Minimum wage hike among new Rhode Island laws taking effect

December 31, 2018 11:02 am

By The Associated Press

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) – The state’s minimum wage is going up, insurance companies will be required to cover all costs for a mastectomy and carbon monoxide detectors will be required in school buildings.

Those are among the new and updated laws taking effect in Rhode Island in 2019.

The hourly minimum wage increases from $10.10 to $10.50 starting Tuesday. Lawmakers approved increasing it by 90 cents within two years in 2017, when it was $9.60 an hour.

Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo says she wants the minimum wage to gradually increase to $15 per hour. She says people who work hard shouldn’t remain in poverty.

Lawmakers passed legislation this year to expand mastectomy coverage by eliminating high co-pays and deductibles, and to require school buildings to have carbon monoxide detectors installed beginning Jan. 1.