2020 -- S 2585

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LC005058

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2020

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE--PROCEDURE GENERALLY --

CAUSES OF ACTION

     Introduced By: Senators Metts, Quezada, and Euer

     Date Introduced: February 25, 2020

     Referred To: Senate Judiciary

     (Attorney General)

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Section 9-1-35 of the General Laws in Chapter 9-1 entitled "Causes of

Action" is hereby amended to read as follows:

     9-1-35. Civil action for ethnic or religious intimidation and/or vandalism.

     (a) Any Whenever a person, who is maliciously subjected to an act or acts which would

reasonably be construed as intended to harass or intimidate the person because of his or her the

person's actual or perceived race, religion, or national origin, ancestry, color, sexual orientation,

gender, gender identity or expression, or disability, the person may bring an action in the superior

court against the perpetrator of the act or acts for compensatory damages including damages for

emotional distress. The court, in its discretion, may also restrain and enjoin such future acts by the

defendant.

     (b) If any provision or part of this section or the application thereof to any person or

circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of the

section which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the

provisions or parts of this section are severable.

     SECTION 2. Section 42-9.3-2 of the General Laws in Chapter 42-9.3 entitled "Office of

Civil Rights Advocate" is hereby amended to read as follows:

     42-9.3-2. Action by attorney general.

     (a) Whenever any person, whether or not acting under color of law, intentionally interferes

or threatens to intentionally interfere, by physical force or violence against a person, by damage or

destruction of property or by trespass on property, or by any act or acts which would reasonably be

construed as intended to harass or threaten any person:

     (1) With with the exercise or enjoyment by any other person of rights secured by the United

States Constitution or the laws of the United States or of rights secured by the Constitution of Rhode

Island or laws of the state,; or

     (2) Because of a person's actual or perceived race, religion, ancestry, national origin, color,

sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, or disability, the attorney general may

bring a civil action for injunctive or other appropriate equitable relief in order to protect the

peaceable exercise or enjoyment of the rights secured.

     (b) Whenever any person shall engage in repeated illegal acts that violate the civil rights

law of the United States or the state of Rhode Island, or the United States Constitution or Rhode

Island Constitution, the attorney general may apply to the superior court for the county where any

of the alleged violation(s) occurred or are threatened, on notice of five (5) days, for an order

enjoining the continuance of such activity, and directing restitution and damages, or any other relief

the court may deem proper.

     (b)(c) A civil action under this chapter shall be brought in the name of the state for or on

behalf of any person so aggrieved and shall be instituted in the superior court for the county where

the alleged victim resides or has a principal place of business or where the alleged violation

occurred or is threatened.

     SECTION 3. Chapter 42-9.3 of the General Laws entitled "Office of Civil Rights

Advocate" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following section:

     42-9.3-5. Civil investigative demand.

     (a) Whenever it appears to the attorney general that a person has engaged in, is engaging

in, or is about to engage in, any act or practice declared to be unlawful by this chapter, or when the

attorney general believes it to be in the public interest that an investigation should be made to

ascertain whether a person in fact has engaged in, is engaging in, or is about to engage in, any act

or practice declared to be unlawful by this chapter, he or she may execute, in writing, and cause to

be served upon any person who is believed to have information, documentary material, or physical

evidence relevant to the alleged or suspected violation, an investigative demand stating the general

subject matter of the investigation and require the person to furnish, under oath or otherwise, a

report in writing stating the relevant facts and circumstances of which the person has knowledge,

or to appear and testify or to produce relevant, documentary material or physical evidence for

examination, at any reasonable time and place that may be stated in the investigative demand. All

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civil investigative demands may, at the discretion of the attorney general, be filed in the superior

court of the county in which the person served with the demand shall dwell or have his or her

principal place of business.

     (b) At any time before the return date specified in an investigative demand, or within twenty

(20) days after the demand has been served, whichever period is shorter, a petition to extend the

return date or to modify or set aside the demand, stating good cause, may be filed in the superior

court in which the person served with the demand shall dwell or have his or her principal place of

business, or in the superior court of Providence County.

     (c) To accomplish the objectives and to carry out the duties prescribed by this chapter, the

attorney general, in addition to other powers conferred upon him or her by this section, may issue

subpoenas to any person; administer an oath or affirmation to any person; conduct hearings in aid

of any investigation or inquiry; and prescribe any forms and promulgate any rules and regulations

that may be necessary, which rules and regulations shall have the force of law; provided that none

of the powers conferred by this section shall be used for the purpose of compelling any natural

person to furnish testimony or evidence that might tend to incriminate the person or subject him or

her to a penalty or forfeiture.

     (d) Service of any notice, demand, or subpoena under this section shall be made personally

within this state, but if personal service cannot be obtained, substituted service may be made in the

following manner:

     (1) Personal service without this state;

     (2) The mailing of any notice, demand, or subpoena under this section by registered or

certified mail to the last known place of business, residence, or abode within or without this state

of the person for whom the service is intended;

     (3) As to any person other than a natural person, in the manner provided in the rules of civil

procedure as if a complaint or other pleading that institutes a civil proceeding had been filed; or

     (4) Service that the superior court may direct in lieu of personal service within this state.

     (e) A person upon whom a demand is served pursuant to the provisions of this section shall

comply with the terms of the demand unless otherwise provided by order of court. Subject to the

protections provided for in subsection (c) of this section relating to self-incrimination, any person

who, with intent to avoid, evade, or prevent compliance, in whole or in part, with any civil

investigative demand under this section, removes from any place, conceals, withholds, or destroys,

mutilates, alters, or by any other means falsifies any documentary material in the possession,

custody, or control of any person who is the subject of any demand, or knowingly conceals any

relevant information, shall be fined not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000).

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     (f) If any person fails or refuses to file any statement or report, or obey any subpoena or

investigative demand issued by the attorney general, the attorney general may file in the superior

court of the county in which the person shall dwell or be found; or has his or her principal place of

business; or in Providence County, if the superior court at the previously mentioned county shall

not be in session, or if the person is a nonresident or has no principal place of business in this state;

or of the other county as may be agreed upon by the parties to the petition; and serve upon the

person a petition for an order of the court for the enforcement of this section, and the petition may

request, and the court shall have jurisdiction to grant, after notice and a hearing, an order granting

any relief that may be required, until the person files the statement or report, or obeys the subpoena

or investigative demand.

     (g) Any final order so entered shall be subject to appeal to the state supreme court. Any

disobedience of any final order entered under this section by any court shall be punished as a

contempt of court.

     SECTION 4. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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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

***

     This act would authorize the office of the attorney general-office of civil rights advocate

to issue a civil investigative demand in instances of perceived violations of a Rhode Islander’s civil

rights. The act would also clarify the scope of jurisdiction of the office of the attorney general office

of civil rights advocate; and would modify the scope of the civil action for ethnic/religious

intimidation and/or vandalism, and would codify the attorney general’s authority to bring an action

when there is a pattern or practice of civil rights violations.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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