2020 -- S 2585 AS AMENDED | |
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LC005058 | |
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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: 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: | |
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) When the attorney general has reasonable cause to believe that a governmental |
25 | authority, including, but not limited to, a law enforcement agency, or agent of a governmental |
26 | authority, or person acting on behalf of a governmental authority (hereinafter referred to as an |
27 | "entity"), has engaged in or is engaging in, any act or practice declared to be unlawful by this |
28 | chapter he or she may cause to be executed, in writing, and cause to be served upon any entity that |
29 | is believed to have information, documentary material, or physical evidence relevant to the alleged |
30 | or suspected violation, an investigative demand stating the general subject matter of the |
31 | investigation and require the entity to furnish, under oath or otherwise, a report in writing stating |
32 | the relevant facts and circumstances of which the entity has knowledge, or to appear and testify or |
33 | to produce relevant, documentary material or physical evidence for examination, at any reasonable |
34 | time and place that may be stated in the investigative demand. All civil investigative demands may, |
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1 | at the discretion of the attorney general, be filed in the superior court of the county in which the |
2 | entity served with the demand, shall dwell or have his or her principal place of business. |
3 | (b) At any time before the return date specified in an investigative demand, or within twenty |
4 | (20) days after the demand has been served, whichever period is shorter, a petition to extend the |
5 | return date or to modify or set aside the demand, stating good cause, may be filed in the superior |
6 | court of the county where the entity served with the demand shall dwell or have its principal place |
7 | of business, or in the superior court of Providence county. |
8 | (c) To accomplish the objectives and to carry out the duties prescribed by this chapter, the |
9 | attorney general, in addition to other powers conferred upon him or her by this section, may issue |
10 | subpoenas to any entity; and prescribe any forms and promulgate any rules and regulations that |
11 | may be necessary, which rules and regulations shall have the force of law. |
12 | (d) Service of any notice, demand, or subpoena under this chapter shall be made personally |
13 | within this state, but if personal service cannot be obtained, substituted service may be made in the |
14 | following manner: |
15 | (1) Personal service without this state; |
16 | (2) The mailing of any notice, demand, or subpoena under this section by registered or |
17 | certified mail to the last known place of business, residence, or abode within or without this state |
18 | of the entity for whom the service is intended; |
19 | (3) In the manner provided in the rules of civil procedure as if a complaint or other pleading |
20 | that institutes a civil proceeding had been filed; or |
21 | (4) Service that the superior court may direct in lieu of personal service within this state. |
22 | (e) An entity upon whom a demand is served pursuant to the provisions of this section shall |
23 | comply with the terms of the demand unless otherwise provided by order of the court. Any entity |
24 | who removes from any place, conceals, withholds, or destroys, mutilates, alters, or by any other |
25 | means falsifies any documentary material in the possession, custody, or control of any entity subject |
26 | of any demand, or knowingly conceals any relevant information, shall be fined not more than ten |
27 | thousand dollars ($10,000). |
28 | (f) If any entity fails or refuses to produce any statement or report, or comply with any |
29 | subpoena or investigative demand issued by the attorney general, the attorney general may file in |
30 | the superior court of the county in which the entity shall dwell or be found; or has its principal place |
31 | of business; or of Providence county, if the superior court at the previously mentioned county shall |
32 | not be in session, or if the entity is a nonresident or has no principal place of business in this state; |
33 | or of the other county as may be agreed upon by the parties to the petition; and serve upon the entity |
34 | a petition for an order of the court for the enforcement of this section, and the petition may request, |
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1 | and the court shall have jurisdiction to grant, after notice and a hearing, an order granting any relief |
2 | that may be required, until the entity files the statement or report, or obeys the subpoena or |
3 | investigative demand. |
4 | (g) Any final order so entered shall be subject to appeal to the state supreme court. Any |
5 | failure to comply with any final order entered under this section by any court shall be punished as |
6 | a contempt of court. |
7 | SECTION 4. This act shall take effect upon passage. |
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LC005058 | |
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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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LC005058 | |
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