Legislators return to Smith Hill, what topics may make headlines in 2024
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Rhode Island’s legislature is back in session for 2024, with advocates back on Smith Hill pushing for the changes they desire.
Nine advocacy groups sent a letter to legislators at the start of their 2024 session, calling for a renewed focus on police reform, saying they feel that the Ocean State has fallen behind in the past few years.
“Our community partners [and] our community members are still really concerned about this issue and these pieces of legislation,” said Hannah Stern, a policy associate with Rhode Island American Civil Liberties Union. “I’m hoping this will give us some momentum again to really push these absolutely critical reforms as we go into the 2024 legislative session.”
The letter highlights some policies that have either failed to pass or sunsetted in Rhode Island; like collecting traffic data and banning neck restraints in policing as well as the law enforcement officer bill of rights, or LEOBOR.
“In that time, so many other states have passed laws,” Stern said. “So while we were the first in the country to institute this type of statute, we’re now far behind what so many of other states are doing in this regard.”
While police reform is a key topic in Providence, housing is taking precedent for students in southern Rhode Island.
URI students look to take their complaints all the way to the statehouse in 2024.
“We’re looking at the statehouse and saying ok, if the town council isn’t going to listen to us, we know we have people at the State House that do want to create more housing opportunity,” said Chris Hoover, a URI student. “Not just for single families in Rhode Island, but for students, for those moving here, they want to attract more people as well.”
This comes as Narragansett Town Council passed its new ordinance, lowering the number of unrelated people able to share a house from four to three.
That decision was made in just 30 seconds at Tuesday’s town council meeting, passing with three votes in favor and one abstaining.
“It was January second, the day after new year’s,” said Hoover. “Are students really going to be here? No. So, it’s very annoying. It’s very tough and difficult to really see this happen over and over again.”
A policy like this passed through Narraganset Town Council back in 2021, but was ultimately struck down.
Students like Hoover are now hoping to make sure this fight ends for good.
“We ultimately got it to the point where it looked like a pretty good pass,” Hoover continued. “However, we just ran out of time, and the session ended. This year we’re going in; we’re trying to get this fast-tracked as much as we can. You know, if this bill passes, this is the end of the fight.”
With the 2024 session beginning on Tuesday, legislators will be returning to the State House for its regular session Thursday, Jan. 4, but it may be some time before either of the issues appear on the docket.
