Chapter 053 |
2019 -- H 5289 Enacted 06/28/2019 |
A N A C T |
RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT - APPROPRIATE DISABILITY LANGUAGE |
Introduced By: Representatives McNamara, Ajello, Jackson, Ackerman, and Amore |
Date Introduced: February 06, 2019 |
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: |
SECTION 1. Section 22-11-3.4 of the General Laws in Chapter 22-11 entitled "Joint |
Committee on Legislative Services" is hereby amended to read as follows: |
22-11-3.4. Duties of the law revision director. |
(a) In addition to other duties assigned to the law revision director, he or she shall |
rearrange, rephrase, and consolidate the public laws and acts and resolves of the general assembly |
so that redundancies may be avoided, obsolete enactments eliminated, contradictions reconciled, |
omissions supplied, and imperfections cured. The law revision director has no authority either to |
change the law or to alter the substance of the statutes but shall alert the general assembly |
annually to specific changes, which may be required. In addition, a report shall be filed annually |
with the general assembly which shall indicate which sections of the general laws at the previous |
session had more than one amendment and displaying a copy of the final version of the statute on |
the first legislative day of the next subsequent session of the general assembly. |
(b) The law revision director shall, by February 1, 2020, file a report with the general |
assembly, proposing amendments to those sections of the general laws that do not use appropriate |
disability language as required by § 43-3-7.1. The report shall also include a list of those statutes |
for which amendments are not being proposed pursuant to § 43-3-7.1 because the director had |
determined that such amendments could alter the intent of the statute. The report shall be |
prepared after consultation with the governor's commission on disabilities. |
SECTION 2. Section 36-3-5 of the General Laws in Chapter 36-3 entitled "Division of |
Personnel Administration" is hereby amended to read as follows: |
36-3-5. Powers and duties of the administrator. |
In addition to the duties imposed upon the personnel administrator elsewhere in the law |
and the personnel rules, it shall be the duty of the personnel administrator: |
(1) As executive head of the division of personnel administration, to direct, supervise, |
develop, and authorize all personnel-related administrative and technical activities including |
personnel administration and personnel management. |
(2) To prepare and recommend to the director of administration such rules as are deemed |
necessary to carry out the provisions of the law. |
(3) To supervise the operation of the classification plan and to recommend to the director |
amendments and additions thereto. |
(4) To supervise the operation of the pay plan and to recommend to the director |
amendments and additions thereto. |
(5) To establish and supervise the maintenance of employment lists, promotion lists, and |
reemployment lists; to develop recruitment procedures, monitor agency recruitment processes for |
compliance with the statutes and policies, and make available to state agencies qualified |
candidates as vacancies occur; direct and supervise equal opportunity programs; manage |
employee benefit plans, including the coordination of health insurance, prescription/vision care, |
group life insurance, dental care, prepaid legal services, deferred compensation and cancer |
programs, and any other programs established by the legislature related to employee benefits; and |
to manage career awards programs and state and local enforcement firefighters incentive training |
programs. |
(6) To perform any other lawful act which he or she may consider necessary or desirable |
to carry out the purposes and provisions of this chapter, and chapter 4 of this title, and the rules |
and to conduct innovative demonstration projects to improve state personnel management. |
(7) The personnel administrator is authorized and empowered to revise state job |
descriptions to ensure the use of appropriate disability language, as required by § 43-3-7.1. |
SECTION 3. Section 43-3-7.1 of the General Laws in Chapter 43-3 entitled |
"Construction and Effect of Statutes" is hereby amended to read as follows: |
43-3-7.1. Use of appropriate disability language. |
(a) Whenever the terms "the handicapped,", "handicap person,", or "handicapped person" |
are used in the general laws, they shall the law revision director shall, unless they the director |
determine determines it could alter the intent of the statute, recommend that they be replaced |
with the words "persons with disabilities" or "person with a disability," inclusive, and whenever |
the term "handicap" is used in the general laws, it shall the law revision director shall, unless they |
the director determine determines it could alter the intent of the statute, recommend that it be |
replaced with the word "disability"; provided that this section shall not be applied retroactively |
but shall only be applied prospectively. |
(b) Whenever the term terms "developmental disability" or "developmental disabilities" |
or "mentally retarded" or "retarded" are used in the general laws, the law revision director shall, |
unless they the director determines it could alter the intent of the statute, recommend that they be |
replaced with the words "intellectual and developmental disability" or "person with an intellectual |
and developmental disability", if the context so requires. |
(c) Whenever the term terms "substance abuse" or "addict" are used in the general laws, |
the law revision director shall, unless they the director determines it could alter the intent of the |
statute, recommend that they be replaced with the words "substance use disorder" or "person with |
a substance use disorder", if the context so requires. |
(b)(d) Whenever an act, resolution, statute, regulation, guideline, directive, or other |
document of a governmental entity refers to people with disabilities, terms that stigmatize, like |
"the handicapped", "the disabled", "the blind", "the deaf", "the hearing impaired", "cerebral |
palsied", "paralytic", "epileptic", "confined to a wheelchair", "wheelchair bound", "lunatic", |
"idiot", "defective", "deformed", "victim", "suffers from", "mentally retarded", "retarded", |
"addict", "substance abuser", etc., shall not be used. Language that puts the "person first", rather |
than the impairment or assistive device, such as "person with a disability", "child who has mental |
illness", "worker who is deaf", "voter who uses a wheelchair", "person who is hard-of-hearing", |
shall be used. |
SECTION 4. Chapter 42-64.13 of the General Laws entitled "Rhode Island Regulatory |
Reform Act" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following section: |
42-64.13-13. Revision of regulations - appropriate disability language. |
The office of regulatory reform is authorized and empowered to ensure all regulations use |
appropriate disability language, as required by § 43-3-7.1. |
SECTION 5. This act shall take effect on January 1, 2020. |
======== |
LC001158 |
======== |