independence Day with special performances and guests. @repgracediaz welcomed Miss Rhode Island USA, Brianna Vega and presented her with a citation recognizing her achievements: webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillT… Rep. Diaz, Rep. Leonela Felix, Rep. Karen Alzate, and Rep. Scott Slater also honored the contributions of some of Rhode Island's Dominican community leaders. The celebration can be viewed online: capitoltvri.cablecast.tv/show/11884

Legislators joined R.A.M.P. (Real Access Motivates Progress) for the organization's first-ever Accessibility Day at the State House. RAMP presented its legislative priorities, which include housing, parking, accessibility apps, and the creation of a charity license plate to raise awareness and funds. RAMP breaks barriers, champions accessibility, and promotes equal opportunities.

@RayBaccari @iowasnewsnow Congratulations! We're sorry to see you leave RI but wish you all the best.

My next chapter: Starting on April 20 I’ll be a MMJ for KGAN (@iowasnewsnow) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. My last day with WPRI-TV is Sunday, April 5. These last two years have been a blast, and I’m excited to tell the stories of Eastern Iowa. “The dream continues.”

@JoshuaJGiraldo recently welcomed special guests to a House session: Jennifer Dalton Vincent, Preston Novy, and Othniel Harris, students at @RWULaw who spent their alternative spring break volunteering in the Central Falls Law Department, and Kimberly Pineda, a student at Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) and Central Falls High School alum who has been interning for the city all semester.

Opinion piece in @Globe_RI by @ArtBHandy and Sen. Melissa Murray: During the federal government shutdown, 144,944 Rhode Islanders were unsure about how they would put food on the table when the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) was threatened. Rhode Island acted quickly and used $6 million in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds to prevent an interruption in food assistance for 20,000 families with children. RI Works, Rhode Island’s cash assistance program, is designed to help the state’s poorest families meet their basic needs, while also providing opportunities for job training, education, and workforce development. RI Works is primarily a program for children: 68 percent of beneficiaries are children, and 39 percent of those children are under age 6. Our state continues to leave TANF dollars on the table. In 2022, Rhode Island had $82 million in unspent TANF funds, and that amount has only grown. Meanwhile, families struggle to afford food, rent, utilities, and other essentials. Full op-ed: bostonglobe.com/2026/03/20/met…

This Week at the General Assembly... The Senate welcomed the family of the late President of the Senate Dominick J. Ruggerio as the Senate Chamber was formally dedicated in his memory. The unveiling of the plaque designating the room as “The President Dominick J. Ruggerio Senate Chamber” was preceded by the adoption of a resolution (2026-S 3124) in Ruggerio’s honor. Speaker @JoeShekarchi and Leader @CBlazejewski joined their colleagues to honor their late friend. More details, plus other highlights from the past week: rilegislature.gov/pressrelease/W…

Recently, @CotterforRI introduced a resolution proclaiming March as #ColorectalCancerAwarenessMonth. She shared the story of her father, who was diagnosed and passed away from colon cancer at the age of 57. The resolution is online: webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillT…

Opinion piece in @RhodyBeat by @repmcentee33, @TinaSpearsRI, and @senatormckenney: This may come as a shock, but Rhode Island recycles only 26% of the bottles, cans, boxes and other packaging that makes its way into the state. Given the energy we expend each week rolling our recycling bins out to the curb, that figure is discouraging (and many believe the 26% is high). We expect more for the effort we put in! In addition, each year, our towns and cities pay for more than 120,000 tons of recyclables to be thrown away in Rhode Island’s only landfill. It is common sense to address the situation with recycling reforms here in Rhode Island. In HB 7911 / SB 3012, we propose that Rhode Island join seven other states in passing an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) law for packaging, combined with a recycling refund program for beverage containers. These programs directly address both the shortcomings with the current recycling system and the litter problems in our communities. Best of all, these programs are funded by the companies that put packaging and beverage containers into the marketplace. If made law, these two programs could save the state and our cities and towns nearly $15.6 million in recycling costs. Full op-ed: cranstononline.com/opinion/guest_…

Rep. Karen Alzate invited a special guest to Tuesday's House session: Providence City Councilwoman Shelley Peterson. Rep. Alzate thanked Councilwoman Peterson for sharing her story of living with multiple sclerosis (MS) and for raising awareness of the autoimmune disease that impacts about one million individuals in the United States. Rep. Alzate introduced a resolution proclaiming March to be #MultipleSclerosisAwarenessMonth in Rhode Island: webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillT…

Wishing a blessed St. Joseph’s Day to all! Buona festa! 🇮🇹

We 🫶 our riders! Passengers from Central Falls to Newport shared their thanks on @transitapp for our drivers today on National #TransitEmployeeAppreciationDay. Join us by wishing YOUR driver a Happy National Transit Employee Appreciation Day! Song credit: @TransportopiaX

Happening now: the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by @repmcentee33, is meeting to hear testimony on several bills relating to housing. The full agenda is online: status.rilegislature.gov/documents/agen… The meeting will air on @RICapitolTV and is live streaming at capitoltvri.cablecast.tv, where a recording will be available to view on demand. More details: rilegislature.gov/pressrelease/_…

Happening now: the House Finance Subcommittee on General Government, chaired by @AlexDistrict52, is meeting to hear the FY 26 revised and FY 27 budgets for the Department of Administration and the Department of Labor and Training. The meeting is airing live on @RICapitolTV and is live streaming at capitoltvri.cablecast.tv, where a recording will be available to view on demand. The agenda is online: status.rilegislature.gov/documents/agen…

Happening now: the House Labor Committee, chaired by Rep. Arthur Corvese, is meeting for hearings on several bills to raise minimum wage, as well as other bills concerning wages and employment. The full agenda is online: status.rilegislature.gov/documents/agen… The meeting will air on @RICapitolTV and is live streaming at capitoltvri.cablecast.tv, where a recording will be available to view on demand. More details: rilegislature.gov/pressrelease/_…

Yesterday, @ArtBHandy and @ConcernedRIer participated in the Raising Rhode Island Annual Kickoff to advocate for reforms to the state's economic and job assistance programs. The event can be viewed online: capitoltvri.cablecast.tv/show/11859

Congratulations to Rep. Arthur Corvese, recipient of the 2026 Robert S. Tucker Award for Excellence in Public Service! This prestigious award is given by @RICOUNCIL94, which recognized Rep. Corvese for his steadfast leadership to provide fiscal transparency and oversight.

Representatives from the Rhode Island Marine Trades Association were at the State House recently to talk with legislators. The marine trades industry is a major driver of the Ocean State's economy, encompassing more than 1,700 businesses that employ more than 13,300 people and reeling in approximately $2.6 billion in annual gross sales.

Happening now: the House commission studying services and programs for older adults in Rhode Island, led by Rep. Lauren Carson, is holding a forum to gather input on the multi-sector planning framework on aging it is developing. The meeting is airing live on @RICapitolTV and is live streaming at capitoltvri.cablecast.tv, where a recording will be available to view on demand. The agenda is online: status.rilegislature.gov/documents/OLDE… More details: rilegislature.gov/pressrelease/_…

Rep. @TomNoret invited special guests to join him at a session last week: Cub Scouts Quentin Emison, Parker Beauvais, and Lorenzo Domenech from Pack 13, as well as their Den Leader, Jim McLellan. Rep. Noret attended the Scouts' recent pack meeting to talk about civic duty, community, and government with them.

@CotterforRI and Sen. Linda Ujifusa are sponsoring a bill to provide relief to some of the state’s most vulnerable households by raising the eligibility limit and the maximum credit for the “circuit breaker” tax credit, which benefits low-income seniors and individuals with disabilities. “We are at a point where there isn’t a single community in Rhode Island where a household making less than $60,000 can afford an average two-bedroom apartment. People trying to make ends meet on that level of income need more help. Extending the circuit breaker credit to more of them should absolutely be part our state’s strategy for addressing our housing affordability crisis,” said Rep. Cotter. More information: rilegislature.gov/pressrelease/_…