ARTICLE 7 SUBSTITUTE
A
RELATING TO
GOVERNMENT RESTRUCTURING
SECTION 1. Section 42-7.2-6.1 of the General Laws in Chapter
42-7.2 entitled “Office
of Health and Human Services” is hereby amended to read
as follows:
42-7.2-6.1. Transfer
of powers and functions. -- (a) There are hereby transferred to the
executive office of health and human services the powers and
functions of the departments with
respect to the following:
(1) By July 1, 2007,
fiscal services including budget preparation and review, financial
management, purchasing and accounting and any related functions
and duties deemed necessary
by the secretary;
(2) By July 1, 2007,
legal services including applying and interpreting the law, oversight
to the rule-making process, and administrative
adjudication duties and any related functions and
duties deemed necessary by the secretary;
(3) By September 1,
2007, communications including those functions and services related
to government relations, public education and outreach
and media relations and any related
functions and duties deemed necessary by the secretary;
(4) By March 1, 2008,
policy analysis and planning including those functions and
services related to the policy development, planning and
evaluation and any related functions and
duties deemed necessary by the secretary;
(5) By June 30, 2008,
information systems and data management including the financing,
development and maintenance of all data-bases and information
systems and platforms as well as
any related operations deemed necessary by the secretary;
(6) By October 1, 2009,
assessment and coordination for long-term care including those
functions related to determining level of care or need for services,
development of individual
service/care plans and planning, identification of service
options, the pricing of service options
and choice counseling; and
(7) By October 1, 2009,
program integrity, quality control and collection and recovery
functions including any that detect fraud and abuse or assure
that beneficiaries, providers, and
third-parties pay their fair share of the cost of services, as well
as any that promote alternatives to
publicly financed services, such as the long-term care health
insurance partnership.
(8) By January 1, 2011,
client protective services including any such services provided to
children, elders and adults with developmental and other
disabilities;
(9) By March 1, 2010,
administrative management of food and nutritional services
including food stamps, WIC and any other such programs or
initiatives in which operational
efficiencies that improve access may be achieve through greater
consolidation or coordination of
functions.
(b) The secretary shall
determine in collaboration with the department directors whether
the officers, employees, agencies, advisory councils,
committees, commissions, and task forces of
the departments who were performing such functions shall
be transferred to the office.
(c) In the transference
of such functions, the secretary shall be responsible for ensuring:
(1) Minimal disruption
of services to consumers;
(2) Elimination of
duplication of functions and operations;
(3) Services are
coordinated and functions are consolidated where appropriate;
(4) Clear lines of
authority are delineated and followed;
(5) Cost-savings are
achieved whenever feasible;
(6) Program application
and eligibility determination processes are coordinated and,
where feasible, integrated; and
(7) State and federal
funds available to the office and the entities therein are allocated and
utilized for service delivery to the fullest extent possible.
(d) Except as provided
herein, no provision of this chapter or application thereof shall be
construed to limit or otherwise restrict the departments of
children, youth and families, human
services, elderly affairs, health, and mental health,
retardation, and hospitals from fulfilling any
statutory requirement or complying with any regulation deemed
otherwise valid.
(e) The secretary shall
prepare and submit to the leadership of the house and senate
finance committees, by no later than January 1, 2010, a plan
for restructuring functional
responsibilities across the departments to establish a consumer
centered integrated system of
health and human services that provides high quality and
cost-effective services at the right time
and in the right setting across the life-cycle.
SECTION 2. Section 42-18-5 of the General Laws in Chapter
42-18 entitled "Department
of Health" is hereby amended to read as follows:
42-18-5.
Transfer of powers and functions from department of health.
– (a) There are
hereby transferred to the department of administration:
(1) Those functions of
the department of health which were administered through or with
respect to departmental programs in the performance of
strategic planning as defined in section
42-11-10(c);
(2) All officers,
employees, agencies, advisory councils, committees, commissions, and
task forces of the department of health who were
performing strategic planning functions as
defined in section 42-11-10(c); and
(3) So much of other
functions or parts of functions and employees and resources,
physical and funded, related thereto of the director of health
as are incidental to and necessary for
the performance of the functions transferred by
subdivisions (1) and (2).
(b) There is hereby
transferred to the department of human services the administration
and management of the special supplemental nutrition
program for women, infants, and children
(WIC) and all functions and resources associated
therewith.
SECTION 3. Chapter 42-12 of the General Laws entitled
"Department of Human
Services" is hereby
amended by adding thereto the following section:
42-12-1.4.
Transfer of functions from the department of health. – There is
hereby
transferred from the department of health to the department of human
services the administration
and management of the special supplemental nutrition
program for women, infants, and children
(WIC) and all functions and resources associated
therewith.
SECTION 4. Section 11-47-9 of the General Laws in Chapter 11-47
entitled “Weapons”
is hereby amended to read as follows:
11-47-9. Persons exempt from restrictions. -- The
provisions of § 11-47-8 shall not
apply to sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, the superintendent and
members of the state police, members of
the
Island state fire marshal, chief deputy state fire
marshals, deputy state fire marshals assigned to
the bomb squad, and those assigned to the investigation
unit, correctional officers, all within the
department of corrections, members of the city or town police
force, capitol police investigators
of the department of attorney general appointed pursuant
to § 42-9-8.1, the witness protection
coordinator for the witness protection review board as set forth
in chapter 30 of title 12 and
subject to the minimum qualifications of § 42-9-8.1, the
director, assistant director, and other
inspectors and agents at the
7.2, investigators
of the department of public safety Workers’ Compensation Investigations unit
pursuant to section 42-7.3-3.1 and automobile theft
investigators of the
pursuant to section 31-50-1, railroad police while traveling to and from official assignments or
while on assignments, conservation officers, or other duly
appointed law enforcement officers,
nor to members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine
Corps of the
National Guard, or organized reserves, when on duty,
nor to members of organizations by law
authorized to purchase or receive firearms from the
members are at or going to or from their places of assembly
or target practice, nor to officers or
employees of the
guard or criminal investigator carrying sidearms
or a concealed firearm in the performance of his
or her official duties under the authority of the
commanding officer of the military establishment
in the state of
guard carrying sidearms or a
concealed firearm in the performance of his or her official duties
under the authority of the adjutant general where he or she
is employed guarding a national guard
facility, provided, that the commanding officer of the
military establishment shall have on file
with the attorney general of this state a list of the
names and addresses of all civilian guards and
criminal investigators so authorized, nor to duly authorized
military organizations when on duty,
nor to members when at or going to or from their
customary places of assembly, nor to any
individual employed in the capacity of warden, associate warden,
major, captain, lieutenant,
sergeant, correctional officer or investigator at any project
owned or operated by a municipal
detention facility corporation, including the Donald W. Wyatt
Detention Facility, nor to the
regular and/or ordinary transportation of pistols or
revolvers as merchandise, nor to any person
while transporting a pistol, or revolvers, unloaded from
the place of purchase to their residence,
or place of business, from their residence to their
place of business or from their place of business
to their residence, or to a Federal Firearms licensee
for the purpose of sale, to or from a bona fide
gunsmith, or firearms repair facility, to any police station
or other location designated as a site of
a bona fide "gun buy-back" program but only
if said pistol or revolver is unloaded and any
ammunition for said pistol or revolver is not readily or
directly accessible from the passenger
compartment of such vehicle while transporting same and further
provided that in the case of a
vehicle without a compartment separate from the passenger
compartment the firearm or the
ammunition shall be stored in a locked container. Persons
exempted by the provisions of this
section from the provisions of § 11-47-8 shall have the right
to carry concealed firearms
everywhere within this state; provided, that this shall not be
construed as giving the right to carry
concealed firearms to a person transporting firearms as
merchandise or as household or business
goods.
SECTION 5. Section 12-6-7.2 of the General Laws in Chapter
12-6 entitled “Warrants
for Arrest” is hereby repealed.
12-6-7.2. Warrant
squad. (a) There is established a statewide
warrant squad which shall
be known as the
whom arrest warrants have been issued and remain
outstanding.
(b) The warrant squad
shall consist of a director, assistant director, additional members,
whose title shall be task force agents, and the sheriffs
and police officers that are provided for in
this section.
(c) All state,
county, local law enforcement and criminal justice agencies may assign
personnel to be members of the warrant squad to assist the
director or assistant director. All
personnel assigned to the warrant squad during their normal
work hours shall be paid their regular
salary by their respective departments and there shall be no
reimbursement for these payments.
The warrant squad shall be responsible for supervising
the conduct of all law enforcement
officers employed by it pursuant to this chapter and the
state, and not the city or town, shall be
liable for the actions of any municipal police officer which
are committed on behalf of and under
the direction and supervision of the warrant squad.
(d) Federal, state
and local officers assigned to the
as fugitive investigators shall exercise the same
authority as the statutory agents appointed under
this section as long as the officer is under the direct
supervision of the warrant squad. The
authorization for local police officers acting under the authority
of this statute shall be on file at
the office of the
(e) The
superintendent of the state police shall appoint the director, assistant
director, and
the members of the warrant squad. The salary of the
director and the assistant director shall be set
by the department of administration in accordance with
chapter 4 of title 36. The fees collected in
the amount of one hundred twenty-five dollars ($125)
assessed to the arrestee when apprehended
and brought to court shall be deposited as general
revenues. Each arrestee who has been
apprehended shall be assessed the fee in the amount of one
hundred twenty-five dollars ($125) in
addition to any other court costs imposed. All fees collected
shall be deposited as general
revenues, and distributed consistent with the provisions of §
12-6-7.1.
(f) The
squad until the state police make suitable space available.
The police departments of every city
and town and the state police shall make available to the
squad temporary detention facilities. All
fees collected shall be deposited as general revenues.
(g) The warrant squad
shall be under the authority of, and report to, the superintendent of
the state police.
(h) The statewide
warrant squad shall commence on September 1, 1989, and all state and
local police, law enforcement and criminal justice agencies
shall cooperate with the
state fugitive task force in carrying out the provisions of
this chapter.
(i)
The
policies, and regulations applicable to its scope and purpose
of locating and arresting fugitives
from justice.
(j) Persons appointed
as director, assistant director, and inspectors must have completed a
basic course for police or law enforcement officers at a
certified federal (including military),
state, or local law enforcement training academy or must
document a record of equivalent
qualifying experience in an on-the-job training program. Persons
appointed to be either director
or assistant director, must, in addition to the
preceding, have three (3) years of law enforcement
experience and three (3) years of law enforcement management or
command experience or the
equivalent.
(k) The director, the
assistant director, and inspectors and officers assigned on temporary
duty to the
and arrest warrants and subpoenas, serve summonses, and
apply for court or grand jury process,
and will have statewide authority to serve warrants to
locate and arrest persons who are fugitives
or who have failed to appear in state court for
violations of
orders or who are fugitives located in
Island, and may make arrests without a warrant in the
execution of court orders for any offenses
committed in their presence if they have reasonable grounds to
believe that the person to be
arrested has committed or is committing a crime cognizable
under
SECTION 6. Section 12-7-21 of the General Laws in Chapter
12-7 entitled “Arrest” is
hereby amended to read as follows:
12-7-21. "Peace
officer" defined. -- "Peace officer", as used within
this chapter, means
the following individuals or members of:
(1)
(2) Any
member of a municipal or local police department;
(3)
(4)(3)
(5)(4)
(6)(5)
(7)(6)
(8)(7)
(9)(8)
(10)(9)
(11)(10)
(12)(11)
(13)(12)
Campus security at the
(14)(13)
(15)
(16)(14)
The investigators of the department of attorney general appointed pursuant to
§ 42-9-8.1;
(17)
The director, assistant director, and other inspectors and agents of the
state fugitive task force appointed pursuant to § 12-6-7.2;
(18)
(15) Any federal law enforcement officer;
(19)
(16) Correctional investigators and correctional officers of the
department of corrections;
(20)
(17) The witness protection coordinator of the
department of attorney general;
(21)
(18) The warden, associate wardens, majors,
captains, lieutenants, sergeants,
correctional officers and investigators employed by a project
operated by a municipal detention
facility corporation, including, but not limited to, the
Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility;
provided, such parties listed in this subsection (21)(18)
herein shall be deemed to be peace
officers while in performance of their duties for the
municipal detention facility only, and shall
not be deemed to be peace officers at any time when they
are not in performance of said duties;
and
(22)
(19) Retired non-permanent sworn members of any municipal police
department
shall be deemed to be peace officers only while in the
performance of their duties for any
municipal police department, and shall be permitted to carry
their firearm while in the
performance of their duties for the municipal police department,
and shall be subject to in-service
training requirements of title 42, chapter 28.;
(20) Workers’
Compensation investigators of the department of public safety appointed
pursuant to section 42-7.3-3.1; and
(21) Auto theft
investigators appointed pursuant to section 31-50-1.
SECTION 7. Chapter 42-7.3 of the General Laws entitled
"Department of Public Safety"
is hereby amended by adding thereto the following
section:
42-7.3-3.1.
Workers' compensation investigations unit --Powers and duties of
investigators. – (a)
There is established a workers’ compensation
investigations unit, the purpose
of which shall be to prevent and detect fraud, abuse,
and mismanagement in the expenditure of
public funds, relating to any and all state programs and
operations by agencies, bureaus,
divisions, sections, departments, offices, commissions,
institutions and activities of the State of
Rhode Island, including those districts, authorities,
or political subdivisions created by the general
assembly or the governor.
(b) The workers’
compensation investigations unit shall be under the jurisdiction of the
commissioner of public safety/superintendent of the state police,
and shall consist of a director
and investigators, who shall be selected and who shall be
specially-trained to prevent and
investigate instances of fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in the
expenditure of public funds.
(c) The director
shall be a member of the
of sergeant, and shall remain on the personnel rolls of
the
same salary and benefits schedule, and shall retain all
powers of a member of the
state police of that rank. The director, with the approval
of the superintendent, shall have the
authority to appoint, the investigators and staff of the
office.
(d) The director and
the investigators shall have the following powers:
(1) To arrest
independently or in conjunction with state or federal law enforcement
agencies;
(2) To apply for and
execute search warrants; and
(3) To serve civil
and criminal process.
(e) No person shall
be appointed as an investigator in the office unless he or she has
successfully completed the basic course of instruction for police
officers at the
State Police Training Academy, and has at least three
(3) years of active law enforcement
experience, or has served as a member of the United States
Marshal’s Service or as a special
agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a criminal
law enforcement agency of the United
States Department of Justice, the
Department of the Treasury or the
(3) years of active law
enforcement experience, or has been certified as a police officer by the
duly-constituted state commission on police officer standards and
training of another state, and
has at least three (3) years of active law enforcement
experience. Prior to the appointment of any
qualified individual, a background examination shall be
conducted utilizing federal, state and
local law enforcement agencies, bureau of criminal
identification, national crime information
center, and any and all relevant records existing within the
federal and state court systems.
(f) The director and
investigators shall be indemnified to the extent provided under
section 9-31-12 for acts committed within the scope of their
employment.
SECTION 8. Sections 6 and 7 of Chapter 233 of the Public
Laws of 2009 are hereby
amended to read as follows:
SECTION
6. The department of human services shall make recommendations to the
chairman of the house and senate finance committees for
implementation of chapter 42-152 on or
before October 31, 2009 October 31, 2010.
SECTION
7. Section 6 of this act shall take effect upon passage and the
remainder of the
act shall take effect July 1, 2010 July 1, 2011.
SECTION 9. Section 42-17.1-17 of the General Laws in
Chapter 42-17.1 entitled
“Department of
Environmental Management” is hereby amended to read as follows:
42-17.1-17.
Transfer of powers and functions from department of environmental
management. -- (a)
There are hereby transferred to the department of administration:
(1) Those functions of
the department of environmental management which were
administered through or with respect to departmental programs in
the performance of strategic
planning as defined in § 42-11-10(c);
(2) All officers,
employees, agencies, advisory councils, committees, commissions, and
task forces of the department of environmental management
who were performing strategic
planning functions as defined in § 42-11-10(c); and
(3) So much of other
functions or parts of functions and employees and resources,
physical and funded, related thereto of the director of
environmental management as are
incidental to and necessary for the performance of the functions
transferred by subdivisions (1)
and (2).
(b) There are hereby
transferred to the department of public safety dispatch functions of
the division of enforcement of the department of
environmental management.
SECTION
10. In order that there is no interruption in the dispatch functions of
the
division of enforcement, the actual transfer of dispatch
functions, corresponding resources, and
personnel to the department of public safety, may be postponed until
such time, as determined by
the director of public safety, that the transfer provided
herein may best be put into force and
effect, but shall occur no later than January 1, 2011 and
shall be reflected in the FY 2011
supplemental budget submission.
SECTION
11. The general assembly hereby requires that the Department of
Administration on or before December 1, 2010 shall
conduct a feasibility study and submit a plan
to the chairperson of the House of Finance Committee, to
the chairperson of the Senate Finance
committee, and to the State Budget Officer which recommends
actions to integrate state lab
functions in
allocation of staffing, use of facilities and any additional
needs.
SECTION 12. Sections 39-1-4 and 39-1-8 of the General Laws
in Chapter 39-1 entitled
“Public Utilities
Commission” are hereby amended to read as follows:
39-1-4.
Composition of commission -- Terms -- Vacancies. -- (a) The public utilities
commission shall consist of five (5) three (3)
electors selected with regard to their qualifications
and experience in law and government, energy matters,
economics and finance, engineering and
accounting, and appointed by the governor with the advice and
consent of the senate. At least
three (3) of the five (5) commissioners shall not be, nor
shall have been within the previous five
(5) years, an employee,
officer or director of any business whose activities are subject to
regulation by the commission, or any affiliate of it. The term of each commissioner shall be six
(6) years. The director of
administration, with the approval of the governor, shall allocate the
position of each commissioner to one of the grades established
by the pay plan for unclassified
employees.
(b) Within thirty
(30) days after January 1, 2004, the governor, with the advice and
consent of the senate, shall appoint one commissioner to
serve until the first day of March, 2010,
and until his or her successor is appointed and
qualified, and one commissioner to serve until the
first day of March, 2008, and until his or her successor is
appointed and qualified. During the
month prior to the expiration of the term of a commissioner
the governor, with the advice and
consent of the senate shall appoint a commissioner to succeed
the commissioner whose term will
then next expire, to serve for a term of six (6) years
commencing on the first day of March then
next following, and until his or her successor is
appointed and qualified. A commissioner shall be
eligible to succeed him or herself. Upon the expiration of the
term of the chairperson, the
governor may designate any commissioner as chairperson.
(c) A vacancy in the
office of a commissioner, other than by expiration, shall be filled in
like manner as an original appointment, but only for the
unexpired portion of the term. If a
vacancy occurs when the senate is not in session, the
governor shall appoint a person to fill the
vacancy, but only until the senate shall next convene and
give its advice and consent to a new
appointment.
39-1-8.
Quorum -- Meetings. -- A majority of the Two
(2) commissioners shall
constitute a quorum for the transaction of any business, except
as provided in § 39-1-11.
Meetings of the commission may be held at any time or
place upon the call of any member, after
a reasonable notice by mail or telegraph telephone
to the other members, and shall be held at such
times and places as in the judgment of the commission will
best serve the convenience of all
parties in interest.
SECTION 13. Section 1 of this article shall take effect on
March 1, 2010. Sections 2 and
3 shall take effect on
October 1, 2010. Sections 4, 5, 6, and 7 shall take effect on January 1, 2010.
The remainder of this
article shall take effect upon passage.