2020 -- H 7747 | |
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LC004704 | |
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND | |
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY | |
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2020 | |
____________ | |
A N A C T | |
RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE--PROCEDURE GENERALLY -- | |
CAUSES OF ACTION | |
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Introduced By: Representatives Millea, McKiernan, Craven, Shanley, and Solomon | |
Date Introduced: February 26, 2020 | |
Referred To: House Judiciary | |
(Attorney General) | |
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: | |
1 | SECTION 1. Section 9-1-35 of the General Laws in Chapter 9-1 entitled "Causes of |
2 | Action" is hereby amended to read as follows: |
3 | 9-1-35. Civil action for ethnic or religious intimidation and/or vandalism. |
4 | (a) Any Whenever a person, who is maliciously subjected to an act or acts which would |
5 | reasonably be construed as intended to harass or intimidate the person because of his or her the |
6 | person's actual or perceived race, religion, or national origin, ancestry, color, sexual orientation, |
7 | gender, gender identity or expression, or disability, the person may bring an action in the superior |
8 | court against the perpetrator of the act or acts for compensatory damages including damages for |
9 | emotional distress. The court, in its discretion, may also restrain and enjoin such future acts by the |
10 | defendant. |
11 | (b) If any provision or part of this section or the application thereof to any person or |
12 | circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of the |
13 | section which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the |
14 | provisions or parts of this section are severable. |
15 | SECTION 2. Section 42-9.3-2 of the General Laws in Chapter 42-9.3 entitled "Office of |
16 | Civil Rights Advocate" is hereby amended to read as follows: |
17 | 42-9.3-2. Action by attorney general. |
18 | (a) Whenever any person, whether or not acting under color of law, intentionally interferes |
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1 | or threatens to intentionally interfere, by physical force or violence against a person, by damage or |
2 | destruction of property or by trespass on property, or by any act or acts which would reasonably be |
3 | construed as intended to harass or threaten any person: |
4 | (1) With with the exercise or enjoyment by any other person of rights secured by the United |
5 | States Constitution or the laws of the United States or of rights secured by the Constitution of Rhode |
6 | Island or laws of the state,; or |
7 | (2) Because of a person's actual or perceived race, religion, ancestry, national origin, color, |
8 | sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, or disability, the attorney general may |
9 | bring a civil action for injunctive or other appropriate equitable relief in order to protect the |
10 | peaceable exercise or enjoyment of the rights secured. |
11 | (b) Whenever any person shall engage in repeated illegal acts that violate the civil rights |
12 | law of the United States or the state of Rhode Island, or the United States Constitution or Rhode |
13 | Island Constitution, the attorney general may apply to the superior court for the county where any |
14 | of the alleged violation(s) occurred or are threatened, on notice of five (5) days, for an order |
15 | enjoining the continuance of such activity, and directing restitution and damages, or any other relief |
16 | the court may deem proper. |
17 | (b)(c) A civil action under this chapter shall be brought in the name of the state for or on |
18 | behalf of any person so aggrieved and shall be instituted in the superior court for the county where |
19 | the alleged victim resides or has a principal place of business or where the alleged violation |
20 | occurred or is threatened. |
21 | SECTION 3. Chapter 42-9.3 of the General Laws entitled "Office of Civil Rights |
22 | Advocate" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following section: |
23 | 42-9.3-5. Civil investigative demand. |
24 | (a) Whenever it appears to the attorney general that a person has engaged in, is engaging |
25 | in, or is about to engage in, any act or practice declared to be unlawful by this chapter, or when the |
26 | attorney general believes it to be in the public interest that an investigation should be made to |
27 | ascertain whether a person in fact has engaged in, is engaging in, or is about to engage in, any act |
28 | or practice declared to be unlawful by this chapter, he or she may execute, in writing, and cause to |
29 | be served upon any person who is believed to have information, documentary material, or physical |
30 | evidence relevant to the alleged or suspected violation, an investigative demand stating the general |
31 | subject matter of the investigation and require the person to furnish, under oath or otherwise, a |
32 | report in writing stating the relevant facts and circumstances of which the person has knowledge, |
33 | or to appear and testify or to produce relevant, documentary material or physical evidence for |
34 | examination, at any reasonable time and place that may be stated in the investigative demand. All |
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1 | civil investigative demands may, at the discretion of the attorney general, be filed in the superior |
2 | court of the county in which the person served with the demand shall dwell or have his or her |
3 | principal place of business. |
4 | (b) At any time before the return date specified in an investigative demand, or within twenty |
5 | (20) days after the demand has been served, whichever period is shorter, a petition to extend the |
6 | return date or to modify or set aside the demand, stating good cause, may be filed in the superior |
7 | court in which the person served with the demand shall dwell or have his or her principal place of |
8 | business, or in the superior court of Providence County. |
9 | (c) To accomplish the objectives and to carry out the duties prescribed by this chapter, the |
10 | attorney general, in addition to other powers conferred upon him or her by this section, may issue |
11 | subpoenas to any person; administer an oath or affirmation to any person; conduct hearings in aid |
12 | of any investigation or inquiry; and prescribe any forms and promulgate any rules and regulations |
13 | that may be necessary, which rules and regulations shall have the force of law; provided that none |
14 | of the powers conferred by this section shall be used for the purpose of compelling any natural |
15 | person to furnish testimony or evidence that might tend to incriminate the person or subject him or |
16 | her to a penalty or forfeiture. |
17 | (d) Service of any notice, demand, or subpoena under this section shall be made personally |
18 | within this state, but if personal service cannot be obtained, substituted service may be made in the |
19 | following manner: |
20 | (1) Personal service without this state; |
21 | (2) The mailing of any notice, demand, or subpoena under this section by registered or |
22 | certified mail to the last known place of business, residence, or abode within or without this state |
23 | of the person for whom the service is intended; |
24 | (3) As to any person other than a natural person, in the manner provided in the rules of civil |
25 | procedure as if a complaint or other pleading that institutes a civil proceeding had been filed; or |
26 | (4) Service that the superior court may direct in lieu of personal service within this state. |
27 | (e) A person upon whom a demand is served pursuant to the provisions of this section shall |
28 | comply with the terms of the demand unless otherwise provided by order of court. Subject to the |
29 | protections provided for in subsection (c) of this section relating to self-incrimination, any person |
30 | who, with intent to avoid, evade, or prevent compliance, in whole or in part, with any civil |
31 | investigative demand under this section, removes from any place, conceals, withholds, or destroys, |
32 | mutilates, alters, or by any other means falsifies any documentary material in the possession, |
33 | custody, or control of any person who is the subject of any demand, or knowingly conceals any |
34 | relevant information, shall be fined not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000). |
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1 | (f) If any person fails or refuses to file any statement or report, or obey any subpoena or |
2 | investigative demand issued by the attorney general, the attorney general may file in the superior |
3 | court of the county in which the person shall dwell or be found; or has his or her principal place of |
4 | business; or in Providence County, if the superior court at the previously mentioned county shall |
5 | not be in session, or if the person is a nonresident or has no principal place of business in this state; |
6 | or of the other county as may be agreed upon by the parties to the petition; and serve upon the |
7 | person a petition for an order of the court for the enforcement of this section, and the petition may |
8 | request, and the court shall have jurisdiction to grant, after notice and a hearing, an order granting |
9 | any relief that may be required, until the person files the statement or report, or obeys the subpoena |
10 | or investigative demand. |
11 | (g) Any final order so entered shall be subject to appeal to the state supreme court. Any |
12 | disobedience of any final order entered under this section by any court shall be punished as a |
13 | contempt of court. |
14 | SECTION 4. This act shall take effect upon passage. |
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LC004704 | |
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EXPLANATION | |
BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL | |
OF | |
A N A C T | |
RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE--PROCEDURE GENERALLY -- | |
CAUSES OF ACTION | |
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1 | This act would authorize the office of the attorney general-office of civil rights advocate |
2 | to issue a civil investigative demand in instances of perceived violations of a Rhode Islander’s civil |
3 | rights. The act would also clarify the scope of jurisdiction of the office of the attorney general office |
4 | of civil rights advocate; and would modify the scope of the civil action for ethnic/religious |
5 | intimidation and/or vandalism, and would codify the attorney general’s authority to bring an action |
6 | when there is a pattern or practice of civil rights violations. |
7 | This act would take effect upon passage. |
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LC004704 | |
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