Legislation regarding cashing checks in Rhode Island has been flying under the radar for far too long. Currently, if a company wants to offer check-cashing services in this state, it must do so behind bulletproof glass or steel partitions. Few companies are able to attain check-cashing licenses under these restrictions, limiting us to a bank’s hours or a check-cashing facility’s fees.

If this bill is passed (and not tabled again like it was in last year’s session), stores like Walmart will be able to cash checks at their registers during business hours, which are significantly longer than a bank’s hours. We would no longer have to plan our schedules around banks’ hours. We could cash our checks and do our shopping in one stop, which would be tremendously convenient.

If the banks are closed and I need a check cashed, I go to the Seekonk Walmart. Since Rhode Island is such a small state, it is easy to drive over the border into Massachusetts or Connecticut to cash checks and do shopping in one stop at their stores, taking away much-needed sales revenue from Rhode Island.

Such easy check cashing is available in 46 states. It’s time to make it available in Rhode Island, too.

AARON BRITTO

East Providence