Sex-offender bill to get House vote

PROVIDENCE –– A bill that would make it a felony in Rhode Island for a convicted child molester to knowingly enter a playground, daycare center or school cleared the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday and could be voted on by the full House as soon as Friday.

Before the vote, the committee amended the measure to exempt entry to schools when they are being used as election polling places.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Nicholas A. Mattiello, D-Cranston, has cited recent controversy over Harrington Hall, a homeless shelter in his community, where some sex offenders were staying. The shelter is about a quarter-mile from a playground and a half-mile from a school.

Also sent to the full House is a bill introduced by Rep. Peter Palumbo, a fellow Cranston Democrat, that would require landlords who are registered sex offenders to disclose their status on leases.

— Michael P. McKinney

In-state garbage only

PROVIDENCE — The House on Thursday approved a bill that would bar trash haulers from dumping garbage collected out of state at Rhode Island’s Central Landfill, in Johnston.

The proposal, which passed in a 68-to-1 vote, would require companies to certify in writing every 30 days that trash they bring to the landfill is generated and collected within Rhode Island. Violators would be fined $50,000.

Several representatives applauded the bill as taking steps to curb a practice that has been prevalent in Rhode Island for years because of its proximity to other states. The legislation now goes to the Senate.

–– Cynthia Needham

House passes trafficking measure

PROVIDENCE — The House, in a 66-to-0 vote Thursday, passed a bill that strengthened the state’s sex-trafficking law to better protect minors from exploitation.

The bill (H-5661 Sub A), introduced by Rep. Joanne M. Giannini, D-Providence, would amend the 2007 law so that prosecutors would not have to prove force or coercion to obtain a conviction –– in keeping with other laws involving sex-crimes against minors.

A person convicted of recruiting, soliciting or harboring a minor to perform “commercial sexual activity” would face up to 40 years in prison and a fine of up to $40,000.

Giannini said that her bill is expected to go before the Senate for a vote. However, a separate sex-trafficking bill (S-605 A) introduced by Sen. Rhoda E. Perry, D-Providence, was already scheduled for a vote on the Senate floor Thursday night. It was unclear whether the differences between the two competing bills would be resolved.

Polaris Project, a national organization dedicated to combating human trafficking in the United States, expressed concern in a letter Thursday that the Senate version of the bill contained a last-minute amendment that would provide immunity for “johns” who buy sex from minors. Giving immunity to one who buys sex “from a woman he knows is coerced into prostitution,” the organization wrote, “would be unconscionable."

Perry said “the bill does not give blanket immunity to men.” She said that if the man did not know the woman was a victim of sex trafficking, he would not be charged with trafficking. The man could still be charged under the prostitution statute.

— Lynn Arditi

‘Plantations’ referendum plan advances

PROVIDENCE — After one of the most earnest debates of the session thus far, the House late Thursday approved scheduling a referendum on whether to change Rhode Island’s formal name from State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations to simply Rhode Island.

If approved by the Senate, the question will be on the November 2010 ballot.

“This bill is just what it is, a question,” said its sponsor, Joseph Almeida, D-Providence, one of several lawmakers who have pushed for the referendum question for more than a decade. A name change, he said, would erase a word that recalls the centuries of slavery.

Despite the late hour and exhaustion of lawmakers, most sat rapt in their seats for the entire 60-minute debate. Several even changed their minds from beginning to end, acknowledging that supporters like Almeida had won them over.

Rep. Joseph Trillo, R-Warwick, began the debate criticizing the plan. “Sometimes we start with small ideas and the next thing we know 10 years later someone wants to rearrange the marble on the State House,” he said. But in the end, Trillo said he would vote in favor of the referendum, out of respect for colleagues who feel strongly that a name change is warranted. The final vote was 70 to 2.

–– Cynthia Needham

Plate revenues would aid cancer research

PROVIDENCE — The House of Representatives on Thursday sent the Senate a bill authorizing a license plate that would raise money for the Rhode Island Breast Cancer Coalition. The coalition would reap a share of the roughly $41.50 cost of the plates, which would feature the pink ribbon widely associated with breast-cancer support.

Several higher-profile bills that would create sports team plates bearing the logos of the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees and the New England Patriots, and benefiting associated charitable organizations, had not yet made it to the floor for a vote by late evening. Their fate this session remained unclear.

–– Cynthia Needham