Title 42
State Affairs and Government

Chapter 66.13
Supported Decision-Making Act

R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-66.13-3

§ 42-66.13-3. Definitions.

For the purposes of this chapter:

(1) “Adult” means an individual who is eighteen (18) years of age or older.

(2) “Affairs” means personal, healthcare, and matters arising in the course of activities of daily living and including those healthcare and personal affairs in which adults make their own healthcare decisions, including monitoring their own health; obtaining, scheduling, and coordinating health and support services; understanding healthcare information and options; and making personal decisions, including those to provide for their own care and comfort.

(3) “Disability” means a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities of a person.

(4) “Good faith” means honesty in fact and the observance of reasonable standards of fair dealing.

(5) “Immediate family member” means a spouse, child, sibling, parent, grandparent, grandchild, stepparent, stepchild, or stepsibling.

(6) “Person” means an adult; healthcare institution; healthcare provider; corporation; partnership; limited-liability company; association; joint venture; government; governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality; public corporation; or any other legal or commercial entity.

(7) “Principal” means an adult with a disability who seeks to enter, or has entered, into a supported decision-making agreement with a supporter under this chapter.

(8) “Supported decision-making” means a process of supporting and accommodating an adult to enable the adult to make life decisions, including decisions related to where the adult wants to live; the services, supports, and medical care the adult wants to receive; with whom the adult wants to live; and where the adult wants to work, without impeding the self-determination of the adult.

(9) “Supported decision-making agreement” or “the agreement” means an agreement between a principal and a supporter entered into under this chapter.

(10) “Supporter” means a person who is named in a supported decision-making agreement and is not prohibited from acting pursuant to § 42-66.13-6(b).

(11) “Support services” means a coordinated system of social and other services supplied by private, state, institutional, or community providers designed to help maintain the independence of an adult, including any of the following:

(i) Homemaker-type services, including house repair, home cleaning, laundry, shopping, and meal-provision;

(ii) Companion-type services, including transportation, escort, and facilitation of written, oral, and electronic communication;

(iii) Visiting nurse and attendant care;

(iv) Healthcare provision;

(v) Physical and psychosocial assessments;

(vi) Legal assessments and advisement;

(vii) Education and educational assessment and advisement;

(viii) Hands-on treatment or care, including assistance with activities of daily living, such as bathing, dressing, eating, range of motion, toileting, transferring, and ambulation;

(ix) Care planning; and

(x) Other services needed to maintain the independence of an adult.

History of Section.
P.L. 2019, ch. 113, § 1; P.L. 2019, ch. 124, § 1; P.L. 2020, ch. 79, art. 2, § 27.