PORTSMOUTH — Rep. Terri Cortvriend has been honored by the Rhode Island Clean Water Association as its Clean Water Legislator of the Year for her legislative work to prevent water contamination and adapt for climate change.

The award was presented Feb. 6 at the organization’s legislative summit at the State House.

The organization applauded Cortvriend (D-Dist. 72, Portsmouth, Middletown) for her work to ban polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a group of chemicals that has been found to cause detrimental health impacts including decreased fertility, developmental delays in children and cancer. 

Ubiquitous in products ranging from cosmetics to frying pan coatings to firefighting foam, these long-lasting “forever chemicals” move quickly through water and have been identified in water supplies throughout Rhode Island.

RICWA also pointed to her efforts to address the effects of climate change.

“This recognition is very meaningful to me, because I share the Rhode Island Clean Water Association’s sense of urgency when it comes to protecting our environment, and our water in particular,” Cortvriend said. “The effects of our many decades of industrialization and pollution and our changing climate are upon us, and we need swift, decisive change to protect our homes, our resources and our lives. I thank RICWA for its advocacy, because we have no future without safe, clean water.”

Cortvriend worked collaboratively for years to achieve passage in 2022 of legislation prohibiting PFAS in food packaging, which took effect this year. Last year, legislation she sponsored was enacted to phase out PFAS in most consumer products sold or manufactured in Rhode Island beginning in 2027. That law also prohibited PFAS from firefighting foam, which has been a source of PFAS water contamination in Rhode Island, starting Jan. 1, 2025.

Cortvriend was also a cosponsor of the landmark Act on Climate in 2020, and has worked on numerous climate change mitigation and resiliency efforts. 

“We thank Representative Cortvriend for her hard work to advance important water policies for Rhode Island,” said RICWA President Peter J. Connell.

Ujifusa and Potter sponsor bills to prohibit hidden ‘junk fees’

Warwick resident Pearl Holloway was excited to buy her grandchildren Harlem Globetrotter tickets whose lowest ticket price at an online site was $23. After promising to take them, Pearl was horrified to learn that each of those tickets required her to pay a $14.75 “service fee” — a 64-percent increase — that raised the price for a family of four from $92 to $151. 

“I didn’t want to disappoint my grandchildren, so I just bought the tickets,” said Holloway.

She’s not alone. Research has shown that 10 specific kinds of junk fees amount to $90 billion per year in the United States, or more than $650 per household per year on average. 

Holloway was so concerned about what she called a “bait and switch” that she called her friends, Sen. Linda Ujifusa (D-Dist. 11, Portsmouth, Bristol) and House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi (D-Dist. 23, Warwick), also her state representative, to see if something could be done.

This year, Ujifusa and Rep. Brandon Potter (D-Dist. 16, Cranston) are introducing identical bills in the General Assembly (2025-S 0017, 2025-H 5247) that target undisclosed mandatory fees, such as those typically tacked on to event tickets and many other products and services. The legislation would make it a deceptive trade practice in Rhode Island to advertise, display or offer a price for a good or service that does not include all mandatory fees or charges other than government taxes and shipping.

“Junk fees go by many names — convenience charges, facilities fees, service charges and more — but they are usually just an excuse to charge consumers more than the advertised price of an item or service,” said Ujifusa. “If the fee is mandatory, it’s part of the price. Telling consumers that the price is lower is false advertising that should be prohibited.”

R.I. Attorney General Peter F. Neronha supports this legislation and has said, “These types of hidden fees make it nearly impossible for even the most well-informed consumers to price shop.”

This bill has the support of a broad coalition of 52 consumer advocacy groups. In addition, New York, Tennessee, Connecticut, California, Maryland, Colorado, and Minnesota have recently passed laws that ban junk fees and many other states are considering doing so as well.

 “If this proposed law were in place,” said Ujifusa, “my friend Pearl and countless other Rhode Islanders would be protected from hidden mandatory fees and able to spend their hard-earned dollars on things they really want or need.”

Measure would raise ‘circuit breaker’ tax credit for seniors, those with disabilities

Sen. Linda L. Ujifusa and Rep. Megan Cotter are sponsoring a bill to provide relief to some of the state’s most vulnerable households by raising the eligibility limit and the maximum credit for the “circuit breaker” tax credit, which benefits low-income seniors and individuals with disabilities.

“Rhode Islanders with low incomes are bearing the heaviest burdens of our housing crisis, as well as paying a far greater share of their income under our regressive tax structure. For those with fixed incomes, such as seniors and people with disabilities, higher housing costs can mean they are going without other necessities to keep a roof over their heads. They need relief. Raising the limits on the circuit breaker credit is a very effective, targeted way to help many of the households who are facing the greatest housing cost burdens,” said Ujifusa (D-Dist. 11, Portsmouth Bristol).

The circuit breaker credit program provides an income tax credit to low-income Rhode Island homeowners and renters who are over 65 or disabled, equal to the amount that their property tax exceeds a certain percent of their income. That percent ranges from 3 to 6 percent, based on household income. In the case of renters, a figure representing 20 percent of their annual rent is used in the place of property tax in the calculation.

Currently, the program is limited to households with annual incomes of $39,275 or less, and the credit is limited to $675.

The legislation (2025-H 5194, 2025-S 0027) would raise the income limit to $50,000 and raise the maximum credit to $850.

The sponsors say the dramatic rise in housing costs necessitates an increase to the limits of the program.

“With the median home price in Rhode Island doubling in the last five years, housing has risen to be one of the top issues concerning our older population,” said Senior Agenda Coalition Policy Advisor Maureen Maigret. “Census data shows one out of four older Rhode Island home owners are housing cost burdened (paying more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs) as are almost half of older renters. Increasing the circuit breaker tax credit or refund is a simple way to ease the housing cost burdens for them.”