New RI Laws in 2016 Bring Raises to Thousands, New Campaign Cash Rules

RHODE ISLAND—Some 50,000 Rhode Islanders might be tooting their noisemakers a few more times at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s this year—if they’re not working the midnight shift.

The minimum wage increases to $9.60 an hour, up .60 cents. Tipped workers, such as servers at restaurants and bartenders, will see their pay increase .50 cents to $3.39 per hour. That’s the first raise for tipped workers in two decades.

Governor Gina Raimondo signed the law raising the minimum wage in June, marking the third year in a row the wage has gone up. Before 2013, it was stuck at $7.40 per hour and remained unchanged for six years.

In January of 2015, the wage increased from $8 to $9. Come Friday, Rhode Island will have parity with Connecticut, which has a $9.60 minimum wage effective on the same day and that is set to increase to $10.10 in 2017. In Massachusetts, meanwhile, the wage will be $10 in 2016 and $11 in 2017.

There has been some resistance to the wage increase, notably from small business owners who have small staffs.

Also going into effect Friday are new rules about political contributions and how elected officials store and manage that money.

In the wake of the scandal surrounding former Speaker of the House Gordon Fox—currently in federal prison after being convicted of accepting bribes in exchange for lubricating liquor license approvals in Providence—the General Assembly passed two measures.

One requires political candidates to keep campaign money in separate accounts. Federal investigators discovered that Fox had mixed his personal and political funds together and follow up reporting by the Rhode Island press corps subsequently revealed that a large number of House and Senate members do the same.

Now, all campaign funds must be segregated and held at a bank with a physical presence here in Rhode Island. “The co-mingling of a candidate’s personal or business funds with campaign funds is expressly prohibited,” the law states.

The law applies to political action committees, too.

Accounts that collect or burn more than $10,000 in a year must also have funds managed by a treasurer or deputy treasurer who is not the candidate. Fox, who fabricated his campaign finance reports that were submitted to the state Board of Elections, served as his own treasurer, which made it easy for him to use campaign money to pay for personal expenses including credit card payments and his Audi, famously photographed in his East Side driveway during a police raid sporting a “R.I. Troopers, Always there when you need them” bumper sticker.

And, later this year, candidates will be required to submit those bank statements to the Board of Elections along with their traditional quarterly reports.

Another notable piece of legislation that goes into effect on Jan. 1 relates to police relations with the community, racial profiling and traffic stops.

Under the legislation, the Comprehensive Community-Police Relationship Act of 2015, police departments are now required to collect race data during traffic stops and report to the state Department of Transportation. It also limits the ability of officers to search pedestrians and juveniles, request certain additional documentation from motorists and other provisions.

And, come Jan. 1, the state will begin a period of more-rapid phase-out of cesspools. Now, any real estate transaction will trigger a mandatory replacement of an outdated cesspool with a new on-site wastewater treatment system. Though many outdated systems have been replaced over the years, the requirement is expected to accelerate the process.

The cesspool bill is an amendment of the 2007 Rhode Island Cesspool Act. As it stands, there are an estimated 25,000 old cesspools that remain in use and are now considered substandard and inadequate at treating sewage. They contribute to groundwater contamination, release toxic chemicals and are responsible for delivering excess nitrogen into the watershed.

The bill will require any property that is transferred by sale, inheritance or other means to be replaced within 12 months after the date of sale or transfer.

The state outlawed new cesspool construction in 1968. The cost to design and install a modern onsite wastewater disposal system can range from $15,000 to $60,000, according to a fact sheet from the Rhode Island Association of Realtors.

There are some tax changes that go into effect in 2016. The minimum corporate tax decreases to $450 from $500 and Social Security income for people who make less than $80,000 individually or $100,000 filing jointly will be exempt from personal income tax.