Save The Bay’s 2024 Legislative Wrap-up
The RI General Assembly adjourned its 2024 session in June, with good news on several fronts and bad news — but progress — on Save The Bay’s top policy priorities: reform of the Coastal Resources Management Council, and passage of a bottle deposit bill to reduce plastic pollution. Here is the wrap-up:
Good News
Green Bond to Go Before Voters: RI voters will have the opportunity to vote for a $53 million Green Bond this election season, thanks to RI General Assembly passage of the state’s FY2025 budget, which Governor McKee signed in June. Save The Bay was a member of a broad-based coalition to “make the Green Bond Greener.” Thanks to coalition leaders, the RI Land Trust Council and Audubon Society of RI, the Assembly added funds for open spaces, farmland protection and management of forests and habitat on state property. Here are the details of the proposed $53 million Green Bond, which will be on the ballot this fall:
- Climate Resiliency: $2,000,000
- Brownfields Remediation and Economic Development: $5,000,000
- Local Recreation Projects: $5,000,000
- Municipal Resiliency: $10,000,000
- Newport Cliff Walk: $3,000,000
- Agriculture Land Preservation Commission: $5,000,000
- Open Space Program: $3,000,000
- Forests and Habitat Management: $5,000,000
- Port of Davisville Infrastructure at Quonset: $15,000,000
Quahog Commission Issues Report: The Special Legislative Commission to Study and Provide Recommendations on the Issues Relating to the Reduced Catch of Quahogs in Narragansett Bay, commonly referred to as the “Quahog Commission,” submitted its Final Report on May 31. Save The Bay’s Narragansett Baykeeper, Mike Jarbeau, served as a member of the commission and supported its recommendations, which include:
- Increase Quahog Transfer and Seeding Programs and Study a Potential Shellfish Hatchery
- Increase Narragansett Bay Nutrient Monitoring Programs and Targeted Research
- Consider Establishing a Permanent Quahog Advisory Commission or Board Composed of Stakeholders
Save The Bay, the Department of Environmental Management, Narragansett Bay Commission and scientists from the University of Rhode Island successfully pushed back against a proposal by our good friends in the shellfishing community that the Bay is “too clean” and that the state should relax limits on nitrogen discharge to the Bay from wastewater treatment facilities. Nitrogen reductions have helped improve water quality and help protect the Bay from low oxygen levels that threaten marine life.
Bad News, But Progress
CRMC Reform Comes Up Short: For the second straight year, the General Assembly failed to enact significant reform of Rhode Island’s important but troubled Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC). Save The Bay has long advocated for removing the politically-appointed Council, whose members are not required to have expertise but wield immense power to control coastal development. Save The Bay and our many allies — organizations, individuals, and legislators — remain determined to reform the CRMC and are preparing for the 2025 session. Here is a post-session interview with executive director Topher Hamblett on the issue.
Plastic Bottle Waste Commission: Plastic pollution is a growing problem in Narragansett Bay, with beverage containers (and beverage container pieces) among the most collected items during shoreline cleanups. Save The Bay, along with nearly every other environmental and conservation organization in the State, has been calling for Rhode Island to adopt a deposit return system for beverage containers (also known as a ‘bottle bill’) to help reduce litter and marine debris. While the General Assembly has yet to pass such legislation, they did create a special joint legislative study commission in 2023 to more closely examine the problem of plastic bottle waste and potential solutions.
Save The Bay has served on the study commission over the past ten months along with environmental organizations, regulators, legislators and representatives from various parts of the beverage industry. After hearing from a series of local and national experts and looking at data from states and countries with deposit return systems, it’s even more apparent that a bottle bill is the single most effective policy we could adopt to reduce litter and marine debris from beverage containers. The study commission’s deadline for recommendations has been extended to April of next year. Save The Bay will work with coalition partners to make 2025 the year Rhode Island finally joins our neighbors in the region and passes a bottle bill.
Get Involved, Stay Involved
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