2022 -- H 8323

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LC006072

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2022

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO WATERS AND NAVIGATION -- COASTAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

COUNCIL

     Introduced By: Representatives Ruggiero, Handy, Fogarty, Abney, Carson, Cortvriend,
Donovan, Speakman, Cassar, and Kennedy

     Date Introduced: June 03, 2022

     Referred To: House State Government & Elections

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Sections 46-23-2 and 46-23-2.1 of the General Laws in Chapter 46-23 entitled

"Coastal Resources Management Council" are hereby amended to read as follows:

     46-23-2. Coastal resources management council created -- Appointment of members.

     (a) There is hereby created the coastal resources management council. The coastal

resources management council shall consist of ten (10) members. Nine (9) members shall be

appointed by the governor, with advice and consent of the senate, and one member shall serve ex

officio. All current appointments to the coastal resources management council made by the

governor with advice and consent of the senate are hereby validated and ratified and those

appointees shall serve for the remainder of their term.

     (1) Six (6) of the members shall be appointed or elected officials of local government with

due consideration given to qualifications in planning or zoning: three (3) of whom shall be

appointed or elected officials in a municipality of fewer than twenty-five thousand (25,000) in

population, three (3) of whom shall be appointed or elected officials in a municipality of more than

twenty-five thousand (25,000) in population. The populations are to be determined by the latest

federal census. Elected or appointed municipal officials shall hold seats on the council only so long

as they remain in their elected or appointed office. Each municipal appointment shall cease if the

appointed or elected official shall no longer hold or change the office which they held upon

appointment. At least five (5) out of the six (6) appointed or elected members must be appointed

or elected in a coastal municipality. When the governor submits his or her appointments to the

senate for advice and consent, the governor shall specify the appointed or elected office that each

municipal appointment holds; the population of the municipality represented; and the member

being replaced.

     (2) Three (3) members shall be appointed by the governor from the public with due

consideration given to qualifications in ocean engineering, coastal planning, marine industry and

marine science, with the advice and consent of the senate, one of the public members and his or her

successors shall reside in a coastal municipality.

     (3) All members shall serve until their successors are appointed and qualified; during the

month of January, the governor shall appoint, with the advice and consent of the senate, a member

to succeed the members whose term will then next expire for a term of three (3) years commencing

on the first day of February next following and until their successor is named and qualified. A

member shall be eligible for successive appointments. No more than two (2) persons one person

on the council shall be from the same municipality. A vacancy other than by expiration shall be

filled in the manner of the original appointment but only for the unexpired portion of the term.

     (4) The director of the department of environmental management, or their designee, shall

serve ex officio. The ex-officio member shall not be counted as serving from any particular

municipality.

     (b) In addition to the foregoing voting members, the council may include a varying number

of other members who may serve in an advisory capacity without the right to vote and who may be

invited to serve by either the governor or the voting members. These advisory members may

represent the federal agencies such as the navy, coast guard, corps of engineers, public health

service, and the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration, and such regional agencies as the

New England River Basins Commission and the New England Regional Commission and any other

group or interest not otherwise represented.

     (c) There may be established a coastal resources advisory committee which committee,

appointed by the executive director of the coastal resources management council, may include, but

not be limited to, representation from the following groups: one of whom may be a representative

of the university of Rhode Island graduate school of oceanography and the college of resources

development, one of whom may be a representative of the Sea Grant National College Program,

one of whom may be a representative of the army corps of engineers, one of whom may be a

representative of the federal environmental protection agency's Narragansett Bay laboratory, one

of whom shall be a representative of the coastal resources management council, one of whom may

be the director of the department of environmental management; one of whom may be a member

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of the Rhode Island Marine Trade Association and one of whom may be a representative of a

regional environmental group. The council shall have the authority to appoint these additional

members to the advisory committee as is deemed necessary or advisable by the advisory committee

or the council. It shall be the responsibility of the committee to advise the coastal resources

management council on environmental issues relating to dredging and permitting related thereto,

including, but not limited to, those issues defined in §§ 46-23-18.1 -- 46-23-18.3, inclusive.

     (d) The council shall have the authority to form committees of other advisory groups as

needed from both its own members and others.

     46-23-2.1. Members -- Term of office -- Vacancies.

     (a) The term of office of the appointed members shall be three (3) years, only so long as

the members shall remain eligible to serve on the council under the appointment authority.

     (b) The members are eligible for successive appointments. As of January 1, 2023, the

members are eligible for three (3) successive appointments and may be reappointed to the council

after three (3) years of not serving on the council.

     (c) Any council member serving on the council as of the effective date of this section may

continue serving on the council under the following terms:

     (1) As of January 1, 2023, any council member serving on the council as of the effective

date of this section may continue to serve on the council only if the council member has not served

a total of twenty (20) years on the council.

     (2) As of January 1, 2024, any council member serving on the council as of the effective

date of this section may continue to serve on the council only if the council member has not served

a total of fifteen (15) years on the council.

     (3) As of January 1, 2025, any council member serving on the council as of the effective

date of this section may continue to serve on the council only if the council member has not served

a total of nine (9) years on the council.

     (4) Any council members serving on the council as of the effective date of this section may

be reappointed after three (3) years not serving on the council.

     (c)(d) Elected or appointed municipal officials shall hold seats on the council, only so long

as they remain in their elected or appointed office.

     (d)(e) A vacancy other than by expiration shall be filled in the manner of the original

appointment but only for the unexpired portion of the term. The governor shall have the power to

remove his or her appointee for just cause. The governor shall give due consideration to filling all

vacancies within six (6) months.

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     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO WATERS AND NAVIGATION -- COASTAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

COUNCIL

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     This act would require that future appointment of members to the coastal resources

management council receive due consideration to those individuals possessing qualifications in

specified areas and limits the members to serving three (3) successive appointments. The act would

require the governor to give due consideration to filling all vacancies within six (6) months.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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LC006072

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