Title 18
Fiduciaries

Chapter 4.1
The Public Radio Conversions Act

R.I. Gen. Laws § 18-4.1-5

§ 18-4.1-5. Notice and Conversion Fee.

(a) The transacting parties shall notify the department of attorney general within five (5) business days after entering into an agreement for conversion of public radio station, and in no event later than the date on which an application to transfer, assign or amend the license of a public radio station to permit commercial operations is filed with the FCC. In the event the department of attorney general concludes that a conversion has occurred and did not constitute a community benefit, or a conversion is proposed to occur and will likely not constitute a community benefit, the department of attorney general shall have the authority to order the acquirer to pay to an organization pursuant to § 18-4.1-11 below, a conversion fee upon consummation of the conversion of an amount not to exceed the sum of all donations made to the acquiree related to its public radio station since its inception, plus two (2) times the average annual revenue received by the acquiree related to its public radio station during the preceding three (3) years. The amount of the conversion fee should be sufficient in the attorney general’s opinion, to finance production of the public radio programming lost in the conversion. In order to evaluate whether the conversion constitutes a community benefit, the transacting parties shall be entitled to file such information with the department of attorney general as they may elect and as the department of attorney general may request.

(b) Two (2) copies of the initial application shall be addressed to the attorney general, and sent to the department of attorney general either by hand (provided the deliverer obtains a receipt from the department of attorney general for the delivery) or by United States mail, certified, return receipt requested.

(c) Except for information determined by the attorney general in accordance with § 18-4.1-14 to be confidential and/or proprietary, or otherwise required by law to be maintained as confidential, the initial application and supporting documentation shall be considered public records and shall be available for inspection upon request.

History of Section.
P.L. 2005, ch. 211, § 1; P.L. 2005, ch. 369, § 1.