R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-18-6 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-18 / Section 39-18-6
§ 39-18-6. Eminent domain proceedings.
Status: in_force

(a) The authority shall have the power to acquire any transit property or any interest therein by the exercise of the power of eminent domain.

(b) The necessity for acquisition shall be conclusively presumed upon the adoption by the authority of a resolution declaring that the acquisition of the transit property or interest therein described in the resolution is necessary to provide transit services. Within six (6) months thereafter, in the event of acquisition by eminent domain, the authority shall cause to be filed in the land evidence records of the city or town in which the transit property is located (for the purpose of this section, all personal property shall be deemed to be located in the city or town where the transit company has its principal place of business), a copy of the resolution of the authority, together with a description of the property or interest therein and a statement signed by the chairperson of the authority that the property is taken pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. Thereupon, the authority shall file in the superior court, in and for the county in which the transit property is located, a statement of the sum of any estimate by the authority to be just compensation for the property taken. If the property is located in more than one county, the statement shall be filed in the superior court in and for the county where the transit company has its principal place of business.

(c) Upon the filing by the authority of the copy of resolution, description, and statement in the land evidence records of the city or town, the filing in the superior court of the statement and the depositing in the superior court to the use of the persons entitled thereto of the sum as the court shall determine to be amply sufficient to satisfy the claims of all persons having an estate or interest in the property (and the court may in its discretion take evidence on the question to determine the sum to be deposited), title to the property shall vest in the authority absolutely and in fee simple, and the authority thereupon may take possession of the property. No sum so paid into the court shall be charged with clerks fees of any nature.

(d) After the filing of the copy of resolution, description, and statement, notice of the taking of the property shall be served upon the owners of and persons having an estate in or interest in the property by the sheriff or his or her deputies of the county in which the property is located, leaving a true and attested copy of the description and statement with each of the persons personally or at their last and usual place of abode in this state with some person living there, and in case any of the persons are absent from this state and have no last and usual place of abode therein occupied by any person, the copy shall be left with the persons, if any, in charge of or having possession of the property, or interest therein, taken of such absent persons if the same are known to the officer; and after the filing of the copy of resolution, description, and statement, the secretary of the authority shall cause a copy of the resolution and statement to be published in some newspaper, published or having general circulation in the county where the property, or interest therein, may be located, at least once a week for three (3) successive weeks. If any person shall agree with the authority for the price of the property or interest therein so taken, the court upon the application of the parties in interest, may order that the sum agreed upon be paid forthwith from the money deposited, as the just compensation to be awarded in the proceeding.

(e) Any owner of or persons entitled to any estate in or interest in any part of the real property or interest therein, so taken, who cannot agree with the authority for the price of the property or interest therein so taken in which he or she has an estate or interest as provided in this section, may, within three (3) months after personal notice of the taking, or, if he or she have no personal notice, may, within one year from the first publication of the copy of the resolution and statement, apply by petition to the superior court in and for the county in which the property, or interest therein, lies, setting forth the taking of his or her property, or interest therein, and praying for an assessment of damages. Upon filing of the petition, the court shall cause twenty (20) days notice of the pendency thereof to be given to the authority by serving the chairperson of the authority with a certified copy thereof, and may proceed after such notice to the trial thereof; and the trial shall determine all questions of fact relating to the value of property, or interest therein, and the amount thereof, and judgment shall be entered upon the verdict, and execution shall be issued therefor against the money so deposited in court and in default thereof against any other property of the authority. In case two (2) or more conflicting petitioners make claim to the same property, or to any interests therein, or to different interests in the same piece of property or parcel of land, the court upon motion shall consolidate their several petitions for trial at the same time, and may frame all necessary issues for the trial thereof; and all proceedings taken pursuant to the provisions of this chapter shall take precedence over all other civil matters then pending before the court, or if the superior court in and for the county in which such property, or interest therein, lies, be not in session in the county, then the trial may be heard in the superior court for the counties of Providence and Bristol.

(f) If any properties, or interests therein, in which any minor or other person not capable in law to act in his or her own behalf is interested, are taken by the authority under the provisions of this chapter, the superior court, upon the filing therein of any petition by or in behalf of the minor or other person, may appoint a guardian ad litem for the minor or other person, and the guardian may appear and be heard on behalf of the minor or other persons; and the guardian may also, with the advice and consent of the superior court, and upon such terms as the superior court may prescribe, release to the authority all claims for damages for the lands of the minor or other person or for any interests therein. Any lawfully appointed, qualified, and acting guardian or other fiduciary of the estate of any minor or other person, with the approval of the court of probate within this state having jurisdiction to authorize the sale of lands and properties within this state of any minor or other person, may, before the filing of any petition, agree with the authority upon the amount of damages suffered by the minor or other person by any taking of his or her property, or of his or her interests in any property, and may, upon receiving the amount, release to the authority all claims for damages of the minor or other person for the taking.

(g) Whenever, from time to time, the authority has satisfied the court that the amount deposited with the court is greater than is amply sufficient to satisfy the claims of all persons having estates or interests in the property, the court may order that the amount of any excess, including any interests or increment of any sums so deposited, shall be repaid to the authority. Whenever the authority has satisfied the court that the claims of all persons interested in land taken have been satisfied, the unexpended balance, including any interest or increment on any sums so deposited, shall be paid forthwith to the authority.

(h) At any time during the pendency of any proceedings for the assessment of damages for property or interests therein taken, or to be taken, by eminent domain by the authority, the authority or any owner may apply to the court for an order directing an owner or the authority, as the case may be, to show cause why further proceedings should not be expedited, and the court may, upon application, make an order requiring that the hearings proceed and that any other steps be taken with all possible expedition.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-12-4 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-12 / Section 39-12-4
§ 39-12-4. General powers and duties of the administrator.
Status: in_force

(a) It shall be the duty of the administrator:

(1) To regulate common carriers by motor vehicle as provided in this chapter, and, to that end, the administrator may establish reasonable requirements with respect to continuous and adequate service, uniform system of accounts, records and reports, and preservation of records;

(2) To regulate contract carriers by motor vehicle as provided in this chapter, and, to that end, the administrator may establish reasonable requirements with respect to uniform system of accounts, records, and reports, and preservation of records;

(3) To administer, execute, and enforce all provisions of this chapter, to make all necessary orders in connection therewith, and to prescribe rules, regulations, and procedure of administration;

(4) For the purposes of the administration of the provisions of this chapter, to inquire into the management of the business of motor carriers and into the management of the business of persons controlling, controlled by, or under common control with, motor carriers to the extent that the business of the persons is related to the management of the business of one or more motor carriers, and the administrator shall keep himself or herself informed as to the manner and method in which the businesses are conducted, and may obtain from the carriers and persons the information as the administrator deems necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter;

(5) To administer, execute, and enforce all provisions of chapter 12.1 of this title and to make all necessary orders in connection therewith and to prescribe rules, regulations, and procedure of administration.

(b) The administrator may, from time to time, establish the just and reasonable classifications of groups of carriers included in the term common carrier, or contract carrier, as the special nature of the service performed by carrier shall require; and such just reasonable rules, regulations, and requirements, consistent with the provisions of this chapter, to be observed by the carriers so classified or grouped, as the administrator deems necessary or desirable in the public interest.

(c) Upon complaint in writing to the administrator by any person, organization, or body politic or upon his or her own initiative without complaint, the administrator may investigate whether any motor carrier has failed to comply with any provisions of this chapter, or with any requirements established pursuant thereto. If the administrator, after notice and hearing, finds upon any investigation that the motor carrier has failed to comply with any provisions or requirement, the administrator shall issue an appropriate order to compel the carrier to comply therewith. Whenever the administrator is of the opinion that any complaint does not state reasonable grounds for investigation and action on his or her part, he or she may dismiss the complaint. Whenever a formal investigation shall be made by the administrator, it shall be his or her duty to make a report in writing in respect thereto, which shall state the conclusions of the administrator, together with his or her decision, order, or requirement in the premises. All reports of investigations made by the administrator shall be entered of record, and a copy thereof shall be furnished to the party who may have complained and to any common carrier or contract carrier that may have been complained of.

(d) The copies of schedules and classifications and tariffs of rates and charges, and all agreements and arrangements between common carriers filed with the administrator as provided in this chapter, and the statistics, tables, and figures contained in the annual or other reports of carriers filed with the administrator, as required under the provisions of this chapter, shall be preserved as public records in the custody of the administrator, and shall be received as prima facie evidence of what they purport to be for the purpose of investigation by the administrator and in all judicial proceedings, and copies of and extracts from any of the schedules, classifications, tariffs, agreements, or arrangements, or reports, made public records as provided in this subsection, certified by the administrator, under the administrators seal, shall be received in evidence with like effect as the originals.

(e) The administrator may establish reasonable requirements with respect to maximum hours of service of employees and safety of operation and equipment.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-4-22 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-4 / Section 39-4-22
§ 39-4-22. Penalties for violations.
Status: in_force

Every public utility, and all officers and agents thereof, shall obey, observe, and comply with every order of the division made under the authority of chapters 1  5 of this title as long as the order shall be and remain in force. Every public utility that shall violate any of the provisions of the chapters or that fails, omits, or neglects to obey, observe, or comply with any order of the division, shall be subject to a penalty of not less than two hundred dollars ($200) nor more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) for each and every offense. Every violation of the order shall be a separate and distinct offense and, in case of a continuing violation, every days continuance thereof shall be, and be deemed to be, a separate and distinct offense. Every officer, agent, or employee of a public utility who shall violate any of the provisions of the chapters, or who procures, aids, or abets any violation by any public utility, or who shall fail to obey, observe, or comply with any order of the division, or any provision of an order of the division, or who procures, aids, or abets any public utility in its failure to obey, observe, or comply with any order or provision, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars ($100) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000). In construing and enforcing the provisions of this section, the act, omission, or failure of any officer, agent, or other person acting for or employed by any public utility, acting within the scope of his or her employment, shall in every case be deemed to be also the act, omission, or failure of the public utility.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-3-12.2 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-3 / Section 39-3-12.2
§ 39-3-12.2. Certain advertising costs prohibited on rate base.
Status: in_force

No electric utility, as defined in chapter 1 of this title, may include as part of its rate base any expense for advertising, either direct or indirect, that promotes the construction of a nuclear facility for the generation of electricity, and no utility so regulated may furnish support of any kind, direct or indirect, to any subsidiary, group, association, or individual for advertising and include the expense as part of its rate base. The commission shall promulgate such rules and regulations as are necessary to require public disclosure of all advertising expenses, of whatever kind, either direct or indirect, and to otherwise effectuate the provisions of this section.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-3-40 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-3 / Section 39-3-40
§ 39-3-40. Storage, transportation, and distribution of gas  Regulation  Penalties.
Status: in_force

(a) In regulating the storage, transportation, and distribution of gas, and the pressure under which these operations may respectively be carried on, the division of public utilities and carriers may ascertain, determine, and fix adequate and serviceable standards for the measurement of quality, pressure, or other condition pertaining to the performing of its service, or to the furnishing of its product or commodity, by any gas storage, transportation, and distribution facility, and prescribe reasonable regulations for examination and testing of such service, product, or commodity.

(b)(1) Any person, firm, or corporation who or that violates any provision of any code adopted by the division pertaining to the safety of pipeline facilities and the transportation of gas, or of any regulation or rule thereunder, at a time when the division has submitted to and has in effect the annual certification from the United States Secretary of Transportation provided for in § 5(a) of the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968, as amended (see § 60101 et seq. of Title 49 of the United States Code), shall be subject to civil penalties as specified in 49 U.S.C. § 60122(a), as amended. To provide adequate protection against risks to life and property posed by pipeline transportation and pipeline facilities, the division shall possess the authority to adopt any of the safety standards for pipeline transportation and for pipeline facilities that are contained in 49 U.S.C. § 60101 et seq.

(2) Any such penalty shall be determined by the division. In determining the amount of the penalty, the appropriateness of the penalty to the size of the business of the person, firm, or corporation charged; the gravity of the violation; and the good faith of the person, firm, or corporation charged in attempting to achieve compliance after notification of a violation; shall be considered. The amount of the penalty, where finally determined, may be deducted from any sums that the state may owe to the person, firm, or corporation charged or may be recovered in a civil action commenced in the state courts.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-1-1 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-1 / Section 39-1-1
§ 39-1-1. Declaration of policy  Purposes.
Status: in_force

(a) The general assembly finds and therefore declares that:

(1) The businesses of distributing electrical energy, producing and transporting manufactured and natural gas, operating water works and furnishing supplies of water for domestic, industrial, and commercial use, offering to the public transportation of persons and property, furnishing and servicing telephonic and wireless audio and visual communication systems, and operation of community antenna television systems are affected with a public interest;

(2) Supervision and reasonable regulation by the state of the manner in which the businesses construct their systems and carry on their operations within the state are necessary to protect and promote the convenience, health, comfort, safety, accommodation, and welfare of the people, and are a proper exercise of the police power of the state; and

(3) Preservation of the states resources, commerce, and industry requires the assurance of adequate public transportation and communication facilities, water supplies, and an abundance of energy, all supplied to the people with reliability, at economical cost, and with due regard for the preservation and enhancement of the environment, the conservation of natural resources, including scenic, historic, and recreational assets, and the strengthening of long-range, land-use planning.

(b) It is hereby declared to be the policy of the state to provide fair regulation of public utilities and carriers in the interest of the public, to promote availability of adequate, efficient, and economical energy, communication, and transportation services and water supplies to the inhabitants of the state, to provide just and reasonable rates and charges for such services and supplies, without unjust discrimination, undue preferences or advantages, or unfair or destructive competitive practices, and to cooperate with other states and agencies of the federal government in promoting and coordinating efforts to achieve realization of this policy.

(c) To this end, there is hereby vested in the public utilities commission and the division of public utilities and carriers the exclusive power and authority to supervise, regulate, and make orders governing the conduct of companies offering to the public in intrastate commerce energy, communication, and transportation services and water supplies for the purpose of increasing and maintaining the efficiency of the companies, according desirable safeguards and convenience to their employees and to the public, and protecting them and the public against improper and unreasonable rates, tolls, and charges by providing full, fair, and adequate administrative procedures and remedies, and by securing a judicial review to any party aggrieved by such an administrative proceeding or ruling.

(d) The legislature also finds and declares, as of 1996, the following:

(1) That lower retail electricity rates would promote the states economy and the health and general welfare of the citizens of Rhode Island;

(2) That current research and experience indicates that greater competition in the electricity industry would result in a decrease in electricity rates over time;

(3) That greater competition in the electricity industry would stimulate economic growth;

(4) That it is in the public interest to promote competition in the electricity industry and to establish performance-based ratemaking for regulated utilities;

(5) That in connection with the transition to a more competitive electric utility industry, public utilities should have a reasonable opportunity to recover transitional costs associated with commitments prudently incurred in the past pursuant to their legal obligations to provide reliable electric service at reasonable costs;

(6) That it shall be the policy of the state to encourage, through all feasible means and measures, states where fossil-fueled, electric-generating units producing air emissions affecting Rhode Island air quality are located to reduce such emissions over time to levels that enable cost-effective attainment of environmental standards within Rhode Island; and

(7) That in a restructured electrical industry the same protections currently afforded to low-income customers shall continue.

(e) The legislature further finds and declares as of 2006:

(1) That prices of energy, including especially fossil-fuels and electricity, are rising faster than the cost of living and are subject to sharp fluctuations, which conditions create hardships for many households, institutions, organizations, and businesses in the state;

(2) That while utility restructuring has brought some benefits, notably in transmission and distribution costs and more efficient use of generating capacities, it has not resulted in competitive markets for residential and small commercial-industrial customers, lower overall prices, or greater diversification of energy resources used for electrical generation;

(3) That the states economy and the health and general welfare of the people of Rhode Island benefit when energy supplies are reliable and least-cost; and

(4) That it is a necessary move beyond basic utility restructuring in order to secure for Rhode Island, to the maximum extent reasonably feasible, the benefits of reasonable and stable rates, least-cost procurement, and system reliability that includes energy resource diversification, distributed generation, and load management.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-16-9 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-16 / Section 39-16-9
§ 39-16-9. Application of public utility law  Rate determination.
Status: in_force

Notwithstanding the proviso contained in the definition of public utility in § 39-1-2, chapters 1  5 of this title shall apply to the water district created by this chapter and to the governing body thereof, and notwithstanding anything contained in this chapter with respect to fixing rates and collecting charges, rates and charges of the district and/or authority shall be established in accordance with and subject to the provisions of chapters 1  5. Until so established, the rates and charges that were in effect at the time when the authority acquired properties pursuant to the provisions of § 39-16-8, shall continue in full force and effect.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-21-7 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-21 / Section 39-21-7
§ 39-21-7. Applications for federal and state aid.
Status: in_force

Whenever it shall be necessary to obtain assistance from the federal or state government in the form of loans, advances, grants, subsidies, and otherwise, directly or indirectly, for the execution of the project, the division may make all necessary applications for such purposes. All applications shall be made in writing in the name of the division and shall be duly signed by the associate director or other person or persons as the governor or director of public safety may designate.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-1-27.4 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-1 / Section 39-1-27.4
§ 39-1-27.4. Transition charges authorized.
Status: in_force

(a) An electric distribution company that purchases power at wholesale from a wholesale power supplier under an all-requirements contract shall be authorized to execute an agreement terminating, in whole or in part, such all-requirements contracts on terms that require payment of a contract termination fee complying with the requirements in subsection (b) and notwithstanding any other provisions of this title, shall be allowed to recover the payment through a nonbypassable transition charge paid by all customers of the electric distribution company. Any nonregulated power producer may pay all or a part of its customers transition charges.

(b) The contract termination fee paid by the electric distribution company to its wholesale power supplier shall include the electric distribution companys share of its wholesale suppliers costs associated with the following:

(1) Regulatory assets related to the generation business that include costs for which recovery has been deferred to the future in accordance with prior rate cases or settlements approved by regulators, or consistent with regulatory precedent; regulatory assets of affiliated fuel suppliers; and transition obligations for post-retirement healthcare costs of the wholesale supplier; and

(2) Nuclear obligations including decommissioning costs and nuclear costs independent of operation. Transition costs attributable to nuclear decommissioning must be deposited in unit-specific decommissioning trust funds or returned to customers if not needed. Nuclear costs independent of operation shall mean estimated nuclear operation and maintenance expenses that would be incurred assuming the nuclear units were to permanently cease operating on December 31, 1997; and

(3) Above-market payments to power suppliers for purchased power contracts of the wholesale power supplier in place as of December 31, 1995, together with reasonable payments of the wholesale power supplier to buy out of these contracts or to reduce payments pursuant to them; and

(4) The net unrecovered commitments and capital costs of all generating plants owned directly or indirectly by the electric distribution company and its wholesale power supplier as of December 31, 1995, whether or not the generating plants are operating, including natural gas conversion costs and above-market pipeline demand charges. Except as provided above, no operation or maintenance expenses associated with existing fossil-fired or hydroelectric generating facilities may be included in contract termination fees to be recovered by electric distribution companies from customers through transition charges.

(c) Because of the uncertainty associated with the timing and amounts to be paid pursuant to subsections (b)(2) (with the exception of nuclear costs independent of operation) and (b)(3), the termination fee to the wholesale supplier and the related transition charge to the electric distribution companys customers shall continue until these liabilities have been satisfied with an annual reconciliation of estimated to actual expenses. Because the items specified in subsections (b)(1) and (b)(4) can be determined with certainty or reasonably estimated and the nuclear costs independent of operation can be reasonably estimated, no annual reconciliation is necessary for these items. However, to moderate the rate impact of these items, recovery through the transition charge will be spread over the period from July 1, 1997, through December 31, 2009, with a return on the unamortized balance as specified in subsection (d); effective January 1, 2010, there shall be no allowance for these items in the transition charges billed by electric distribution companies.

(d) In recognition of the potential for a positive residual value of existing generating facilities at the conclusion of the amortization period in the year 2010, the return on equity allowed on the unamortized balance of subsections (b)(1) and (b)(4) paid to the wholesale supplier and recoverable from customers of the electric distribution company shall be limited to one percentage point plus the average rate of return on BBB-rated long-term utility bonds issued during the six-month (6) period July through December, 1996.

(e) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, other than subsection (g), for the period July 1, 1997, to December 31, 2000, the nonbypassable transition charge implemented by the electric distribution company shall recover an amount equal to two and eight-tenths of a cent (2.8Â¢) per kilowatt-hour transmitted or distributed. After the year 2000, the transition charge recoverable from customers shall be established by the commission in an amount sufficient to recover the costs authorized in this section with an adjustment for any over or under recoveries of the contract termination fees occurring during the period July 1, 1997, to December 31, 2000. The adjustment under this subsection shall be made in a manner the commission determines appropriate.

(f) Any wholesale power supplier receiving contract termination fees with respect to power-purchase contracts pursuant to subsection (b)(3) shall offer to sell, buy down, or assign to others, through either public bid or private negotiation, at least the portion of the contracts attributable to its affiliated electric distribution company. To the extent that bids received or terms negotiated would, on an expected value basis, lower the transition charges paid by ultimate customers in Rhode Island, the wholesaler power supplier shall use all reasonable means to consummate the sale, buydown, or assignment and upon completion shall promptly file appropriate adjustments to the contract termination fees in place at that time. To provide an incentive for wholesale power suppliers to obtain the best possible terms for any sale, buydown, or assignment, they shall be allowed to retain ten percent (10%) of the savings expected to be realized by customers as a result of the sale, buydown, or assignment. The amount of any incentive payment shall be fixed at the time of the sale, buydown, or assignment based on estimated data and recovered in equal payments over the remaining term of the related power-purchase contract with appropriate adjustments for the time value of money.

(g) Every wholesale power supplier receiving contract termination fees pursuant to this section shall, subject to receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, subject its electric-generating facilities, other than nuclear units or entitlements, as of January 1, 1996, to a form of market valuation through lease, sale, spin-off, or other method. The wholesale power supplier shall select the valuation methodology utilized which may be for all the generating facilities as a group, groups of generating facilities, or individual generating facilities. The wholesale power supplier shall meet its obligations under this section by leasing, selling, spinning off, or otherwise disposing of at least a fifteen percent (15%) interest in its electrical-generating facilities, other than nuclear units or entitlements; provided, however, if, pursuant to a requirement in connection with electric industry restructuring in another state prior to completion of the valuation pursuant to this subsection, a wholesale power supplier subject to this subsection is required to sell, spin-off, or otherwise dispose of more than a fifteen percent (15%) ownership interest in its electric-generating facilities, other than nuclear units or entitlements, then the same requirement, including related timing requirements, shall apply in the state and the market valuation resulting from fulfilling that requirement shall be used in determining the adjustment to the contract termination fee required by this subsection. Once the wholesale power supplier determines the percentage interest in its electrical-generating facilities that it will lease, sell, spin-off, or otherwise submit to market valuation to meet its obligation under this subsection, the company shall develop an implementation methodology to accomplish the lease, sale, spin-off, or other disposition of interest that is reasonably likely to approximate the market value of the generation assets. The implementation methodology shall be filed with the commission on or before July 1, 1997, for the commission to review and approve or reject no later than ninety (90) days after submittal. The commission shall approve the implementation methodology unless the commission finds, after public hearing, the methodology is not reasonably likely to approximate the market value of the companys generating assets, taking into consideration the restrictions included in mortgage indentures and the need to satisfy the requirements of regulatory authorities outside the state. Promptly after commission approval of the implementation methodology, companies subject to this section must submit, for regulatory review, applications for the approvals necessary to commence such valuation. In addition, companies subject to this section shall also provide the commission with quarterly status reports on the progress of proceedings before other regulatory agencies associated with the implementation of this section. The valuation required by this section shall be completed within six (6) months after: (1) Retail access is available to forty percent (40%) or more of the kilowatt-hour sales in New England or (2) The receipt of all necessary regulatory approval for the valuation, whichever occurs later; provided, however, the commission may extend the deadline for completing the valuation by no more than six (6) months if it determines that an extension is in the public interest. Upon completion of the valuation, the wholesale power supplier, together with its affiliated electric distribution company shall file to adjust the contract termination fees in place at the time the valuation is complete as necessary to reflect the electric distribution companys share of the market valuation in the transition charge paid by ultimate customers in Rhode Island. Any adjustment shall be net of the estimated revenue lost by the wholesale power supplier as a result of retail access during the period prior to completion of such valuation, the electric distribution companys share of prudently incurred capital investments made after December 31, 1995, which were reasonably necessary to (i) Enable the electrical-generating facilities to operate safely and in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, (ii) Improve environmental performance or to increase fuel diversity or flexibility, with regulatory authorization, reasonable transaction costs, (including the cost of refinancing), and revenue lost as a result of the reduced return on equity specified in subsection (d). For purposes of this section, the unreduced return on equity that will be used prospectively and to value the revenue lost prior to the adjustment shall be the return on equity allowed to the wholesale power suppliers affiliated electric distribution company as of December 31, 1995, and shall be included in the wholesale power suppliers overall capital structure following the valuation. Any adjustment to the contract termination fee pursuant to this subsection shall be reflected in the termination fee otherwise calculated in accordance with subsection (b) as a uniform adjustment spread equally over the period beginning with the date the adjustment is made and ending December 31, 2009.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-31-8 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-31 / Section 39-31-8
§ 39-31-8. Verification of energy generation and attributes of imported electricity.
Status: in_force

Energy generation and the attributes of electricity imported into New England shall be tracked and verified through the expansion of the New England Pool  Generation Information System or the development of another appropriate tracking and verification mechanism.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-12-31 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-12 / Section 39-12-31
§ 39-12-31. Employment of personnel.
Status: in_force

The administrator is hereby authorized to employ such clerical force and inspectors as shall be necessary to enforce and carry into effect the provisions of this chapter within his or her appropriation.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-2-21 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-2 / Section 39-2-21
§ 39-2-21. Residential condominiums and associations  Charges for services, residential rates.
Status: in_force

Public utilities distributing electricity or providing telephone service, heat, or water, produced, transmitted, delivered, or furnished shall charge residential condominium occupants or residential condominium associations for such distribution service, heat, water, or telephone service at a residential rate and not a business, commercial or any other rate.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-6-5 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-6 / Section 39-6-5
§ 39-6-5. Stockholders access to books.
Status: in_force

Every stockholder of any railroad corporation incorporated within this state may, at all reasonable times, examine the books, papers, and accounts of the corporation in which he or she is a stockholder; and if any clerk or other officer of any railroad corporation having the custody of the books, papers, and accounts of the corporation, shall refuse to permit any stockholder of the corporation to inspect the books, papers, and accounts thereof, the person so offending shall forfeit one hundred dollars ($100).
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-26-5 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-26 / Section 39-26-5
§ 39-26-5. Renewable energy resources.
Status: in_force

(a) Renewable energy resources are:

(1) Direct solar radiation;

(2) The wind;

(3) Movement or the latent heat of the ocean;

(4) The heat of the earth;

(5) Small hydro facilities;

(6) Biomass facilities using eligible biomass fuels and maintaining compliance with current air permits; eligible biomass fuels may be co-fired with fossil fuels, provided that only the renewable energy fraction of production from multi-fuel facilities shall be considered eligible;

(7) Fuel cells using the renewable resources referenced above in this section; and

(8) Waste-to-energy combustion of any sort or manner, including, without limitation, high-heat medical waste processing facilities, shall in no instance be considered eligible, except for fuels identified in § 39-26-2(6).

(b) For the purposes of the regulations promulgated under this chapter, eligible renewable energy resources are generation units in the NEPOOL control area using renewable energy resources as defined in this section.

(c) A generation unit located in an adjacent control area outside of the NEPOOL may qualify as an eligible renewable energy resource, but the associated generation attributes shall be applied to the renewable energy standard only to the extent that the energy produced by the generation unit is actually delivered into NEPOOL for consumption by New England customers. The delivery of the energy from the generation unit into NEPOOL must be generated by:

(1) A unit-specific bilateral contract for the sale and delivery of such energy into NEPOOL; and

(2) Confirmation from ISO-New England that the renewable energy was actually settled in the NEPOOL system; and

(3) Confirmation through the North American Reliability Council tagging system that the import of the energy into NEPOOL actually occurred; or

(4) Any such other requirements as the commission deems appropriate.

(d) NE-GIS certificates associated with energy production from off-grid generation and customer-sited generation facilities certified by the commission as eligible renewable energy resources may also be used to demonstrate compliance, provided that the facilities are physically located in Rhode Island.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-1-26 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-1 / Section 39-1-26
§ 39-1-26. Public utilities reserve fund created  Appropriations  Recovery of expenses from utility companies.
Status: in_force

(a) There is hereby created a fund to be known as the public utilities reserve account, an account within the public utilities commission in the general fund. Such account, hereinafter referred to as the fund, shall be used for the purpose of providing the financial means for the commission and division to purchase materials, and to employ on a contract or other basis, legal counsel, official stenographers, engineers, accountants, economists, and other expert witnesses, and for other necessary expenses of the commission and division in investigations and hearings related to applications and filings made by public utilities, or commission- or division-initiated investigations into utility operating practices, or related appeals to state or federal courts or in relevant regulatory matters before federal agencies. The general assembly shall annually appropriate to the fund a sum equal to twenty-five one thousandths of one percent (.00025%) of the gross, annual operating revenues of gas, electric, and telephone companies attributable to their conduct of intrastate operations in this state during the year next preceding; provided, however, that if at June 30, in any year the balance in the fund shall be in excess of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), the amount of the excess shall forthwith be transferred to the general fund of the state. Prebilled revenue shall be excluded from an excess balance to be transferred to the general fund. The state controller is authorized and directed to draw his or her orders upon the general treasurer for the payment from the fund of such sums as may be required from time to time upon receipt by him or her of proper vouchers approved by the administrator.

(b) The public utility making an application or filing to the commission or division, or subject to a commission- or division-initiated investigation, or any public utility distributing electricity or gas whose retail rates would be affected by a proceeding before an agency of the federal government or a federal court, shall be charged with and shall pay a portion of the expenses reasonably so incurred by the commission and by the division for the purchase of materials and for the employment of legal counsel, official stenographers, engineers, accountants, and expert witnesses, and for travel and other necessary expenses as are reasonably attributable to the investigation or the hearing of the proposal by the commission and the division, or to the administrators representation of the state before federal or state courts or an agency of the federal government. The administrator or the commission chairperson, as appropriate, shall ascertain the expenses and shall determine the amount to be paid by the public utility company or companies, and bills shall be rendered therefor either at the conclusion of the investigation or hearing, or from time to time during its progress, and the amount of each bill so rendered shall be paid by the public utility to the administrator or the commission, as appropriate, within thirty (30) days from the date of its rendition unless, within the thirty-day (30) time period, the public utility so billed shall request an opportunity to be heard by the commission as to the amount thereof. The commission shall comply with any such request. Any amount of the bill not paid within thirty (30) days from the date of service of the determination upon the hearing, or, if none shall be requested, within thirty (30) days from the date of rendition of the bill, shall draw interest at the rate of twelve percent (12%) per annum. At the discretion of the administrator, or the commission chairperson, as appropriate, utility companies may be prebilled for contractual services utilized by the commission or division. Any revenue received from public utilities not expended upon the completion of the case will be promptly reimbursed to the utility company. The total amount that may be charged to any public utility under authority of this section for proceedings before the commission or division or in related appeals before state or federal courts in any calendar year shall not exceed one million dollars ($1,000,000). Indirect cost recovery obligations pursuant to § 35-4-27 shall constitute a separate and additional assessment to public utilities to be added to the foregoing expense assessment limits; in addition, the total amount that may be charged against any public utility under authority of this section for the administrators representation of the state before agencies of the federal government in any calendar year shall not exceed five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000). All moneys collected by the administrator or the commission pursuant to this section shall be paid by him or her monthly to the general treasurer to be added to the public utilities reserve fund.

(c) The division of public utilities and carriers shall adopt by regulation, a fee schedule for all telecommunications filings, including initial applications and annual registrations, by telecommunications providers that are not otherwise subject to the provisions of subsection (a) or (b) of this section. The money assessed and paid shall be paid into the general fund and shall not be a part of the public utilities reserve fund.

(d) The general assembly shall annually appropriate such sums as it may deem necessary for the salaries of the commissioners and their expenses incurred in the performance of their duties, and for the operations of the commission and the division and payment of such office expenses and assistance as from time to time may be required. The state controller is authorized and directed to draw his or her orders upon the general treasurer for the payment of such sum, or so much thereof, as may be required from time to time upon receipt by him or her of vouchers approved by the administrator or his or her authorized agent.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-15-12 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-15 / Section 39-15-12
§ 39-15-12. Liability of landowner for water charges  Lien.
Status: in_force

The owner of any house, building, tenement, or estate shall be liable for the payment of the price or rent or rates fixed by any town, city, or incorporated fire district or water district for the use of water furnished by such town, city, fire district, or water district to the owner or occupant of the house, building, tenement, or estate; and the price, rent, or rates shall be a lien upon the house, building, tenement, and estate in the same way and manner as taxes assessed on real estate are liens, and, if not paid as required by the town, city, fire district, or water district, shall be collected in the same manner that taxes assessed on real estate are by law collected; provided, however, that the city of Cranston or any agency thereof may charge interest on delinquent payments at a rate of not more than twelve percent (12%) per annum; provided, however, that the city of Woonsocket or any agency thereof may charge interest on delinquent payments at a rate of not more than eighteen percent (18%) per annum.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-14-22 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-14 / Section 39-14-22
§ 39-14-22. Enforcement of provisions.
Status: in_force

The administrator of the division of motor vehicles shall enforce the provisions of §§ 39-14-18, 39-14-19, 39-14-20(a), and 39-14-21.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-7-10 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-7 / Section 39-7-10
§ 39-7-10. Whistles in vicinity of Hamlet station.
Status: in_force

The Providence and Worcester railroad company and its lessees, the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad company, are hereby forbidden to blow or cause to be blown or permit any of its employees to blow any locomotive signal whistles along its tracks, between the Hamlet Station and the crossing over the Blackstone River next northerly thereof, except in cases of emergency and apparent danger to life and property.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-27-5 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-27 / Section 39-27-5
§ 39-27-5. Efficiency standards.
Status: in_force

(a) Not later than June 1, 2006, the commission, in consultation with the state building commissioner and the chief of energy and community services, shall adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 35 of title 42, establishing minimum efficiency standards for the types of new products set forth in §39-27-4(a). The regulations shall provide for the following minimum efficiency standards:

(1) Automatic commercial icemakers shall meet the energy efficiency requirements shown in table A-7 of §1605.3 of the California Code of Regulations, Title 20: Division 2, Chapter 4, Article 4: Appliance Efficiency Regulations as adopted on December 15, 2004.

(2) Commercial clothes washers shall meet the requirements shown in Table P-4 of §1605.3 of the California Code of Regulations, Title 20: Division 2, Chapter 4, Article 4: Appliance Efficiency Regulations in effect on December 15, 2004.

(3) Commercial pre-rinse spray valves shall have a flow rate equal to or less than one and six-tenths gallons (1.6 gals.) per minute.

(4) Commercial refrigerators, freezers, and refrigerator-freezers shall meet the minimum efficiency requirements shown in Table A-6 of §1605.3 of the California Code of Regulations, Title 20: Division 2, Chapter 4, Article 4: Appliance Efficiency Regulations as adopted on December 15, 2004, except that pulldown refrigerators with transparent doors shall meet a requirement five percent (5%) less stringent than shown in the California regulations.

(5) High-intensity discharge lamp ballasts shall not be designed and marketed to operate a mercury vapor lamp.

(6) Illuminated exit signs shall have an input power demand of five watts (5 W) or less per illuminated face.

(7) Large packaged air-conditioning equipment shall meet a minimum energy efficiency ratio of:

(i) Ten (10.0) for air conditioning without an integrated heating component or with electric resistance heating integrated into the unit;

(ii) Nine and eight tenths (9.8) for air conditioning with heating other than electric resistance integrated into the unit;

(iii) Nine and five tenths (9.5) for air conditioning with heating other than electric resistance integrated heating component or with electric resistance heating integrated into the unit;

(iv) Nine and three tenths (9.3) for air-conditioning heat pump equipment with heating other than electric resistance integrated into the unit. Large packaged air-conditioning heat pumps shall meet a minimum coefficient of performance in the heating mode of three and two tenths (3.2) (measured at a high temperature rating of forty-seven (47) degrees F db).

(8) Low-voltage dry-type distribution transformers shall meet the Class 1 efficiency levels for low-voltage distribution transformers specified in Table 4-2 of the Guide for Determining Energy Efficiency for Distribution Transformers published by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA Standard TP-1-2002).

(9) Metal-halide lamp fixtures that operate in a vertical position and are designed to be operated with lamps rated greater than or equal to one hundred fifty watts (150 W) but less than or equal to five hundred watts (500 W) shall not contain a probe-start metal-halide lamp ballast.

(10) Single-voltage external AC to DC power supplies shall meet the tier-one energy-efficiency requirements shown in Table U-1 of §1605.3 of the California Code of Regulations, Title 20: Division 2, Chapter 4, Article 4: Appliance Efficiency Regulations as adopted on December 15, 2004. This standard applies to single-voltage AC to DC power supplies that are sold individually and to those that are sold as a component of or in conjunction with another product. Single-voltage external AC to DC power supplies that are made available by a product manufacturer as service parts or spare parts for its products manufactured prior to January 1, 2008, shall be exempt from this provision.

(11) Torchieres shall not use more than one hundred ninety watts (190 W). A torchiere shall be deemed to use more than one hundred ninety watts (190 W) if any commercially available lamp or combination of lamps can be inserted in its socket(s) and cause the torchiere to draw more than one hundred ninety watts (190 W) when operated at full brightness.

(12) Traffic signal modules shall meet the product specification of the Energy Star Program Requirements for Traffic Signals developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that took effect in February 2001 and shall be installed with compatible, electronically-connected signal-control interface devices and conflict-monitoring systems.

(13) Unit heaters shall be equipped with an intermittent ignition device and shall have either power venting or an automatic flue damper.

(b) Not later than June 1, 2007, the commission, in consultation with the state building commissioner and the chief of energy and community services, shall adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 35 of title 42, establishing minimum efficiency standards for the types of new products set forth in §39-27-4(b). The regulations shall provide for the following minimum efficiency standards.

(1) Bottle-type water dispensers designed for dispensing both hot and cold water shall not have standby energy consumption greater than one and two-tenths kilowatt-hours (1.2 KWh) per day.

(2) Commercial hot food holding cabinets shall have a maximum idle energy rate of forty watts (40 W) per cubic foot of interior volume.

(3)(i) Residential furnaces and residential boilers shall comply with the following Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE) and electricity ratio values:

(ii) The chief of energy and community services shall adopt rules to provide for exemptions from compliance with the foregoing residential furnace or residential boiler AFUE standards at any building, site, or location where complying with the standards would be in conflict with any local zoning ordinance, fire code, building or plumbing code, or other rule regarding installation and venting of residential furnaces or residential boilers.

(iii) The provisions of subsection (b) shall be effective upon determination by the chief of energy and community services that the same or substantial corresponding standards have been enacted in two (2) New England states.

(4)(i) State-regulated incandescent reflector lamps shall meet the minimum average lamp efficacy requirements for federally-regulated incandescent reflector lamps contained in 42 U.S.C. §6295(i)(1)(B).

(ii) The following types of incandescent reflector lamps are exempt from these requirements:

(A) Lamps, rated at fifty watts (50 W) or less of the following types: BR30, BR40, ER30, and ER40;

(B) Lamps, rated at sixty-five watts (65 W) of the following types: BR30, BR40, and ER40; and

(C) R20 lamps of forty-five watts (45 W) or less.

(5)(i) Walk-in refrigerators and walk-in freezers with the applicable motor types shown in the table below shall include the required components shown.

(ii) In addition to the requirements in subsection (b)(5)(i), walk-in refrigerators and walk-in freezers with transparent reach-in doors shall meet the following requirements: transparent reach-in doors shall be of triple-pane glass with either heat-reflective treated glass or gas fill; if the appliance has an anti-sweat heater without anti-sweat controls, then: the appliance shall have a total door rail, glass, and frame heater power draw of no more than forty watts (40 W) if it is a freezer or seventeen watts (17 W) if it is a refrigerator per foot of door frame width; and if the appliance has an anti-sweat heater with anti-sweat heat controls, and the total door rail, glass, and frame heater power draw is more than forty watts (40 W) if it is a freezer or seventeen watts (17 W) if it is a refrigerator per foot of door frame width, then: the anti-sweat heat controls shall reduce the energy use of the anti-sweat heater in an amount corresponding to the relative humidity in the air outside the door or to the condensation on the inner-glass pane.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-18-4 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-18 / Section 39-18-4
§ 39-18-4. Powers and duties of the authority.
Status: in_force

(a) The authority is hereby authorized and empowered:

(1) To adopt bylaws for the regulation of its affairs and the conduct of its business;

(2) To adopt an official seal and alter the seal at pleasure;

(3) To maintain an office at such place or places within the state as it may designate;

(4) To sue and be sued in its own name, plead, and be impleaded; provided, however, that any and all actions against the authority shall be brought only in the county in which the principal office of the authority shall be located;

(5) To acquire, purchase, hold, use, and dispose of any property, real, personal, or mixed, tangible or intangible, or any interest therein, necessary or desirable for carrying out the purposes of the authority, and to lease as lessee or lessor any property, real, personal, or mixed, or any interest therein, for such term and at such rental as the authority may deem fair and reasonable, and to sell, transfer, convey, mortgage, or give a security interest in any property, real, personal, or mixed, tangible or intangible, or any interest therein, at any time acquired by the authority;

(6) To employ, in its discretion, planning, architectural, and engineering consultants, attorneys, accountants, construction, financial, transportation, and traffic experts and consultants, superintendents, managers, and such other officers, employees, and agents as may be necessary in its judgment, and to fix their compensation;

(7)(i) To fix, from time to time, subject to the provisions of this chapter, schedules and such rates of fare and charges for service furnished or operated as in its judgment are best adopted to ensure sufficient income to meet the cost of service; provided, however, the authority is not empowered to operate a passenger vehicle under its control in competition with passenger vehicles of a private carrier over routes that the private carrier operates pursuant to a certificate of public convenience and necessity issued to the private carrier by the division of public utilities and carriers; and provided further that the authority shall not require any person who meets the means-test criteria as defined by the Rhode Island office of healthy aging and who is either sixty-five (65) years of age, or over, or who is a person with a disability to pay more than one-half (Â½) of any fare for bus rides; provided, however, that under no circumstances shall fares or charges for special service routes be discounted. Any person who is either sixty-five (65) years of age, or over, or who is a person with a disability, who does not satisfy the means-test criteria as heretofore provided, shall only be required to pay one-half (Â½) of the fare or charge for bus rides during off-peak hours, but shall not be eligible for a reduction during peak hours. For the purposes of this chapter, peak hours, off-peak hours, and special service routes shall be determined annually by the authority. The authority, in conjunction with the department of human services, shall establish an advisory committee comprised of seniors/persons with disabilities who are constituent users of the authoritys services to assist in the implementation of this section;

(ii) Any person who accompanies and is assisting a person with a disability when the person with a disability uses a wheelchair shall be eligible for the same price exemptions extended to a person with a disability by subsection (a)(7)(i). The cost to the authority for providing the service to the elderly shall be paid by the state;

(iii) Any person who accompanies and is assisting a passenger who is blind or visually impaired shall be eligible for the same price exemptions extended to the passenger who is blind or visually impaired by subsection (a)(7)(i). The cost to the authority for providing the service to the elderly shall be paid by the state;

(iv) The authority shall be authorized and empowered to charge a fare for any paratransit services required by the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq., in accordance with 49 C.F.R. Part 37;

(8) To borrow money and to issue bonds of the authority for any of its purposes including, without limitation, the borrowing of money in anticipation of the issuance of bonds or the receipt of any operating revenues or other funds or property to be received by the authority, and the financing of property to be owned by others and used, in whole or substantial part, by the authority for any of its purposes, all as may, from time to time, be authorized by resolution of the authority; the bonds to contain on their face a statement to the effect that neither the state nor any municipality or other political subdivision of the state shall be obligated to pay the same or the interest thereon;

(9) To enter into management contracts for the operation, management, and supervision of any or all transit properties under the jurisdiction of the authority, and to make and enter into all contracts and agreements necessary or incidental to the performance of its duties and the execution of its powers under this chapter;

(10) Without limitation of the foregoing, to borrow money from, to receive and accept grants for or in aid of the purchase, leasing, improving, equipping, furnishing, maintaining, repairing, constructing, and operating of transit property, and to enter into contracts, leases, or other transactions with any federal agency; and to receive and accept from the state, from any municipality, or other political subdivision thereof, and from any other source, aid or contributions of either money, property, labor, or other things of value, to be held, used, and applied only for the purposes for which the grants and contributions may be made;

(11) To acquire in the name of the authority, by negotiated purchase or otherwise, on such terms and conditions and in such manner as it may deem proper, or by the exercise of the power of condemnation to the extent only and in the manner as provided in this chapter, public and private lands, including public parks, playgrounds or reservations, or parts thereof, or rights therein, rights-of-way, property rights, easements, and interests as it may deem necessary for carrying out the provisions of this chapter; provided, however, that all public property damaged in carrying out the powers granted by this chapter shall be restored or repaired and placed in its original condition as nearly as practicable;

(12) To contract with any municipality, public or private company or organization, whereby the authority will receive a subsidy to avoid discontinuance of service, and each municipality within the state is hereby authorized to make and enter into such contracts and to make, grant, or give to the authority a subsidy in such amount and for such period of time as it may deem advisable;

(13) To operate open-door service from Rhode Island to and from locations in Massachusetts and Connecticut that are within five (5) miles of the Rhode Island border; and

(14) To do all things necessary, convenient, or desirable to carry out the purposes of this chapter.

(b) To effectuate the purposes of this chapter the authority shall have the following duties:

(1) To participate in and contribute to transportation planning initiatives that are relevant to the purposes of the authority;

(2) To plan, coordinate, develop, operate, maintain, and manage a statewide public transit system consistent with the purposes of the authority, including plans to meet demands for public transit where such demand, current or prospective, exceeds supply and/or availability of public transit services;

(3) To work with departments, agencies, authorities, and corporations of federal, state, and local government, public and private institutions, businesses, nonprofit organizations, users of the system, and other entities and persons to coordinate public transit services and provide a seamless network of mobility options.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-3-11.3 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-3 / Section 39-3-11.3
§ 39-3-11.3. Providence Water Supply Board transfer.
Status: in_force

Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, the Providence Water Supply Board shall transfer to the general fund of the city of Providence an amount equal to five percent (5%) per annum times the annual gross revenues of the Providence Water Supply Board for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2004, and for the next two (2) succeeding fiscal years. This transfer shall not be included as part of the Providence Water Supply Boards rates approved by a final unappealable order of the public utilities commission for the same three (3) fiscal years.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-1-17 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-1 / Section 39-1-17
§ 39-1-17. Consumers council participation.
Status: in_force

In any inquiry into, or examination of, any matter wherein tariffs, rates, or charges for, or the cost of, or the quality, standard, or extent of, any service or commodities are requested by the division, and in every formal hearing conducted by the division, the consumers council shall be deemed to be an interested party for all purposes, and as such, shall receive all notices and may file complaints, institute proceedings, participate as a party in administrative hearings, and institute or participate in any appeal to the supreme court as an aggrieved party.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-12-12 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-12 / Section 39-12-12
§ 39-12-12. Establishment of rates and charges of common carriers  Rate discrimination  Rebates.
Status: in_force

It shall be the duty of every common carrier of property by motor vehicle to establish, observe, and enforce just, reasonable, and reasonably compensatory rates, charges, and classification, and reasonable regulations and practices relating thereto, which shall become effective on a date fixed by the carrier, which shall be at least thirty (30) days after the filing of the tariff containing the rates, charges, and classification, unless suspended by the administrator, prior to the effective date of the tariff or classification, upon complaint of any person, organization, or body politic or by the administrator on his or her own motion. No change shall be made in any rate, charge, classification, or any rule, regulation, or practice affecting the rate, charge, or classification, or the value of the service thereunder specified in any tariff of a common carrier by motor vehicle, except after thirty (30) days notice of the proposed change filed and posted in accordance with § 39-12-11. The notice shall plainly state the changes proposed to be made and the time when the change will take effect. The administrator, in his or her discretion and for good cause shown, may allow the publication of rates or charges or a change in classification therein, upon notice less than that specified in this section, or may modify the requirements of this section with respect to the posting and filing of tariffs and classifications, either in particular instances or by general order applicable to special or peculiar circumstances or conditions. The administrator, after a hearing, may establish, from time to time, such reasonable rules and regulations as he or she may deem necessary pertaining to the form of tariffs, classifications, or supplements thereto; the time and manner of filing thereof; the suspension of rates before the rates become effective; and bearing upon the validity of any filed or existing rate. No common carrier of property by motor vehicle shall charge or demand or collect or receive a greater or less compensation for transportation or any service in connection therewith between points enumerated in the tariff than the rates and charges specified in the filed tariffs in effect at the time; and no carrier shall refund or remit in any manner or by any device, directly or indirectly, or through any other person, any portion of the rates or charges so specified, or extend to any person any privileges or facilities for transportation in intrastate commerce, except such as are specified in its tariffs.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-9-7 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-9 / Section 39-9-7
§ 39-9-7. Award of commissioners to determine terms of services and facilities.
Status: in_force

The compensation of the commissioners for services and expenses under § 39-9-6 shall be paid by the respective corporations in proportions as the commissioners shall determine and set forth as a part of their award; the award shall be returned to the court, and be subject to revision in all matters of law arising thereon, and the court may, by injunction or other suitable order, compel the performance of any final order of the commissioners, or of the court, under the provisions of § 39-9-6.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-15-8 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-15 / Section 39-15-8
§ 39-15-8. Jury trial on damages.
Status: in_force

Upon the payment of the fees provided in § 39-15-7, the clerk of the superior court shall open the report of the commissioners, and the report may be examined by any person interested in the report. Any person or party aggrieved by any award of damages by the commissioners may claim a jury trial upon any item of damages thereby awarded, and may file his or her claim for the trial at any time within three (3) months from the opening of the report. The claim shall stand for trial by jury upon a proper issue based upon the claim, as other cases upon the docket of the court, and shall be tried in the court in every respect as other cases are there tried, including the right to object to rulings and to move for new trials for cause; and execution may be awarded thereon as in other cases; but if the party claiming the jury trial shall not therein obtain an award for damages more favorable to him or her than that given by the commissioners, he or she shall pay costs to the adverse party.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-18-22 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-18 / Section 39-18-22
§ 39-18-22. State appropriations.
Status: reserved

The general assembly shall appropriate annually a sum for the financial support of the operating expenses of the Rhode Island public transit authority from certain proceeds of the motor fuel tax reserved for this purpose pursuant to § 31-36-20. The total amount of state subsidy disbursements in any fiscal year shall not exceed the appropriation for that year. In the event that dedicated motor fuel tax revenues received during a fiscal year are not sufficient to support the appropriation for that year, the difference shall be transferred from the proceeds of the motor fuel tax imposed by chapter 36 of title 31. Funds appropriated to the authority pursuant to this section shall be administered by the department of transportation in accordance with procedures established jointly by the departments of transportation and administration. The authority shall annually submit to the department of transportation a comprehensive budget request for funds for the ensuing fiscal year. Prior to the beginning of each fiscal year, the authority shall enter into an agreement with the departments of administration and transportation establishing the conditions for payment of the available state and federal subsidies. The director of administration is authorized, from time to time, to advance funds from the general fund to the Rhode Island public transit authority to be used for the purpose of this section, in anticipation of transfers from the revenues reserved pursuant to § 31-36-20, provided that the aggregate of all advances less transfers, at any one time, shall not exceed the total amount of the annual appropriation.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-8-1.3 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-8 / Section 39-8-1.3
§ 39-8-1.3. Authorization for private crossing.
Status: in_force

No railroad owning railroad tracks within the state shall enter into any agreement of any nature whatsoever with any private party for the establishment of a private crossing at grade, unless and until the railroad shall have obtained permission from the commission for the establishment of the private crossing.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-12-28 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-12 / Section 39-12-28
§ 39-12-28. Bill of lading requirements  Liability for damages.
Status: in_force

Any common carrier subject to the provisions of this chapter, receiving property for transportation between points within this state, shall issue a receipt or bill of lading therefor, and shall be liable to the lawful holder thereof for any loss, damage, or injury to the property caused by it or by any other common carrier to which the property may be delivered or over whose line or lines the property may pass within this state when transported on a through bill of lading, and any common carrier so receiving property for transportation between points within this state or any common carrier delivering the property so received and transported shall be liable to the lawful holder of the receipt or bill of lading or to any party entitled to recover thereon, whether the receipt or bill of lading has been issued or not, for the actual loss, damage, or injury to the property caused by it or by any common carrier to which the property may be delivered or over whose line or lines the property may pass within this state when transported on a through bill of lading notwithstanding any limitation of liability or limitation of the amount of recovery or representation or agreement as to value in any receipt or bill of lading, or any contract, rule, regulation, or in any tariff filed with the administrator; and the limitation without respect to the manner or form in which it is sought to be made is hereby declared to be unlawful and void; provided, however, that the provisions hereof respecting liability for full actual loss, damage, or injury, notwithstanding any limitation of liability or recovery or representation or agreement or release as to value and declaring any limitation to be unlawful and void, shall not apply to property received for transportation concerning which the motor carrier shall have been or shall hereafter be expressly authorized or required by order of the administrator to establish and maintain rates dependent upon the value declared in writing by the shipper or agreed upon in writing as the released value of the property, in which case the declaration or agreement shall have no other effect than to limit liability and recovery to an amount not exceeding the value so declared or released; and any tariff or schedule which may be filed with the administrator pursuant to the order shall contain specific reference thereto and may establish rates varying with the value so declared and agreed upon; and the administrator is hereby empowered to make the order in cases where rates dependent upon and varying with declared or agreed value would, in his or her opinion, be just and reasonable under the circumstances surrounding the transportation; provided, further, that nothing in this chapter shall deprive any holder of a receipt or bill of lading of any remedy or right of action which he or she has under existing law; provided, further, that it shall be unlawful for any motor common carrier to provide by rule, contract, regulation, or otherwise, a shorter period for the filing of claims than nine (9) months, and for the institution of suits than two (2) years, the period for institution of suits to be computed from the day when notice in writing is given by the carrier to the claimant that the carrier has disallowed the claim or any part or parts thereof specified in the notice; and, provided, further, that the liability imposed in this section shall also apply to property reconsigned or diverted in accordance with the applicable tariff filed as in this chapter provided. The common carrier issuing the receipt or bill of lading, or delivering the property so received and transported, shall be entitled to recover from the common carrier over whose lines the loss, damage, or injury shall have been sustained, the amount of the loss, damage, or injury as it may be required to pay to the owners of the property, as may be evidenced by any receipt, judgment, or transcript thereof, and the amount of any expense reasonably incurred by it in defending the action at law brought by the owners of the property.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-27-6 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-27 / Section 39-27-6
§ 39-27-6. Implementation.
Status: in_force

(a) No new commercial clothes washer, commercial pre-rinse spray valve, high-intensity discharge lamp ballast, illuminated exit sign, low-voltage dry-type distribution transformer, torchiere, traffic signal module, or unit heater after January 1, 2007, may be sold or offered for sale in the state unless the efficiency of the new product meets or exceeds the efficiency standards set forth in the regulations adopted pursuant to § 39-27-5. No bottle-type water dispenser, commercial hot food holding cabinet, metal-halide lamp fixture, single-voltage external AC to DC power supply, state-regulated incandescent reflector lamp, or walk-in refrigerator or walk-in freezer manufactured on or after January 1, 2008, may be sold or offered for sale in the state unless the efficiency of the new product meets or exceeds the efficiency standards set forth in the regulations adopted pursuant to § 39-27-5. No new automatic commercial icemaker, commercial refrigerator, refrigerator-freezer, or freezer or large packaged air-conditioning equipment manufactured on or after January 1, 2010, may be sold or offered for sale in the state unless the efficiency of the new product meets or exceeds the efficiency standards set forth in the regulations adopted pursuant to § 39-27-5.

(b) No later than six (6) months after the effective date of this chapter, the chief of energy and community services, in consultation with the attorney general, shall determine if implementation of state standards for residential furnaces and residential boilers requires a waiver from federal preemption. If the chief of energy and community services determines that a waiver from federal preemption is not needed, then no new residential furnace or residential boiler manufactured on or after January 1, 2008, or the date that is one year after the date of the determination, if later, may be sold or offered for sale in the state unless the efficiency of the new product meets or exceeds the efficiency standards set forth in the regulations adopted pursuant to § 39-27-5. If the chief of energy and community services determines that a waiver from federal preemption is required, then the chief of energy and community services shall apply for the waiver within one year of the determination and upon approval of such waiver application, the applicable state standards shall go into effect at the earliest date permitted by federal law.

(c) One year after the date upon which sale or offering for sale of certain products is limited pursuant to this section, no new products may be installed for compensation in the state unless the efficiency of the new product meets or exceeds the efficiency standards set forth in the regulations adopted pursuant to § 39-27-5.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-19-10 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-19 / Section 39-19-10
§ 39-19-10. Installation of cable television, telephone, telecommunications, or information service in multiple dwelling or commercial units.
Status: in_force

Pursuant to the legislative intent that a tenant in a multiple dwelling unit shall have the freedom and right to select the provider of cable television, telephone, telecommunications, or information service to their living unit, without any restraints, limitations, or conditions imposed by a landlord, and to enable CATV operators or other telephone, telecommunications, or information service providers to offer meaningful choices to tenants of multiple dwelling or commercial units, a tenant in a multiple dwelling unit may subscribe to CATV, telephone, telecommunications, or information service, subject to the following provisions:

(1) A CATV operator or other telephone, telecommunications, or information service provider that affixes or causes to be affixed CATV, telephone, telecommunications, or information facilities to the dwelling or commercial unit of a tenant shall (i) Do so at no cost to the landlord of the dwelling, (ii) Indemnify the landlord for damages, if any, arising from the installation and/or the continued operation thereof, and (iii) Not interfere with the safety, functioning, appearance, or use of the dwelling or commercial unit, nor interfere with the reasonable rules and regulations of the owner dealing with the day-to-day operations of the property, including the owners reasonable access rules for soliciting business. Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit a landlord from contracting with the CATV operator or other telephone, telecommunications, or information service provider for work in addition to standard installation.

(2) No CATV operator or landlord shall enter into any agreement with persons owning, leasing, controlling, or managing a building served by a CATV system or perform any act that would directly or indirectly diminish or interfere with the rights of any tenant to use a master or individual antenna system.

(3)(i) A CATV operator or other telephone, telecommunications, or information service provider shall have the landlords consent to affix CATV system facilities that are necessary to either offer or provide service to a tenants dwelling or commercial unit by delivery to the owner, in person or by certified mail, return receipt requested, of a copy of this section and a signed statement that the CATV operator or other telephone, telecommunications, or information service provider will be bound by the terms of this section to the owner or lawful agent of the property upon which the CATV system facilities are to be affixed. A CATV operator or other telephone, telecommunications, or information service provider shall be permitted to affix CATV systems facilities pursuant to this subsection prior to receiving a request for service from a tenant.

(ii) The CATV operator or other service provider shall present and review with the owner prior to any installation, plans and specifications for the installation, and shall abide by reasonable installation requests by the owner. The CATV operator or other telephone, telecommunications, or information service provider will inspect the premises with the owner after installation to ensure conformance with the plans and specifications. The owner may waive, in writing, the prior presentation of the plans and specifications. The CATV operator or other telephone, telecommunications, or information service provider shall be responsible for the maintenance of any equipment installed on the owners premises and shall be entitled to reasonable access for maintenance. The CATV operator or other service provider shall also, prior to any installation, provide, upon the request of the owner, a certificate of insurance covering all the employees or agents of the installer, CATV operator, or other service provider as well as all equipment of the operator or other telephone, telecommunications, or information service provider.

(4) If the owner of any such real estate intends to require the payment of any sum in excess of a nominal amount, herein defined as one dollar ($1.00), in exchange for permitting the installation of CATV, telephone, telecommunications, or information system facilities to the dwelling or commercial unit of a tenant, the owner shall notify the CATV operator or other service provider by certified mail, return receipt requested, within twenty (20) days of the date on which the owner is notified that the CATV operator or other telephone, telecommunications, or information service provider intends to extend CATV telephone, telecommunications, or information system facilities to the dwelling or commercial unit of a tenant of the owners real estate. Absent such notice, it will be conclusively presumed that the owner will not require payment in excess of the nominal amount specified in this subsection for the connection.

(5) If the owner gives notice, the owner will, within thirty (30) days after giving notice, advise the CATV operator or other service provider in writing of the amount the owner claims as compensation for affixing CATV, telephone, telecommunications, or information system facilities to his or her real estate. If within thirty (30) days after receipt of the owners claim for compensation the CATV operator or other telephone, telecommunications, or information service provider has not agreed to accept the owners demand, the owner may bring an action in the superior court for the county in which the real estate is located to enforce the owners claim for compensation. The action shall be brought within six (6) months of the date on which the owner first made a demand upon the CATV operator or other telephone, telecommunications, or information service provider for compensation and not thereafter.

(6) It shall be presumed that reasonable compensation therefor shall be the nominal amount, but the presumption may be rebutted and overcome by evidence that the owner has a specific alternative use for the space occupied by CATV or other telephone, telecommunications, or information system facilities or equipment, the loss of which shall result in a monetary loss to the owner, or that installation of CATV or other telephone, telecommunications, or information system facilities or equipment upon the multiple dwelling or commercial unit will otherwise substantially interfere with the use and occupancy of the unit to an extent that causes a decrease in the resale or rental value of the real estate. In determining the damages to any real estate injured when no part of it is being taken, consideration is to be given only to such injury as is special and peculiar to the real estate, and there shall be deducted therefrom the amount of any benefit to the real estate by reason of the installation of CATV, telephone, telecommunications, or information system facilities.

(7) None of the foregoing steps to claim or enforce a demand for compensation in excess of the nominal amount shall impair or delay the right of the CATV operator, or other service provider to install, maintain, or remove CATV system facilities to a tenants dwelling or commercial unit on the real estate. The superior court shall have original jurisdiction to enforce the provisions of this subsection.

(i) In the event that the superior court determines that any individual or entity has unreasonably interfered with the rights granted to tenants, CATV operators, or other service providers as set forth in this subsection, the superior court may award the party seeking enforcement its reasonable attorneys fees and costs.

(ii) Nothing contained herein shall impair the right of a tenant of a multiple dwelling unit or a CATV operator, or other telephone, telecommunications, or information service provider to pursue any other remedies that may be available at law or in equity.

(8) It shall be an unfair trade practice under chapter 13.1 of title 6 for any person owning, leasing, or managing any multiple dwelling unit served by a CATV system or other telephone, telecommunications, or information service provider to discriminate in rental charges or other charges to tenants based on the tenants subscription to a CATV, telephone, telecommunications, or information service from and after June 25, 1986, or to demand or accept payment, except as provided in this section, for the affixing of CATV, telephone, telecommunications, or information facilities to a tenants dwelling or commercial unit; provided, however, that this subsection shall not apply to contracts entered into on or before June 25, 1986.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-1-27.1 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-1 / Section 39-1-27.1
§ 39-1-27.1. Retail electric licensing commission plan requirements and nonregulated power producer registration requirements.
Status: in_force

(a) The retail electric licensing commission shall, by January 1, 1997, submit a plan to the legislature that shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

(1) A recommendation for taxing and/or assessing electric distribution companies, electric transmission companies, and nonregulated power producers;

(2) Recommendations regarding changes to the regional power pool that would facilitate the creation of an independent system operator and voluntary power exchange; and

(3) Proposals for consumer protections, access to books and records, and other requirements the retail electric licensing commission determines to be reasonable, necessary, and in the public interest.

(b)(1) On or before January 1, 1997, the public utilities commission shall establish regulations applicable to nonregulated power producers that are selling electricity in this state that are necessary to meet (directly or through contract) the operating and reliability standards of the regional power pool.

(2) In addition, the public utilities commission shall participate in all proceedings before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission with respect to the modification and/or termination of wholesale all requirements contracts in place as of January 1, 1996, between electric-distribution companies operating in this state and their affiliated power suppliers. The purpose of this participation is to ensure that termination fees payable by ultimate customers in this state are determined in accordance with the provisions of § 39-1-27.4. To facilitate this participation, the public utilities commission is authorized to assess electric-distribution companies under its jurisdiction for its reasonable expenses incurred in connection with its participation in those proceedings, up to a maximum of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) per year, which assessments shall be in addition to all other assessments authorized by this title.

(3) On January 1, 1998, and annually for the next four (4) years thereafter, the public utilities commission shall transmit to the governor, the speaker of the house, and the president of the senate, a report detailing: developments in the competitive power supply market in this state; estimated savings realized by customers as a result of the introduction of retail competition in the power supply market; progress towards implementation of a regional transmission agreement for New England and other reforms implemented by the regional power pool; and the status of electric industry restructuring activities in the other New England states and any recommendations for statutory changes.

(c) All nonregulated power producers seeking to engage in the retail sale of electricity in this state must file with the division of public utilities and carriers a notarized registration application that includes the information identified below and any additional information required by the division of public utilities and carriers pursuant to regulations issued to protect the public interest in connection with the registration of entities seeking to sell electricity at retail:

(1) Legal name;

(2) Business address;

(3) The name of the state where organized; the date of organization; a copy of the articles of incorporation, association, partnership agreement, or other similar document regarding legal organization;

(4) Name and business address of all officers and directors, partners, or other similar officials;

(5) Name, title, and telephone number of customer-service contact person;

(6) Name, title, and telephone number of regulatory contact person;

(7) Name, title, and address of registered agent for service of process;

(8) Brief description of the nature of business being conducted; and

(9) Evidence of financial soundness, except those nonregulated power producers that may be obligated entities under § 39-26-2(17) shall provide security such as a surety bond or other financial instrument showing evidence of liquid funds, such as a certificate of deposit, an irrevocable letter of credit, a line of credit, a loan, or guarantees in an amount specified by the division, pursuant to rules and regulations promulgated by the division on or before February 1, 2017, provided that the amount be not less than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000), nor more than five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000). The financial instrument shall name the public utilities commission and division of public utilities and carriers as obligees. Financial security shall be reviewed each year at the time a nonregulated power producer makes its annual filing. The financial security shall be available to satisfy penalties assessed by the division for violations of any consumer-protection rules or laws related to nonregulated power producers; refunds ordered by the division; or failure to comply with the provisions of chapter 26 of this title, as determined by the public utilities commission. Payments made pursuant to this subsection for violation of the provisions of § 39-26-4 shall be forfeited, and shall be remitted to the renewable energy development fund established in § 39-26-7, or any successor funds, and all other forfeitures will be remitted to the states general fund.

(d) Copies of all filings pursuant to subsection (c) shall be served upon the commission and all electric distribution companies. Updated information shall be filed within ten (10) days of any change to the information included in a registration application, as filed or previously updated. Registration applications filed pursuant to subsection (c) shall become effective thirty (30) days after filing with the division, unless rejected during the thirty-day (30) period. If the division should reject a registration application, it shall specify the applicable reasons in writing and, if practicable, identify alternative ways to overcome any deficiencies. After an opportunity of a hearing, the division may rescind a nonregulated power producers registration for cause. Nonregulated power producers shall be authorized to do business in this state after their registration becomes effective and while it remains in good standing.

(e) A filing fee of one hundred dollars ($100) shall accompany all registration applications filed pursuant to subsection (c). Nonregulated power producers shall thereafter renew their registrations with the division on an annual basis. Applications for renewal shall be filed before the close of business on December 31 of each calendar year. Applications for renewal shall specify any changes in previously filed registration information. A filing fee of one hundred dollars ($100) shall accompany all applications for renewal of nonregulated power producer status.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-14-8 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-14 / Section 39-14-8
§ 39-14-8. Base of operations of limited public vehicles.
Status: in_force

A limited public motor vehicle may only be operated from private property if the property is owned by the owner of the vehicle or is used exclusively for the purpose of transportation of passengers for hire and is leased by the owner of the vehicle; but no vehicle shall be operated from any taxicab stand on any public highway; nor shall the operator thereof transport any passenger for hire unless the transportation is requested by the passenger at an office of the owner of the vehicle, either personally or by telephone.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-26-9 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-26 / Section 39-26-9
§ 39-26-9. Energy source disclosure requirements.
Status: in_force

(a) The commission shall, by March 31, 2005, establish and enforce right-to-know regulations requiring any obligated entity to distribute energy source disclosures to all customers of each electrical energy product offered.

(b) The energy source disclosure shall indicate what sources of energy were used to generate electricity for each electrical energy product, expressed as a percentage of the total amount of energy used towards each electrical energy product. The energy source disclosure shall show the percentages of energy obtained from each of the eligible renewable energy resources, as well as the percentage of energy obtained from nuclear plants, natural gas, oil (which may include any fossil fuel), hydroelectric plants that are not eligible renewable energy resources, coal, and any other sources that the commission may require to be included. The energy source disclosure shall also indicate the emissions created as a result of generating the electricity.

(c) Energy source disclosures shall be distributed to consumers on a quarterly basis. The obligated entities shall be allowed to recover in rates all incremental costs associated with preparation and distribution of the disclosure label.

(d) The commission shall allow for or require the use of NE-GIS certificates for the calculation of the energy source disclosure.

(e) The energy source disclosure presented to any particular end-use customer shall take into consideration and account for voluntary purchases of generation attributes or related products, including purchases made by the end-use customer from providers other than the obligated entity, even if the end-use customer is billed by the obligated entity and also served by that obligated entitys electrical energy product.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-14-5 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-14 / Section 39-14-5
§ 39-14-5. Certification of businesses previously established.
Status: in_force

The business of operating any limited public motor vehicle actually established in any city or town on or before February 15, 1956, and in continuous operation from that date to the date of application, shall be presumed to be required by public convenience and necessity, and certificates for operation shall be issued as a matter of right without public hearing, the provisions of § 39-14-4 notwithstanding; provided, however, that the certificates shall be limited to the number of public service registrations in effect, or for which applications were on file in the division of motor vehicles on April 27, 1956, at five oclock (5:00) p.m. Pending the issuance of the certificates by the division, the continued operation by the applicant shall be lawful.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-6-16 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-6 / Section 39-6-16
§ 39-6-16. Conversion to electric power operation.
Status: in_force

Railroad corporations that are subject to the provisions of this chapter, whose roads are now operated by power other than electricity, may operate or contract for the operation of their roads with electric power, in such manner and with such changes in their roadbed or tracks as they may find best adapted thereto.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-32-4 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-32 / Section 39-32-4
§ 39-32-4. Action on permit applications.
Status: in_force

(a) An authority shall approve an application for a permit under this chapter unless the collocation does not meet applicable building or electrical codes or, if applicable, standards for construction in the right-of-way, provided such codes and standards are of general applicability. The authority must document the basis for any denial, including the specific code provisions or standards on which the denial was based, and send the documentation to the applicant on or before the day the authority denies an application. The applicant may cure the deficiencies identified by the authority and resubmit the application within thirty (30) days of the denial without paying an additional processing fee. The authority shall approve or deny the revised application within thirty (30) days. Any subsequent denial shall be limited to the deficiencies cited in the original denial. Where one or more locations addressed in a consolidated application do not meet the criteria of this section, the authority shall allow the application as to all other locations.

(b) An application shall be deemed approved if the authority fails to approve or deny the application within sixty (60) days of submission. If the authority notifies the applicant within fourteen (14) days after the initial submission that the application is incomplete and reasonably identifies at that time the information that is lacking, the time period stated above shall be tolled during the time it takes the applicant to respond. No other request for additional information shall toll such time periods.

(c) A person whose application or revised application is denied by an authority may appeal to the superior court within thirty (30) days of the denial. The superior court shall have jurisdiction to determine all disputes arising under this chapter.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-33-5 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-33 / Section 39-33-5
§ 39-33-5. Administrative expense.
Status: in_force

The commission is authorized to hire one or more consultants to assist with each task set forth in this chapter and may assess its actual costs to each electric distribution company as defined in § 39-1-2 that has greater than one hundred thousand (100,000) customers in a manner to be determined by the commission.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-13-4 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-13 / Section 39-13-4
§ 39-13-4. Application for certificate  Fee  Domicile of applicant.
Status: in_force

A certificate shall be issued only after written application for a certificate, accompanied by a fee of two hundred and fifty dollars ($250), has been made by the owner of the jitney; provided, however, that this fee shall not apply to any city or town, or any agency or department of any city or town of the state, or any nonprofit jitney service utilized for the transportation of senior citizens. All revenues received under this section shall be deposited as general revenues. No certificate shall be issued to any person who is not a citizen resident within this state, nor to any association, unless all members of the association are citizens resident within this state, nor to any corporation, unless either all stockholders thereof are citizens resident within this state or the corporation has been created by a special act of the general assembly, upon petition for the same, the pendency of which petition shall be notified in such manner as the general assembly may by general law or special act prescribe.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-3-41 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-3 / Section 39-3-41
§ 39-3-41. Regulations for pay-per-call services.
Status: in_force

(a) The commission may promulgate reasonable regulations concerning the offering of pay-per-call services to customers within the state. The regulations may include advertising standards, conditions under which charges for pay-per-call services may be adjusted or waived along with other restrictions or requirements that the commission determines are necessary to protect consumers reasonable access to pay-per-call services.

(b) For the purposes of this section, pay-per-call service means any passive, interactive, polling, conference, or other similar audiotext service that is accessed by telephone, through a 900 area or exchange code or otherwise, and generates a service-related fee billed to a telephone customer via a telephone common carrier or local exchange telephone company in the customers normal monthly bill for telephone service.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-12-6 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-12 / Section 39-12-6
§ 39-12-6. Requirement of certificate of public convenience and necessity for common carriers  Application.
Status: in_force

Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, no person shall engage in the business of transporting property for compensation in intrastate commerce over the publicly used highways as a common carrier, unless there shall be in force with respect to the carrier a certificate of public convenience and necessity issued by the administrator authorizing the operations. Every person proposing to operate as a common carrier shall file with the administrator, in the form to be provided by him or her, an application for a certificate, accompanied by a fee of two hundred and fifty dollars ($250). All revenues received under this section shall be deposited as general revenues. Each application for a certificate shall be made in writing; shall be verified by oath or written declaration that it is made under penalties of perjury; and shall contain such information as the administrator may require. The administrator shall, within a reasonable time, fix the time and place of hearing on every application. Notice of the hearing shall be given by publication or by written notice mailed by the administrator at least ten (10) days before the date fixed thereof to all common carriers, including railroad companies, if any, serving any part of the route or territory proposed to be served by the applicant; to each person filing with the administrator a written request for the notice; and to any other person who may, in the opinion of the administrator, be interested in or affected by the issuance of the certificate. The copy of the notice, including a list of the applications to be heard, shall be publicly posted in the office of the administrator. Any person having an interest in the matter shall have the right, in accordance with rules prescribed therefor by the administrator, to make representations and to introduce evidence in favor of or in opposition to the issuance of the certificate.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-8-10 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-8 / Section 39-8-10
§ 39-8-10. Failure to maintain flagperson or precautionary appliances.
Status: in_force

Every railroad corporation that shall refuse or neglect to comply with an order, or with a confirmation of such order upon appeal, shall, for every days neglect after seven (7) days from the date of the service of the order upon the president, treasurer, or any director of the corporation, forfeit five hundred dollars ($500), one-half (Â½) thereof to the use of the state, and one-half (Â½) thereof to the use of the city or town where the crossing is located.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-3-13 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-3 / Section 39-3-13
§ 39-3-13. Emergency suspension of rate schedules.
Status: in_force

The division shall have power, when deemed by it necessary to prevent injury to the business or interest of the people or any public utility of this state in case of any emergency to be judged of by the division, to permit any public utility to temporarily alter, amend, or suspend any existing rates, schedules, and order relating to or affecting any public utility or part of any public utility in this state.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-6-20 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-6 / Section 39-6-20
§ 39-6-20. Recording of contracts  Declaration of full payment or performance of conditions  Fees.
Status: in_force

The contracts herein authorized shall be recorded by the secretary of state in a book of records to be kept for that purpose. And on payment in full of the purchase money, and the performance of the terms and conditions stipulated in any contract, a declaration in writing to that effect may be made by the vendor, lessor, or bailor, or his or her or its assignee, which declaration may be made on the margin of the record of the contract, duly attested, or it may be made by a separate instrument, to be acknowledged by the vendor, lessor, or bailor, or his or her or its assignee, and recorded as provided in this section. And for such services, the secretary of state shall be entitled to demand and retain for the use of the state the sum of fifty cents ($.50) for each one hundred (100) words recorded, for recording each of the contracts and each of the declarations, and a fee of fifty cents ($.50) for noting the declaration on the margin of the record.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-4-24 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-4 / Section 39-4-24
§ 39-4-24. Actions for penalties and forfeitures.
Status: in_force

An action to recover a penalty or forfeiture under this chapter shall be brought in any court of competent jurisdiction in this state in the name of the state, and shall be commenced and prosecuted to final judgment by the administrator. All money recovered in any action, together with the costs thereof, shall be paid into the state treasury. Any action may be discontinued or compromised on application of the administrator upon such terms as the court shall approve and order.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-12-26 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-12 / Section 39-12-26
§ 39-12-26. Registration and identification of vehicles.
Status: in_force

Every interstate motor carrier engaged in the transportation of property for compensation over the highways of this state, subject to the provisions of this chapter, shall register and identify all vehicles to be operated in the state in accordance with the provisions contained in and mandated under the federal Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) (Public Law 109-59, enacted August 10, 2005), the Unified Carrier Registration Act of 2005 (Included within SAFETEA-LU), and the Unified Carrier Registration Agreement (UCRA) (§§ 4302  4308 of SAFETEA-LU), and/or any related successor federal law(s). All intrastate carriers not subject to the provisions of the foregoing federal law shall apply to the administrator for the issuance of a vehicle identification device for the registration and identification of vehicles and shall be assessed twenty dollars ($20.00) for each identification device for which an application is made. All revenues received shall be deposited as general revenues. The identification device shall be furnished annually to every carrier whose duty it shall be to apply for it. It shall be unlawful for any motor vehicle to be engaged in transporting property for compensation in either intrastate or interstate commerce without the owner of it having applied for and received the required identification device, unless the vehicle is exempted from the provisions of this chapter. Each identification device shall be accompanied by a registration card issued by the administrator, which shall be in the possession of the vehicles driver when the vehicle is operating. Transfers of the identification device from one vehicle to another are hereby prohibited unless authorized by the administrator. The administrator, in his or her discretion, may refuse to reissue the identification device to the holder of any certificate, permit, or permit of registration, pending any complaint or hearing upon the question of revocation or suspension or in which such question is involved. The administrator shall prescribe reasonable rules and regulations governing the registration and identification of motor vehicles authorized for operation under this chapter. Violations of this section are subject to fines enumerated in § 31-41.1-4.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-1-37.1 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-1 / Section 39-1-37.1
§ 39-1-37.1. Ratepayers advisory board.
Status: in_force

(a) There is hereby established the ratepayers advisory board. The advisory board shall consist of the following public members:

(1) Four (4) members appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives, one of whom shall represent the interests of residential ratepayers; one of whom shall represent the interests of the elderly and disabled; one of whom shall represent a community-based consumer organization representing low-income individuals; and one of whom shall represent a LIHEAP consumer.

(2) Four (4) members appointed by the senate president, one of whom shall represent the interests of residential ratepayers; one of whom shall represent a chamber of commerce; one of whom shall represent a nonprofit energy consortium of businesses; and one of whom shall represent a community action agency LIHEAP program provider.

(3) Three (3) members appointed by the governor, one of whom shall represent the LIHEAP program administration; one of whom shall represent the interests of small business owners; and one of whom shall represent the interests of residents of affordable housing.

(b) The appointments to the advisory board shall be made as follows: each appointing authority shall appoint one member to serve a term of one year, one member to serve a term of two (2) years, and one member to serve a term of three (3) years. Thereafter, each member appointed to the advisory board shall serve a three-year (3) term. The board members are eligible to succeed themselves. A vacancy, other than by expiration of a term, shall be filled in the manner of the original appointment, but only for the unexpired portion of the term.

(c) Five (5) members shall constitute a quorum. A majority vote of the board shall be required for all recommendations, advice, and approvals of the board, in accordance with this section.

(d) A board member shall not receive compensation for his or her service on the board but may receive reimbursement for travel and other necessary expenses, while engaged in the performance of official duties of the board.

(e) The board shall elect annually a chairperson and vice chairperson from among its membership.

(f) The board shall receive staff and administrative support from the division, to organize meetings and take and distribute minutes. The division shall also furnish the advisory board a suitable location to hold its meetings.

(g) The board shall meet at least quarterly and at the call of the chairperson or four (4) board members. The administrator shall be present for all board meetings to inform the board of the actions of the division and to respond to the boards inquiries.

(h) The board shall review legislative proposals and comment on existing state laws relating to residential ratepayers.

(i) The board shall advise the administrator on matters concerning residential ratepayers including, but not limited to utility shutoff policies, rate affordability, conservation measures, consumer education, smart meters and/or restricted use meters, customer service charges, legislation pending before the general assembly, and legislative initiatives.

(j) The advisory board shall issue an annual report of findings, including recommendations on current or proposed state programs, policies, regulations, and laws, to the governor and the general assembly.

(k) The board shall be subject to the provisions of chapter 2 of title 38, access to public records act, and chapter 46 of title 42, open meetings act.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-1-23 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-1 / Section 39-1-23
§ 39-1-23. Administrative expenses  Assessment against utilities.
Status: in_force

(a) The administrator shall aggregate the expenses of the division, including expenses incurred by the attorney general pursuant to § 39-1-19 and expenses incurred by the commission, for each upcoming fiscal year and shall apportion and assess these expenses among the states regulated utilities based upon approved budgets. When submitting the budget, the budget office shall clearly indicate the revenues from assessments. Included within this prospective assessment, shall be those expenses expected to be incurred by the attorney general pursuant to § 39-1-19 for the upcoming fiscal year. The expenses anticipated by the attorney general and the commission for each upcoming fiscal year shall be communicated to the administrator within thirty (30) days of request by the administrator. The administrator shall thereupon apportion and assess one hundred percent (100%) of such expenses among the several public utility companies and common carriers located in this state in the proportion that the gross intrastate-utility-operating revenues of each public utility company and common carrier shall bear to the total, gross intrastate-utility-operating revenues for the last preceding fiscal year of all public utility companies and common carriers; provided, however, that any public utility or common carrier, whose gross intrastate revenues in any fiscal year as reported to the administrator do not exceed one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), shall not be subject to the assessment under the provisions hereof; and, provided further, that all motor carriers subject to the provisions of chapters 12 and 14 of this title shall not be subject to the assessment under the provisions hereof. The sum so apportioned and assessed shall be in addition to any taxes payable to the state under any other provision of law. The assessments shall be divided between the commission and the division based upon the approved budgets.

(b) The administrator shall apply any budgetary balance or shortfalls remaining from a prior, annual assessment toward the next upcoming fiscal-year assessment to the division or the commission as appropriate.

(c) Upon collection from the several public utility companies and common carriers operating in this state, assessments and any state appropriations shall be deposited in an account to be known as the public utilities commission funding account. This fund shall be a restricted-receipt account and shall be kept by the general treasurer separately and shall be paid out by the general treasurer only upon receipt of properly authenticated vouchers signed by the administrator, or his or her designee, for the divisions share of the account. The same procedure shall be followed for the commission, except that such vouchers shall be signed by the commission chairperson, or his or her designee. The general treasurer shall provide for separate accounting of the division and commission budget and expenses. The moneys in the public-utilities fund shall be expended by the administrator or the commission, as appropriate for meeting the expenses of the operation of the commission, the division, and those expenses incurred by the attorney general, pursuant to § 39-1-19.

(d) The legislature may appropriate from the general funds such sums as are necessary for the regulation of public utilities.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-14-25 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-14 / Section 39-14-25
§ 39-14-25. Transfer of certificate.
Status: in_force

No certificate shall be sold or transferred until the administrator, upon written application setting forth the purposes, terms, and conditions of the sale or transfer, shall, after a hearing, approve the application. The application shall be accompanied by a fee of two hundred and fifty dollars ($250). All revenues received under this section shall be deposited as general revenues. A proposed transfer of a certificate shall be approved only if the administrator finds the transferee to be fit, willing, and able, financially and otherwise, to render the service described and authorized in the certificate; further, the administrator shall only reissue and transfer a certificate upon evidence that the transferor of the certificate has, during the six-month (6) period immediately prior to receipt of the transfer application, or during the six-month (6) period immediately preceding the filing of a petition for bankruptcy, whether voluntary or involuntary, or the institution of a petition for receivership, wherein the certificates are assets of the bankruptcy or receivership, been rendering the service authorized by the certificate.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-14-11 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-14 / Section 39-14-11
§ 39-14-11. Penalties for violations.
Status: in_force

(a) Any person or the officers of any association or corporation who shall violate any provision of §§ 39-14-1  39-14-17, 39-14-20(b), 39-14-25 and 39-14-26, or any order, rule, or regulation adopted or established under any provision, shall be fined not more than one hundred dollars ($100) or imprisoned not more than sixty (60) days or both, and his or her certificate may be revoked, and the violation shall be a separate and distinct offense for each day during which it shall continue.

(b) The administrator may, in his or her discretion, in addition to seeking criminal sanctions, impose upon its regulated taxicabs and limited public motor vehicles an administrative civil penalty (fine) in addition to revoking or suspending the taxicabs and limited public motor vehicles operating authority as conferred under this chapter. The fine shall not exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000) per each violation of the sections contained in this chapter or the divisions orders, rules, and regulations issued and promulgated thereunder.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-4-15 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-4 / Section 39-4-15
§ 39-4-15. Notice and proceedings on motion of division.
Status: in_force

Notice of the time and place for a hearing and investigation shall be given to the public utility and to such other interested persons as the division shall deem necessary, as provided in § 39-4-5, and thereafter the proceedings shall be had and conducted in reference to the matter investigated in like manner as though a complaint had been filed with the division relative to the matter investigated, and the same order or orders may be made in reference thereto as if the hearing and investigation had been made on a complaint.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-4-9 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-4 / Section 39-4-9
§ 39-4-9. Orders fixing rates.
Status: in_force

If, upon a hearing and investigation had under the provisions of this chapter, the division shall find any existing rates, tolls, charges, or joint rate or rates of any public utility, to be unjust, unreasonable, insufficient, or unjustly discriminatory, or to be preferential or otherwise in violation of any of the provisions of chapters 1  5 of this title, the division shall have power to fix and order a substitute therefor the rates, tolls, charges, or joint rates as shall be just and reasonable.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-2-6 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-2 / Section 39-2-6
§ 39-2-6. Repair and construction of highway bridges used by street railways.
Status: in_force

Whenever any highway bridge over which a street railway is operated shall become unsafe for public travel, the public utility operating the railway shall pay the whole expense of repairing, strengthening, or reconstructing the bridge, if the bridge would be safe for public travel if the railway were not operated over it; but, if a reconstruction of the bridge or the construction of a new bridge is required for any other cause, or if the bridge would be unsafe for public travel if the railway were not operated over it, then so much of the expense of repairing, strengthening, constructing, or reconstructing the bridge as may be equitable shall be paid by the public utility operating the railway. In the event of any disagreement between the public utility and the town or city bound by law to maintain the bridge, as to the necessity of any repair or reconstruction thereof, or as to the character of the repair or reconstruction, or as to the apportionment of the expense of the repair or reconstruction, the commission, upon application of any party in interest, and after due hearing, shall make such orders as it shall deem necessary, in the interest of public safety, for the repair, strengthening, or reconstruction of the bridge, and shall determine in accordance with the principle herein stated, the portion of the expense of the repair, strengthening, or reconstruction that shall be borne by the public utility.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-12-30 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-12 / Section 39-12-30
§ 39-12-30. Accounts, records, and reports.
Status: in_force

The administrator is hereby authorized to require annual, periodical, or special reports from all motor carriers, subject to the provisions of this chapter; to prescribe the manner and form in which the reports shall be made; and to require from the carriers specific and full, true, and correct answers to all questions upon which the administrator may deem information to be necessary. The annual reports shall give an account of the affairs of the carrier in such form and detail as may be prescribed by the administrator.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-7-11 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-7 / Section 39-7-11
§ 39-7-11. Maintenance of margins on yard tracks.
Status: in_force

(a) In order to provide railroad employees a reasonably safe place to work, it shall be the duty of all persons, firms, or corporations engaged in the operation of railroads in this state to keep and maintain those margins alongside their yard tracks, except designated clean out and repair tracks, where the railroad employees are required to walk frequently in the course of their duties, reasonably free from debris and vegetation that unreasonably affects the safety of the employees while working. This section shall be enforced by the public utilities administrator upon complaint and after due hearing.

(b) Any violation of the provisions of this section shall be deemed a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100) but not more than five hundred dollars ($500) for each separate offense.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-32-6 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-32 / Section 39-32-6
§ 39-32-6. Collocation of small wireless facilities on private poles and structures.
Status: in_force

(a) An authority may not prohibit, regulate, or charge for the collocation of small wireless facilities on poles or structures other than authority poles and authority structures.

(b) A wireless service provider may install poles in the public rights-of-way in order to collocate small wireless facilities, subject to request and authority approval. An authority shall receive, process, and approve such requests on a nondiscriminatory basis and in substantially the same manner and on substantially the same terms and conditions as the authority applies to similar requests by other persons seeking to place poles in the public ways.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-12-37 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-12 / Section 39-12-37
§ 39-12-37. Rebate, concession, discrimination, or fraudulent evasion of regulation.
Status: in_force

Any person, whether carrier, shipper, consignee, or any officer, employee, agent, or representative thereof who:

(1) Shall knowingly offer, grant, or give or solicit, accept, or receive any rebate, concession, or discrimination in violation of any provisions of this chapter; or

(2) Who by means of any false statement or representation, or by use of any false or fictitious bill, bill of lading, receipt, voucher, roll, account, claim, certificate, affidavit, disposition, lease, or bill of sale, or by any other means or device, shall knowingly and willfully assist, suffer, or permit any person or persons to obtain transportation of property subject to this chapter for less than the applicable rate of charge; or

(3) Who shall knowingly and willfully, by any means or otherwise, fraudulently seek to evade or defeat regulation as in this chapter provided for motor carriers;

shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, be fined not more than three hundred dollars ($300) or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or both.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-4-8 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-4 / Section 39-4-8
§ 39-4-8. Filing of contracts.
Status: in_force

Upon any hearing and investigation, the division may require the public utility to file with it a copy of any contract for the purchase of electricity, light, heat, or power, certified by its secretary or treasurer, which shall be open to inspection by the complainant or counsel for the complainant, and the division may consider the reasonableness of the amounts to be paid in accordance with the provisions of the contract for electricity, light, heat, or power insofar as the amounts shall be relevant to the matters subject to discussion at the hearing and investigation.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-20-12 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-20 / Section 39-20-12
§ 39-20-12. Construction and severability.
Status: in_force

This chapter shall be construed in all respects so as to meet all constitutional requirements. Except as expressly provided for in this chapter, the provisions of this chapter shall not affect the interpretation of other laws. If any provision of this chapter shall be held unconstitutional, the unconstitutionality shall not affect any other provisions.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-3-1.2 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-3 / Section 39-3-1.2
§ 39-3-1.2. Aggregation of electrical load by municipality or group of municipalities.
Status: in_force

(a)(1) The legislative authority of a municipality may adopt an ordinance or resolution, under which it may aggregate in accordance with this section one or more classes of the retail electrical loads located, respectively, within the municipality or town and, for that purpose, may enter into service agreements to facilitate for those loads the sale and purchase of electricity. The legislative authority also may exercise this authority jointly with any other legislative authority. An ordinance or resolution under this section shall specify whether the aggregation will occur only with the prior consent of each person owning, occupying, controlling, or using an electric load center proposed to be aggregated or will occur automatically for all persons pursuant to the opt-out requirements of this section. Nothing in this section, however, authorizes the aggregation of retail electric loads of an electric load center that is located in the certified territory of a nonprofit electric supplier or an electric load center served by transmission or distribution facilities of a municipal electric utility.

(2) No legislative authority pursuant to an ordinance or resolution under this section that provides for automatic aggregation as described in this section, shall aggregate the electrical load of any electric load center located within its jurisdiction unless it in advance clearly discloses to the person owning, occupying, controlling, or using the load center that the person will be enrolled automatically in the aggregation program and will remain so enrolled unless the person affirmatively elects by a stated procedure not to be so enrolled. The disclosure shall state prominently the rates, charges, and other terms and conditions of enrollment. The stated procedure shall allow any person enrolled in the aggregation program the opportunity, at a minimum, to opt-out of the program every two (2) years, without paying a switching fee. Any person who leaves the aggregation program pursuant to the stated procedure shall default to the last-resort service until the person chooses an alternative supplier.

(b) A governmental aggregator under this section is not a public utility engaging in the wholesale purchase and resale of electricity, and the aggregated service is not a wholesale utility transaction. A governmental aggregator shall be subject to supervision and regulation by the commission only to the extent of any competitive retail electric service it provides and commission authority.

(c) A town may initiate a process to authorize aggregation by a majority vote of a town meeting or of the town council. A city may initiate a process to authorize aggregation by a majority vote of the city council, with the approval of the mayor, or the city manager. Two (2) or more municipalities may, as a group, initiate a process jointly to authorize aggregation by a majority vote of each particular municipality as required in this section.

(d) Upon the applicable requisite authority under this section, the legislative authority shall develop a plan of operation and governance for the aggregation program so authorized. Before adopting a plan under this section, the legislative authority shall hold at least one public hearing on the plan. Before the hearing, the legislative authority shall publish notice of the hearing once a week for two (2) consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the jurisdiction. The notice shall summarize the plan and state the date, time, and location of any hearing. A municipality or group of municipalities establishing load aggregation pursuant to this section shall develop a plan, for review by its citizens, detailing the process and consequences of aggregation. The plan shall identify which classes of customers may participate, based on their applicable electric distribution company tariff or rate schedule. Any municipal load aggregation plan established pursuant to this section shall provide for universal access to all applicable customers and equitable treatment of applicable classes of customers and shall meet any requirements established by law or the commission concerning aggregated service. The plan shall be filed with the commission, for its final review and approval, and shall include, without limitation, an organizational structure of the program, its operations, and its funding; the process for establishing rates and allocating costs among participants; the methods for entering and terminating agreements with other entities; the rights and responsibilities of program participants; and termination of the program. The plan must also include the terms and conditions under which retail customers who or that have chosen to opt-out of the aggregated service may take service from the aggregated entity. At the time of the legislative authoritys filing of the plan with the commission, a copy of the proposed plan filing shall be provided to the electric distribution company whose customers would be included in the plan. Prior to its decision, the commission shall conduct a public hearing. Following approval of the plan, the legislative authority may solicit bids from nonregulated power producers pursuant to the methods established by the plan. The legislative authority shall report the results of this solicitation and proposed agreement awards to the commission. The legislative authority shall have the right to terminate the operation of the plan by placing its customers on last-resort service. If the legislative authority terminates the operation of the plan and places customers on last-resort service, a municipality seeking to form a new municipal aggregation load must submit a new plan to the commission for approval, in accordance with this section, before the customers may enroll in a new aggregation program.

(e)(1) Any retail customer in a municipality with an approved aggregation plan may elect instead to receive retail supply from another licensed retail supplier or from the local distribution company. Within thirty (30) days of the date the aggregated entity is fully operational, ratepayers who or that have not affirmatively elected an alternative authorized supplier shall be transferred to the aggregated entity subject to the opt-out provision in this section. Following adoption of aggregation as specified above, the program shall allow any retail customer to opt-out and choose any supplier or provider that the retail customer wishes. Nothing in this section shall be construed as authorizing any city or town or any municipal retail load aggregator to restrict the ability of retail electric customers to obtain or receive service from any authorized provider of it.

(2) It shall be the duty of the aggregated entity to fully inform participating ratepayers in advance of automatic enrollment that they are to be automatically enrolled and that they have the right to opt-out of the aggregated entity without penalty. In addition, such disclosure shall prominently state all charges to be made and shall include full disclosure of the standard-offer rate, how to access it, and the fact that it is available to them without penalty, if they are currently on standard-offer service. The commission shall furnish, without charge, to any citizen a list of all other supply options available to them in a meaningful format that shall enable comparison of price and product.

(f) The municipality or group of municipalities shall, within two (2) years of approval of its plan, or such further time as the commission may allow, provide written notice to the commission that its plan is implemented. The commission may revoke certification of the aggregation plan if the municipality or group of municipalities fails to substantially implement the plan.

(g) The commission may, from time to time, promulgate rules by which the legislative authority may request information from the electric distribution company or companies whose customers would be included in its plan. These rules shall ensure that municipalities have reasonable and timely access to information pertinent to the formation of the plan and solicitation of bids to serve customers; that confidentiality of individuals is protected; and that charges for production of data are reasonable and not unduly burdensome to the legislative authority.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-8-3 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-8 / Section 39-8-3
§ 39-8-3. Consent to establishment of grade crossing.
Status: in_force

No railroad corporation shall lay out or build its road or lay its tracks across any railroad, street, highway, turnpike, or traveled way at grade, and no street, highway, turnpike, or road shall be laid out or built across any railroad track at grade, except by the consent of the commission thereto; provided, that if the commission shall consent or refuse to consent to any crossing at grade, the corporation or any party aggrieved by the consent or refusal may petition the supreme court for relief in accordance with chapter 5 of this title, and the decision of the court shall be final.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-33-3 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-33 / Section 39-33-3
§ 39-33-3. Interconnection.
Status: in_force

(a) No later than September 1, 2024, the commission shall commence a process, which includes stakeholder engagement, to adopt a framework for an interconnection tariff for energy storage systems connected to the electric distribution system that recognizes the flexible operating characteristics of energy storage systems.

(b) Following the public utilities commissions adoption of a framework, which shall be completed no later than May 1, 2025, each electric distribution company as defined in § 39-1-2 that has greater than one hundred thousand (100,000) customers shall file a proposed energy storage system interconnection tariff for review and approval in a contested proceeding.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-2-1.3 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-2 / Section 39-2-1.3
§ 39-2-1.3. Payment for cellular telephone services  Late charges.
Status: in_force

No subscriber to a cellular telephone service shall be subject to an assessment of a late fee on a monthly billing unless the payment is at least thirty (30) days past the close of the billing period that is the subject of the statement. A cellular telephone operator shall not impose a late fee unless the bill contains a clear and conspicuous notice of when the late fee is to be imposed consistent with this section.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-27-1 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-27 / Section 39-27-1
§ 39-27-1. General purpose.
Status: in_force

This chapter establishes energy and consumer savings by setting minimum efficiency standards for certain products sold or installed in the state.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-6-25 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-6 / Section 39-6-25
§ 39-6-25. Rights and liabilities of purchaser at mortgage or judicial sale.
Status: in_force

The purchaser of any railroad or street railway and of the property, rights, privileges, and franchises therewith connected, at a sale under a valid foreclosure of a legal mortgage thereof, or at a valid sale under the power of sale of the mortgage, or at a valid sale under the orders and directions of any court of competent jurisdiction, and the grantee and successors in title of any purchaser, shall be subject to all and the same duties, liabilities, restrictions, and other provisions respecting the railroad or street railway, or arising from the construction, maintenance, and operation thereof, and shall have all and the same powers and rights relating to the railroad or street railway, and the construction, maintenance, and operation thereof, which the corporation by which the mortgage was made, or which was the owner of the railroad or street railway at the time of the sale, was subject to and had at the time of the sale.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-3-12 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-3 / Section 39-3-12
§ 39-3-12. Burden of proof to sustain increased rates  Modification of requirements.
Status: in_force

At any hearing involving any proposed increase in any rate, toll, or charge, the burden of proof to show that the increase is necessary in order to obtain a reasonable compensation for the service rendered shall be upon the public utility; provided, that the commission may, in its discretion and for good cause shown, allow changes within less time than required by the notice specified in § 39-3-11, and without holding the hearing and investigation therein provided for, or modify the requirements of § 39-3-11 with respect to filing and publishing tariffs, either in the particular instance or by general order applicable to special or particular circumstances or conditions, or may enter an interim order prescribing a temporary schedule of rates, tolls, and charges pending the completion of its investigation.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-16-17 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-16 / Section 39-16-17
§ 39-16-17. Money of authority.
Status: in_force

All money of the authority, from whatever source derived, shall be paid to the treasurer of the authority. The money on receipt shall be deposited forthwith in a separate bank account or accounts. The money in the accounts shall be paid out on check of the treasurer, on requisition by the authority, or of such other person or persons as the authority may authorize to make the requisitions. All deposits of money shall be secured by obligations of the United States, or of the state, of a market value equal at all times to the amount of deposits, and all banks and trust companies are authorized to give security for the deposits. The authority shall have power, notwithstanding the provisions of this section, to contract with the holders of any of its bonds as to the custody, collection, security, investment, and payment of any money of the authority, or any money held in trust or otherwise for the payment of bonds or in any way to secure bonds, and to carry out any contract notwithstanding that the contract may be inconsistent with the previous provisions of this section. Money held in trust or otherwise for the payment of bonds or in any way to secure bonds and deposits of money may be secured in the same manner as money of the authority, and all banks and trust companies are authorized to give security for the deposits.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-1-40 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-1 / Section 39-1-40
§ 39-1-40. Toll-free telephone service for complaints.
Status: in_force

The division shall maintain a toll-free telephone service where any consumer in Rhode Island may register an initial complaint against any public utility or nonregulated power producer. This toll-free telephone service may also be used by cable television subscribers for the purpose stated above.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-14-1 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-14 / Section 39-14-1
§ 39-14-1. Definitions.
Status: in_force

Terms used in this chapter shall be construed as follows, unless another meaning is expressed or is clearly apparent from the language or context:

(1) Certificate means a certificate of public convenience and necessity issued to a common carrier.

(2) Common carrier means any person who holds himself, herself, or itself out to the general public as engaging in the transportation by motor vehicle of passengers for compensation in a taxicab or in a limited public motor vehicle.

(3) Driver means any person operating a motor vehicle used for the transportation of passengers which he or she owns or is operating with the expressed or implied consent of the owner.

(4) Limited public motor vehicle means and includes every motor vehicle for hire, other than a jitney, as defined in § 39-13-1, or a taxicab, as defined in this chapter, equipped with a taximeter used for transporting members of the general public for compensation only from a designated location on private property to such points as may be directed by the passenger.

(5) Motor carrier means a common carrier by motor vehicle.

(6) Person means and includes any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association, joint stock association, or company, and his, her, or its lessee, trustee, receiver, assignee, or personal representative, and, where the context requires, driver as defined in this section.

(7) Taxicab means and includes every motor vehicle for hire, other than a jitney as defined in § 39-13-1, equipped with a taximeter, used for transporting members of the general public for compensation to any place within this state as may be directed by a passenger on a call-and-demand basis, when the solicitation or acceptance of the passenger occurs within the location named in the certificate; provided, that the vehicles driver may, if and when solicited on a public highway at any location at which he or she is discharging a passenger, which location is not shown in the certificate, provide transportation from the location only to a place named in the certificate.

(8) Taximeter means any instrument or device by which the charge for transportation in any taxicab or limited public motor vehicle is mechanically calculated and indicated by means of figures, either for distances traveled or for waiting time, or for both.

(9) Wheelchair-accessible taxicab means a taxicab designed and equipped to allow the transportation of a person(s) who uses a wheelchair without requiring that person(s) to be removed from the wheelchair, but the taxicab is not restricted to transporting only persons using wheelchairs.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-31-11 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-31 / Section 39-31-11
§ 39-31-11. Financial remuneration and incentives.
Status: in_force

In order to achieve the purposes of this chapter, electric distribution companies shall be entitled to financial remuneration and incentives for long-term contracts for newly developed renewable energy resources, which are over and above the base rate revenue requirement established in its cost of service for distribution ratemaking. Such remuneration and incentives shall compensate the electric distribution company for accepting the financial obligation of the long-term contracts. For long-term contracts approved pursuant to this chapter on or after January 1, 2022, the financial remuneration and incentives shall be in the form of annual compensation up to one percent (1.0%) of the actual annual payments made under the contracts through December 31, 2026, for those projects that are commercially operating. For long-term contracts approved pursuant to this chapter on or after January 1, 2027, financial remuneration and incentives shall not be applied, unless otherwise granted by the commission. For any calendar year in which the electric distribution companys actual return on equity exceeds the return on equity allowed by the commission in the electric distribution companys last general rate case, the commission shall have the authority to adjust any or all remuneration paid to the electric distribution company pursuant to this section in order to assure that such remuneration does not result in or contribute toward the electric distribution company earning above its allowed return for such calendar year.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-16-12 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-16 / Section 39-16-12
§ 39-16-12. Covenants permissible in bond resolution.
Status: in_force

Any resolution or resolutions authorizing any bonds or any issue of bonds may contain provisions that shall be a part of the contract with the holders of the bonds thereby authorized, as to:

(1) Pledging all or any part of the money, earnings, income, and revenues derived from all or any part of the property of the authority to secure the payment of any bonds or of any issue of bonds subject to such agreements with bondholders as may then exist;

(2) The rates to be fixed and the charges to be collected and the amounts to be raised in each year, and the use and disposition of the earnings and other revenues;

(3) The setting aside of reserves and the creation of sinking funds and the regulation and disposition thereof;

(4) Limitations on the right of the authority to restrict and regulate the use of the properties in connection with which the bonds are issued;

(5) Limitations on the purposes to which the proceeds of sale of any issue of bonds may be applied;

(6) Limitations on the issuance of additional bonds, including refunding bonds and the terms upon which additional bonds may be issued and secured;

(7) The procedure, if any, by which the terms of any contract with bondholders may be amended or abrogated, the amount of bonds the holders of which must consent thereto, and the manner in which consent may be given;

(8) The creation of special funds into which any earnings or revenues of the authority may be deposited, and the investment of the funds;

(9) The appointment of a fiscal agent and the determination of its powers and duties;

(10) Limitations on the power of the authority to sell or otherwise dispose of its properties;

(11) The preparation of annual budgets by the authority and the employment of consulting engineers and auditors;

(12) The rights and remedies of bondholders in the event of failure on the part of the authority to perform any agreement;

(13) Covenanting that as long as any bonds are outstanding the authority shall use its best efforts to establish and maintain its rates and charges adequate at all times to pay and provide for all operating expenses of the authority, all payments of principal, redemption premium, if any, and interest on bonds, notes, or other evidences of indebtedness of or assumed by the authority, all renewals, repairs, or replacements to the property of the authority deemed necessary, and all other amounts that the authority may by law, resolution, or contract be obligated to pay. On or before the last day of the authoritys fiscal year, the authority shall review the adequacy of its rates and charges to satisfy the above requirements for the next succeeding fiscal year. If the review indicates that the rates and charges are, or are likely to be, insufficient to meet the requirements of this chapter, the authority shall promptly take such steps as are permitted by law and as are necessary to cure or avoid the deficiency, including but limited to, making an emergency request to the public utilities commission to raise its rates and charges;

(14) Any other matters, of like or different character that in any way affect the security or protection of the bonds.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-7-1 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-7 / Section 39-7-1
§ 39-7-1. Minimum clearance on bridges erected over tracks.
Status: in_force

No bridges, viaducts, or other obstructions shall be constructed, insofar as practicable, over tracks in a railroad yard over which switching movements will be made at not less than twenty-three feet (23²) in the clear, and over any other railroad tracks at not less than twenty-two feet, six inches (226"), measuring from the bottom of the lowest timber to the top of the rail on the tracks. An exemption may be granted from any and all requirements of this section; provided, however, that any exemption must be limited to the specific bridge, viaduct, or other obstructions upon agreement between the department of transportation, public utilities administrator, railroad company, and the designated labor representative representing the railroad employees whose duties are to be atop of cars while in motion; provided, further, the agreement shall fix and prescribe reasonable regulations governing the location exempted; and provided, further, that an agreement between the aforesaid parties must be consummated within fifteen (15) days from the date of the request for an exemption from any and all requirements of this section. In case of failure to consummate an agreement, the public utilities administrator shall issue an order on the request for an exemption. The public utilities administrator shall, when issuing an order, take into consideration that his or her paramount responsibility in his or her decision to issue the exemption must be the safety of the railroad employees whose duties are to be atop of cars while in motion.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-1-11 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-1 / Section 39-1-11
§ 39-1-11. Proceedings before commission.
Status: in_force

The commission shall adopt reasonable rules and regulations governing the procedure to be followed in any matter that may come before it for a hearing, and in the hearing the commission shall not be bound by technical rules of evidence. The commission shall sit as an impartial, independent body, and is charged with the duty of rendering independent decisions affecting the public interest and private rights based upon the law and upon the evidence presented before it by the division and by the parties in interest. The presence of one commissioner shall constitute a quorum at all hearings, provided that the concurrence of a majority of the commission shall be required for the rendering of a decision.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-16-13 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-16 / Section 39-16-13
§ 39-16-13. Tax exemption.
Status: in_force

It is hereby declared that the authority and the carrying out of its corporate purposes is in all respects for the benefit of the people of the state and for the improvement of their health, welfare, and prosperity, and the authority will be performing an essential governmental function in the exercise of the powers conferred by this chapter, and the state covenants with the holders of the bonds that the authority shall be required to pay no taxes or assessments or sums in lieu of taxes, except as provided in § 39-16-14, to the state or any political subdivision thereof upon any of the property acquired by it or under its jurisdiction, control, possession, or supervision or upon its activities in the operation and maintenance of the property or upon any earnings, revenues, moneys, or other income derived by the authority, and that the bonds of the authority and the income therefrom shall at all times be exempt from taxation.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-34-5 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-34 / Section 39-34-5
§ 39-34-5. Liberal construction of chapter required.
Status: in_force

This chapter shall be construed liberally in aid of its declared purposes.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-23-4 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-23 / Section 39-23-4
§ 39-23-4. Place of meeting.
Status: in_force

The committee shall meet at such times and places as in the judgment of the committee will best serve the convenience of all parties in interest. The members of the committee shall receive no salary.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-21-1 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-21 / Section 39-21-1
§ 39-21-1. Legislative findings.
Status: in_force

It is hereby found and disclosed that:

(1) E-911 uniform emergency telephone system is a feasible service and would be beneficial for the citizens of Rhode Island;

(2) E-911 uniform emergency telephone system employs features that contribute to the protection of life and property and add to the operational efficiency of various public safety agencies;

(3) E-911 uniform emergency telephone system affords our residents a more simple and faster means to request assistance in an emergency and, in addition, enables the various agencies to process emergency calls in a more efficient manner than at present;

(4) E-911 uniform emergency telephone system benefits are extremely valuable and this service would be an enhancement to the quality of life throughout our state; and

(5) Changes in consumer habits require that the state E-911 uniform emergency telephone system take the steps necessary to ensure that its operating capabilities are in line with new technologies and practices.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-2-10 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-2 / Section 39-2-10
§ 39-2-10. Injunction or mandamus.
Status: in_force

The superior court may enforce compliance with the provisions of § 39-2-9 by writ of injunction or mandamus.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-1-63 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-1 / Section 39-1-63
§ 39-1-63. Utility termination moratorium period.
Status: in_force

(a) The commission shall amend its rules and regulations governing the termination of residential electric and gas service as set forth in 810-RICR-10-00-1, and any similar regulation of the commission, in order that the utility termination moratorium period shall mean the period of time between 12:01 a.m. on November 1 and 11:59 p.m. on May 1 of each year.

Provided, this section shall not nullify or reduce any extension of the suspension of service terminations and collection actions during any declared state of emergency pursuant to chapter 15 of title 30 relating to emergency management.

(b) The commission shall have the discretion to extend the duration of the moratorium described in subsection (a) of this section, to respond to economic conditions and customer needs.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-9-12 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-9 / Section 39-9-12
§ 39-9-12. Certificates for excess fare paid on train.
Status: in_force

Every railroad corporation carrying passengers in cars propelled by steam, which shall collect in the cars a greater fare than the price for which a single passage ticket is sold from the station at which the passenger takes the train, shall issue to the passenger a certificate for such sum as the fare collected on the train exceeds the sum for which a single passage ticket for the same distance is sold at the ticket office of the company, which certificate shall be payable upon presentation at any ticket office of the corporation; and every railroad corporation that shall neglect or refuse to comply with the provisions of this section shall be fined not less than fifty dollars ($50.00) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500) for each offense, one-half (Â½) to the use of the complainant and one-half (Â½) thereof to the use of the state.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-1-15.1 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-1 / Section 39-1-15.1
§ 39-1-15.1. Enforcement powers of inspectors.
Status: in_force

Examiners, field investigators, hearing officers, regulatory inspectors, and other employees of the division designated by the administrator with respect to the enforcement of the provisions of chapters 12 through 14.1 inclusive of this title, shall have and exercise, throughout this state, all powers of police officers including the power to arrest, without warrant, any person who violates any provision of the chapters, and the agents may serve all process lawfully issued by the administrator. Whenever a complaint is made of any violation of the provisions of chapters 12 through 14.1 inclusive of this title, by any examiner, field investigator, hearing officer, regulatory inspector, or any other employee of the division, he or she shall not be required to furnish surety for costs or be liable for costs upon any complaint.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-11-19 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-11 / Section 39-11-19
§ 39-11-19. Application by interstate carrier.
Status: in_force

To aid in promoting and developing interstate transportation of persons and property by aircraft, any holder of a certificate of convenience and necessity issued by the federal Civil Aeronautics Board or any other appropriate federal governmental authority may apply to the administrator for a certificate for that portion of its interstate operation that is within the boundaries of this state, upon the forms and in the manner prescribed by the administrator for applications.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-15-1 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-15 / Section 39-15-1
§ 39-15-1. Power of condemnation for water supply purposes  Changes in highways.
Status: in_force

Whenever the electors of any town, qualified to vote upon questions of taxation or involving the expenditure of money, shall have voted, at a town meeting called for that purpose, to provide a water supply for the inhabitants of the town, or for some part thereof; or whenever any town shall enter or shall have entered into any contract with any person or corporation to furnish the town with a water supply (a contract which towns are hereby authorized to make), then the town, or the person or corporation bound to fulfill the contract, as the case may be, may take, condemn, hold, use, and permanently appropriate any land, water, rights of water and of way, necessary and proper to be used in furnishing or enlarging any such water supply, including sites and materials for dams, reservoirs, pumping stations, and for coal houses, with a right-of-way thereto, and a right-of-way for water pipes along and across public highways, and through private lands, and including also lands covered or to be flowed by water, or to be in any other way used in furnishing, enlarging, or maintaining any water supply. And if any change in any highway shall be required for the accommodation of the water supply, then the town, person, or corporation may alter the grade of the highway or construct a bridge therein, under the direction of the town council of the town where the change is made, and as far as may be needful, first giving bond with surety satisfactory to a justice of the superior court, if requested, conditioned to reimburse the town for every expense and damage occasioned by a change of grade or other change in the highway.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-3-26 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-3 / Section 39-3-26
§ 39-3-26. Charters amended to authorize approved transactions.
Status: in_force

The charters of all corporations subject to regulation by the division are hereby amended to the extent necessary to authorize the carrying out of any agreement, merger, purchase, sale, or lease approved by the division as provided in §§ 39-3-24 and 39-3-25.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-17-8 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-17 / Section 39-17-8
§ 39-17-8. Charges for use of streets.
Status: in_force

No city or town shall make any charge to any corporation for the use of its streets except under and in accordance with the provisions of this chapter; provided, that any city or town may require that any street railway company shall continue to conform to any existing requirements as to paving and keeping in repair the streets and highways.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-11-9 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-11 / Section 39-11-9
§ 39-11-9. Service of orders  Rehearing.
Status: in_force

Orders of the administrator shall be served upon all parties to the respective proceedings and shall become effective thirty (30) days after the service. Any of the parties to any hearing before the administrator may, upon proper petition, be granted a rehearing. The administrator shall prescribe rules and regulations governing the rehearing. If any rehearing is granted within thirty (30) days after the issuance of an order, then the order shall not become effective until thirty (30) days after the determination of the administrator following the rehearing proceedings.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-10-6 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-10 / Section 39-10-6
§ 39-10-6. Corporation charter or list of partners filed.
Status: in_force

Every corporation or partnership shall file in the office of the secretary of state, with the written power described in § 39-10-2, a copy of the charter of the corporation or a list of the names and the places of residence of all the members of the co-partnership.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-13-14 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-13 / Section 39-13-14
§ 39-13-14. Administrative powers.
Status: in_force

The division is authorized to make such rules and regulations, to hold such hearings, and to issue such certificates as the provisions of §§ 39-13-1  39-13-6 and §§ 39-13-10  39-13-16 may require.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-14-26 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-14 / Section 39-14-26
§ 39-14-26. Revocation or amendment of certificate.
Status: in_force

Any taxi or limited public motor vehicle certificate holder who, during any period of not less than one hundred eighty (180) consecutive days, has failed to render any part of the service authorized by his or her certificate, except for reasonable cause, including bankruptcy, receivership, or other trustee proceedings, shall be deemed to have abandoned that part of the service; and if, after a hearing, the administrator finds the certificate holder has failed to render service in accordance with the certificate, his or her rights thereto to the extent of his or her failure to render service shall be revoked. The administrator may, for sufficient cause shown after a public hearing, amend, suspend, or revoke any certificate issued under this chapter.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-16-14 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-16 / Section 39-16-14
§ 39-16-14. Payments in lieu of taxes.
Status: in_force

The authority shall pay annually, having first made provision for the payment of principal and interest on any bonds outstanding and any other charges payable from revenues due in such year as may be provided in the resolution or resolutions authorizing any bonds, in lieu of any property tax, as a charge upon its earnings or revenues, to each city, town, or district, a sum equal in amount to any property tax levied on any property by or on behalf of the city, town, or district during the year next preceding the acquisition of such property by the authority. The authority shall have no power to levy or collect ad valorem property taxes.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-10-7 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-10 / Section 39-10-7
§ 39-10-7. Penalty for violations.
Status: in_force

Every person, corporation, or co-partnership violating any of the provisions of this chapter shall forfeit five hundred dollars ($500).
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-12-38 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-12 / Section 39-12-38
§ 39-12-38. Unauthorized divulging of information by administrators personnel.
Status: in_force

Any examiner, investigator, hearing officer, accountant, regulatory inspector, or field investigator, who shall knowingly and willfully divulge any facts or information that may come to his or her knowledge during the course of any examination or inspection made under authority of § 39-12-5, except as he or she may be directed by the administrator or by a court or judge thereof, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be subject, upon conviction, to a fine of not more than five hundred dollars ($500) or imprisonment not exceeding one year.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-1-30.1 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-1 / Section 39-1-30.1
§ 39-1-30.1. Validation of location of utilities.
Status: in_force

The locations for all lines for the transmission or distribution of electric current or for the providing of audio or visual telephonic or telegraphic communication service heretofore acquired or constructed by public utilities as defined under § 39-1-2, upon, along, under, or over the public ways and places of this state, and the locations for poles, piers, abutments, conduits, manholes, vaults, and other fixtures, including those jointly owned, necessary to sustain, protect, or operate the wires and cables of the lines, and actually in place on May 19, 1982, are hereby made lawful notwithstanding any deficiency in the proceedings relative to their location and erection.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-18-2 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-18 / Section 39-18-2
§ 39-18-2. Authority created  Composition  Terms  Oath  Officers  Quorum Compensation  Conflicts of interest.
Status: in_force

(a) There is hereby created a body corporate and politic to be known as the Rhode Island public transit authority (hereinafter RIPTA).

(b) The authority shall consist of nine (9) members, one of whom shall be the director of the department of transportation, or the directors designee, who shall serve as an ex officio member, and eight (8) of whom shall be appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate, with at least one of the eight (8) being a regular user of fixed-route RIPTA transportation and at least one of the eight (8) being a person with a disability. The governor shall achieve a diverse membership in the board and shall give due consideration to recommendations for nominations from the RIPTA Riders Alliance, the National Federation of the Blind of Rhode Island, the Gray Panthers of Rhode Island, the Sierra Club of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island AFL-CIO, the RIPTA Transportation Advisory Committee, the Rhode Island business community, the Amalgamated Transit Union, and the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns. No one shall be eligible for appointment unless he or she is a resident of this state.

(c) Those members of the authority as of the effective date of this act [June 16, 2006] who were appointed to the authority by members of the board of the general assembly shall cease to be members of the authority on the effective date of this act [June 16, 2006], and the governor shall thereupon nominate two (2) members, each of whom shall serve the balance of the unexpired term of their predecessor. Those members of the authority as of the effective date of this act [June 16, 2006] who were appointed to the authority by the governor shall continue to serve the balance of their current terms. Thereafter, during the month of January in each year, the governor shall appoint members to succeed the departing members. The newly appointed members shall serve for a term of three (3) years, commencing on the day they are qualified. In the event of a vacancy occurring in the membership, the governor, with the advice and consent of the senate, shall appoint a member for the unexpired term. Any member of the authority shall be eligible for reappointment.

(d) Each member of the authority, before entering upon the members duties, shall take an oath to administer the duties of the members office faithfully and impartially, and the oath shall be filed in the office of the secretary of state.

(e) The director of the department of transportation shall serve as chairperson. The authority shall elect a secretary and such other officers as it deems necessary.

(f) Five (5) members of the authority shall constitute a quorum. The affirmative vote of a majority of the members present and voting shall be necessary for any action taken by the authority. No vacancy in the membership of the authority shall impair the right of a quorum to exercise all the rights and perform all the duties of the authority.

(g) The members of the authority shall receive no compensation, but shall be reimbursed for their actual expenses necessarily incurred in the performance of their duties.

(h) No member of the authority shall be in the employ of, or own any stock in, or be in any way directly or indirectly pecuniarily interested in any railroad corporation, bus, or street railway company; nor shall any member of the authority personally, or through a partner or agent, render any professional service or make or perform any business contract with or for any company; nor shall any member of the authority, directly or indirectly, receive a commission, bonus, discount, present, or reward from any company.

(i) Members of the authority shall be removable by the governor pursuant to the provisions of § 36-1-7 and for cause only, and removal solely for partisan or personal reasons unrelated to capacity or fitness for the office shall be unlawful.

(j) The authority shall conduct a training course for newly appointed and qualified members within six (6) months of their qualification or designation. The course shall be developed by the general manager of the authority, be approved by the authority, and be conducted by the general manager of the authority. The authority may approve the use of any authority and/or staff members and/or individuals to assist with training. The training course shall include instruction in the following areas: the provisions of chapter 46 of title 42, chapter 14 of title 36, and chapter 2 of title 38; and the authoritys rules and regulations. The director of the department of administration shall be responsible for the enforcement of the provisions of this subsection.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-32-1 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-32 / Section 39-32-1
§ 39-32-1. Definitions.
Status: in_force

As used in this chapter:

(1) Authority means a city, town, or any other state or municipal government subdivision, agency, or entity that is authorized by law to regulate or control the use of the public rights-of-way or the construction or installation of poles or wireless facilities or that owns or controls property suitable for collocating small wireless facilities. The term does not include the state courts.

(2) Authority pole means a pole owned or controlled by an authority and includes metal, composite, concrete, or wood poles, as well as decorative poles.

(3) Authority structure means a building, water tower, or other structure owned or controlled by an authority, but not an authority pole.

(4) Collocate means to install, mount, maintain, modify, operate, or replace wireless facilities on a pole, including an authority pole, or on a building, water tower, or other structure, including an authority structure. Collocation has a corresponding meaning.

(5) Communications service provider means a cable operator, as defined in 47 U.S.C. § 522(5); a provider of information service, as defined in 47 U.S.C. § 153(24); a telecommunications carrier, as defined in 47 U.S.C. § 153(51); or a wireless service provider.

(6) Person means an individual, corporation, limited-liability company, partnership, association, trust, or other entity or organization, including an authority.

(7) Pole means a utility pole, light pole, light standard, or similar structure that is used, in whole or in part, for telephone service, wireless service, cable television service, information service, electric service, lighting, traffic control, signage, or similar function.

(8) Small wireless facility means a wireless facility with an antenna of no more than six cubic feet (6 cu. ft.) in volume and associated equipment with a cumulative volume no larger than twenty-eight cubic feet (28 cu. ft.). The following types of associated equipment may be located outside the primary enclosure and are not included in the calculation of equipment volume: electric meter, concealment, telecommunications demarcation box, ground-based enclosures, backup power system, grounding equipment, power transfer switch, cut-off switch, and cable and conduit runs for the connection of power and other services. Equipment that is concealed from public view within or behind an existing structure or concealment is not included in the volume calculations.

(9) Wireless facilities means equipment at a fixed location that enables wireless communications between user equipment and a communications network, including, but not limited to:

(i) Equipment associated with wireless services, such as private, broadcast, and public safety services, as well as unlicensed wireless services and fixed wireless services, such as microwave backhaul; and

(ii) Radio transceivers, antennas, coaxial or fiber-optic cable, regular and backup power supplies, and comparable equipment, regardless of technological configuration. The term wireless facilities includes small wireless facilities but does not include the structure or improvements on, under, or within which the equipment is collocated; wireline backhaul facilities; coaxial or fiber-optic cable that is between wireless support structures or poles; or coaxial or fiber-optic cable that is otherwise not immediately adjacent to, or directly associated with, an antenna.

(10) Wireless service means any services using licensed or unlicensed wireless spectrum, whether at a fixed location or mobile, provided using wireless facilities.

(11) Wireless service provider means a person who provides wireless service, as well as a person who builds, installs, or maintains wireless communications transmission equipment, wireless facilities, or wireless support structures.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-1-36 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-1 / Section 39-1-36
§ 39-1-36. Offices of commission and division.
Status: in_force

The department of administration shall furnish the commission with suitable offices, quarters in which to hold its meetings and transact its business, and a properly appointed hearing room adequate to accommodate the public, witnesses, stenographers, and the commissioners and their clerks. The department of administration shall furnish the division with offices suitably located for the convenience of the public and properly equipped for keeping its records, maps, and documents and for the efficient use of its library.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-23-1 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-23 / Section 39-23-1
§ 39-23-1. Committee  Composition.
Status: in_force

There is hereby created within the department of human services a permanent committee to be known as the adaptive telephone equipment loan program committee. This committee shall advise on the program and shall consist of fifteen (15) members, one of whom shall be from the house of representatives, to be appointed by the speaker; one of whom shall be from the senate, to be appointed by the president of the senate; one of whom shall be a representative of the telephone company, to be appointed by its chief executive officer; one of whom shall be a representative of the public utilities commission, to be appointed by the chairperson of the public utilities commission; and eleven (11) of whom shall be appointed by the governor as follows: seven (7) consumers, including at least one from each of the following communities: the hard of hearing or deaf community, the speech-impaired community, and the neuromuscular-impaired community; one professional member who shall be an audiologist, physician, or speech pathologist, and three (3) members of the general public.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-6-32 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-6 / Section 39-6-32
§ 39-6-32. Disposition of abandoned railroad property.
Status: in_force

Whenever any railroad is granted permission to abandon any rail line by the Interstate Commerce Commission and ceases to be used by the railroad claiming title thereto, and within one year thereafter the head of any department, board, bureau, commission, or agency of the state government, hereinafter referred to as the acquiring authority, declares that in his or her opinion the acquisition thereof will be advantageous to the establishment, construction, development, betterment, or maintenance of any governmental facility, public work, public improvement, or public preserve, the acquiring authority shall be and hereby is authorized and empowered, within the limits of the appropriations available or that shall be made available therefor, with the approval of the governor, to acquire interests, estates, easements, and privileges in the right of way for public use, by purchase, lease, gift, or by proceedings pursuant to § 39-6-33.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-21-3 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-21 / Section 39-21-3
§ 39-21-3. Personnel.
Status: in_force

(a) The governor shall appoint an associate director of the E-911 uniform emergency telephone system division who shall direct the affairs of the division. The division may employ technical experts, and other officers, agents, and attorneys, and fix their qualifications, duties, and compensation. The associate director and the technical experts, officers, agents, and attorneys so employed shall be in the unclassified service of the state. The division may employ other employees, permanent and temporary, and the employees shall be in the unclassified service of the state. The division may delegate to one or more of its agents or employees such administrative duties as it may deem proper.

(b) The department of administration shall furnish the division with suitable offices and telephone service in the state house, state office building, or some other location, for the transaction of business.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-2-12 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-2 / Section 39-2-12
§ 39-2-12. Civil liability of carrier for refusal.
Status: in_force

Every common carrier who shall so neglect or refuse shall also be civilly liable to any person aggrieved for any injury sustained by him or her by reason of the carriers neglect or refusal.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-12-43 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-12 / Section 39-12-43
§ 39-12-43. Severability.
Status: in_force

If any provision of this chapter, or of any rule, regulation, or order made thereunder, or the application thereof to any persons or circumstances is held invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remainder of this chapter, rule, regulation, or order, and the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby. The invalidity of any section or sections or parts of any section or sections of this chapter shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this chapter; and it is hereby declared to be the legislative intent that this chapter would have been enacted if the invalid parts had not been included therein.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-13-6 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-13 / Section 39-13-6
§ 39-13-6. Jitney operation by railroad or street railway company.
Status: in_force

(a) Any street railway company incorporated under the laws of this state and operating a street railway within this state or any railroad company incorporated under the laws of this state and operating a railroad in this state may acquire, own, and operate jitneys, subject to the provisions of this chapter and to all other laws relating to the registration, licensing, bonding, and operating of jitneys.

(b) No street railway company shall substitute for any existing trolley service, jitney service over a route over and along the same highway occupied by a line of street or other railway, or over a route that will serve the same or nearly the same communities served by a line of street or other railway, until the division shall, after due notice to the towns and cities affected thereby and a public hearing thereon, if it appears that the public interest will be served thereby, have authorized a substitution of service; and the street railway company shall thereafter continue the jitney service until, after like notice and hearing and for cause shown, the division shall have authorized the abandonment thereof.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-6-29 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-6 / Section 39-6-29
§ 39-6-29. Caboose car or rider car.
Status: in_force

(a) It shall be unlawful for any corporation or individual to maintain, equip, or use within the state, any railroad caboose car, a rider car, or any car used as either a caboose car or rider car, unless the car is equipped with suitable and adequate water supply to provide for sanitary washing, toilet, and drinking facilities, and further, unless the interior of the car is illuminated by electric lights of sufficient candle power to enable employees working in the caboose or rider cars to perform their respective duties safely and without undue eye strain; provided, however, that any of the aforesaid car or cars that are operated or used exclusively between one hour after sunrise and one hour before sunset need not be equipped as provided in this section.

(b) Any violation of the provisions of this section shall be considered a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not less than two hundred dollars ($200) or more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each separate offense.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-4-1 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-4 / Section 39-4-1
§ 39-4-1. Investigation of personal injuries and deaths.
Status: in_force

Every public utility shall, whenever any accident attended with loss of human life, or serious injury occurs within this state, directly or indirectly arising from or connected with its maintenance or operation, give immediate notice thereof to the division. In the event of any accident, the division, if it deems that the public interest requires it, shall cause an investigation to be made forthwith, which investigation shall be held in the locality of the accident, unless for the greater convenience of those concerned, it shall order the investigation to be held at some other place; and the investigation may be adjourned from place to place as may be found necessary and convenient. The division shall reasonably notify the public utility of the time and place of the investigation. The notice required by this section to be given shall not be admitted as evidence or used for any purpose against the public utility giving notice, in any suit, action, or proceeding brought for damages growing out of any matter mentioned in the notice; nor shall the notice be admitted as evidence or be used for any purpose in any criminal proceeding brought against the public utility giving notice, or against any of its officers, agents, or employees, growing out of any matter mentioned in the notice.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-1-35 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-1 / Section 39-1-35
§ 39-1-35. Conflict of interest.
Status: in_force

A person, or his or her or dependent child, spouse, of any person, who is, or has been in the past one year, in the employ of or holding any official relation to any company subject to the supervision of the commission, or engaged in the management of the company, or owning stock, bonds, or other securities thereof, or who is, or has been in the past one year, in any manner, connected with the operation of the company in this state, shall not be a commissioner or clerk of the commission; nor shall any commissioner or clerk of the commission, personally or in connection with a partner or agent, render professional service for or against or make or perform any business contract with any company subject to the supervision, relating to the business of the company, except contracts made with them as common carriers, or in regular course of public service.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-6-17 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-6 / Section 39-6-17
§ 39-6-17. Operation of trains over tracks of another company.
Status: in_force

Railroad corporations and street railroad companies may contract that either shall perform transportation of persons and property upon and over the whole or any part of the road of the other, so far as the other has then the right by law to perform the transportation, and may contract with each other for the lease, use, or sale of their respective roads, or any part thereof, upon such terms as the directors may agree, and as may be approved by a majority of the stockholders of both corporations present and voting at meetings called for that purpose, and the corporation operating any portion of any railroad under any contract or sale shall have, in addition to its own powers, privileges, and franchises, all the powers, privileges, and franchises of the other party thereto in respect to the road, and be subject to and perform all the public duties and obligations of the other party in respect thereto.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-8-17 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-8 / Section 39-8-17
§ 39-8-17. Bail to certain railroad employees.
Status: in_force

Whenever a person employed as an engineer, fireperson, conductor, brake person, flagperson, or other crew member, is arrested in any city or town on a criminal charge arising from an accident in connection with the operation of a train, resulting in an injury or death to a person or injury to property, and if as a result of the accident the engineer, fireperson, conductor, brake person, flagperson, or other crew member is required to submit to a hearing before any magistrate, judge, or clerk of court, wherein the engineer, fireperson, conductor, brake person, flagperson, or other crew member is required to furnish bail, then it shall be the obligation and responsibility of the employer of the engineer, fireperson, conductor, brake person, flagperson, or other crew member to furnish bail, and if the employer fails to furnish bail so that the employee as aforesaid is required to furnish bail at his or her own expense, then in that event the employer shall be liable to the employee for all costs incurred in obtaining bail, together with and including counsel fees.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-12-1 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-12 / Section 39-12-1
§ 39-12-1. Declaration of policy.
Status: in_force

It is hereby declared to be the policy of the state to regulate transportation of property by motor carriers upon its publicly used highways in such manner as to recognize and preserve the inherent advantages of transportation, and to foster sound economic conditions in transportation and among carriers engaged therein in the public interest; and in connection therewith to:

(1) Promote adequate, economical, and efficient service by motor carriers and reasonable charges therefor without unjust discriminations, undue preferences, or advantages or unfair or destructive competitive practices;

(2) Improve the relations between, and coordinate transportation by and the regulations of motor carriers and other carriers;

(3) Develop and preserve a highway transportation system properly adapted to the needs of the commerce of the state; and

(4) Promote safety upon its publicly used highways in the interest of its citizens.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-1-30.3 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-1 / Section 39-1-30.3
§ 39-1-30.3. Installation of public utility services for abutting owners on private ways authorized.
Status: in_force

The owner, or owners, of real estate abutting on a private way who have by deed or by prescription existing rights of ingress and egress upon the way or other private ways, shall have the right to place, install, or construct in, on, along, under, and upon the private way or other private ways, poles and other appurtenances necessary for the transmission of electricity or telephone service, provided the facilities do not unreasonably obstruct the private way or other private ways, and do not interfere with or be inconsistent with the existing use by others of the way or other private ways; and, provided further, that such placement, installation, or construction is done in accordance with regulations, plans, and practices of the utility company that is to provide the electricity or telephone service. The agencies that provide the service shall comply with the rules and regulations of the public utilities commission. Any owner, or owners, may grant permission to a public utility company to enter upon the way or other private ways to place, install, repair, or relocate poles and other necessary appurtenances for the transmission of electricity or telephone service in accordance with the company or companies regulations, practices, and tariffs filed with the public utilities commission; provided, however, that no charge or added assessment shall be levied by the public utility company or companies against the owner or owners not connected to the service or services. Neither the person installing or repairing public utility facilities, nor the facilities, nor the electricity or telephone service transmitted shall be deemed to constitute a trespass upon the way or ways.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-28-5 — RI Code / Title 39 / Chapter 39-28 / Section 39-28-5
§ 39-28-5. Rights or obligations of carriers.
Status: in_force

Nothing in this act shall be construed to modify or affect the rights or obligations of any carrier pursuant to 47 U.S.C. § 251 or 47 U.S.C. § 252.