2024 -- S 3102

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LC006186

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2024

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO BUSINESSES AND PROFESSIONS -- HAWKERS AND PEDDLERS

     Introduced By: Senators Pearson, and Picard

     Date Introduced: May 29, 2024

     Referred To: Senate Housing & Municipal Government

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Sections 5-11-1.1 and 5-11-18 of the General Laws in Chapter 5-11 entitled

"Hawkers and Peddlers" are hereby amended to read as follows:

     5-11-1.1. “Hawkers,” “peddlers,” and “door-to-door salespersons” defined —

Authority to issue rules and regulations.

     (a) For purposes of this chapter:

     (1) “Door-to-door salespersons” means persons who deliver goods, wares, or merchandise,

or services to customers for which payment has already been made or is to be made at the time of

delivery;

     (2) “Hawker” means any person selling or offering for sale any goods, wares, or

merchandise, including any food or beverage, on any public street, highway, or public right of way

in the state from a stationary location;

     (3) “Peddler” means any person selling or offering for sale any goods, wares, or

merchandise from a vehicle, cart, or any other conveyance that is not stationary, subject to

subsection (c); and

     (4) No “hawker” or “peddler” shall sell or offer for sale any single good, ware, or item

having a retail value of more than three hundred dollars ($300). However, this dollar limitation

shall not apply to any nonprofit corporation duly authorized to do business in Rhode Island. A

nonprofit corporation means a nonprofit corporation that has applied under 26 U.S.C. § 501(c)(3)

for approval as a § 501(c)(3) corporation with the Internal Revenue Service, or has been so

approved.

     (b) Persons selling farm or garden produce, including flowers, and persons selling works

of art or crafts of their own making at an art or crafts show or exhibition are not hawkers or peddlers,

provided, that:

     (1) Cumberland. The town of Cumberland has the power to license and regulate persons

selling farm or garden produce, including flowers, and persons selling works of art or crafts of their

own making at an art or crafts show or exhibition;

     (2) West Warwick. The town of West Warwick has the power to license and regulate

persons selling farm or garden produce, including flowers, and persons selling works of art or crafts

of their own making at an art or crafts show or exhibition;

     (3) Bristol. The town of Bristol has the power to license and regulate persons selling farm

or garden produce, including flowers, and persons selling works of art or crafts of their own making

at an art or crafts show or exhibition;

     (4) Warwick. The city of Warwick has the power to license and regulate persons selling

farm or garden produce, including flowers, and persons selling works of art or crafts of their own

making at an art or crafts show or exhibition;

     (5) East Providence. The city of East Providence has the power to license and regulate

persons selling farm or garden produce, including flowers; and

     (6) Woonsocket. The city of Woonsocket has the power to license and regulate peddlers

selling or offering flowers.

     (c) “Mobile food establishments” registered pursuant to chapter 11.1 of this title, and any

regulations promulgated thereunder, are not hawkers or peddlers and are explicitly exempted from

this chapter.

     (d) The town of Cumberland has the power to license and regulate door-to-door

salespersons in the same manner as hawkers and peddlers under the provisions of this chapter 11

of title 5.

     5-11-18. Local licensing — Fees — Persons exempt.

     (a)(1) The board or bureau of police commissioners in any city or town where a board or

bureau of police commissioners is established, and if no board or bureau of police commissioners

is established then the town or city council, is authorized to provide, by ordinance in the case of

any city or town council:

     (i) For the issuing and revocation for just and good cause of licenses to all hawkers and

peddlers;

     (ii) In the same manner to fix a penalty, not exceeding a fine of two hundred dollars ($200)

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for any one offense or imprisonment not exceeding ten (10) days, for selling or offering for sale

any goods, wares, or merchandise, or services, including food or beverages, as hawkers and

peddlers within that town or city without a license; and

     (iii) For charging and collecting fees for those licenses; provided, that the fee charged by

any board or bureau of police commissioners or city or town council, for any one license for any

one year, for selling or offering for sale, as a hawker and peddler, shall not exceed the sum of fifty

dollars ($50.00).

     (2) No license is required of any person selling religious books and publications on behalf

of Bible, tract, or other religious or moral societies for the purpose of promoting religious or moral

improvement, and which are sold for that purpose and not for pecuniary profit; nor of any person

peddling or selling any articles of wearing apparel manufactured with his or her own hands.

     (b) The following provisions as to the issuance and revocation of licenses apply to the city

and town councils specified:

     (1) Woonsocket. The city council of the city of Woonsocket is authorized to provide, by

ordinance, for the issuing and revocation at pleasure of licenses to hawkers and peddlers, pursuant

to the provisions of this section, on a weekly basis and to establish a fee not to exceed five hundred

dollars ($500) per year;

     (2) Middletown, East Greenwich, and Glocester. Town councils of the towns of

Middletown, East Greenwich, and Glocester are authorized to provide, by ordinance, for the

discretionary issuance and revocation of licenses to hawkers and peddlers, pursuant to the

provisions of this section on a daily or weekly basis, to establish reasonable fees for the issuance

and revocation, and to promulgate, by ordinance, reasonable rules and regulations as to the

placement, duration, location, number, and operation of those licenses within the town;

     (3) Cumberland and Bristol. The town councils of the towns of Cumberland and Bristol

are authorized to provide, by ordinance, for the discretionary issuance and revocation of licenses

to hawkers and peddlers on all state highways within the town on July 4 in any year and on a daily

or weekly basis, and to establish reasonable fees for the issuance and revocation, and to promulgate,

by ordinance, reasonable rules and regulations as to placement, duration, location, number, and

operation of those licenses within the town;

     (4) Smithfield. The town council of the town of Smithfield is authorized to provide, by

ordinance, for the discretionary issuance and revocation of licenses on a daily, weekly, monthly, or

annual basis, to establish reasonable fees for the issuance and revocation not to exceed five hundred

dollars ($500) per year, and to promulgate, by ordinance, reasonable rules and regulations as to the

placement, duration, location, number, and operation of these licenses within the town of

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Smithfield;

     (5) Providence. The city council of the city of Providence is authorized to provide, by

ordinance, for the issuance and revocation of licenses to hawkers and peddlers and to provide for

the promulgation of reasonable rules and regulations as to the placement, duration, location,

number, and operation of those licenses within the city of Providence, and to establish reasonable

fees for the issuance and revocation that may exceed the sum prescribed in this section;

     (6) Pawtucket. The city council of the city of Pawtucket is authorized to provide, by

ordinance, for the discretionary issuance and revocation of licenses to hawkers and peddlers on a

daily, weekly, monthly, or annual basis and to promulgate, by ordinance, reasonable rules and

regulations as to the placement, duration, location, number, and operation of those licenses within

the city of Pawtucket and to establish reasonable fees for the issuance and revocation that may

exceed the sum prescribed in this section;

     (7) Tiverton. The town council of the town of Tiverton is authorized to provide, by

ordinance, for the discretionary issuance and revocation of licenses to hawkers and peddlers on a

daily, weekly, monthly, or annual basis, to establish reasonable fees for the issuance and revocation

not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500) per year, and to promulgate, by ordinance, reasonable

rules and regulations as to the placement, duration, location, number, and operation of these

licenses within the town of Tiverton;

     (8) Warwick. The city council of the city of Warwick is authorized to provide, by

ordinance, for the discretionary issuance and revocation of licenses to hawkers and peddlers on a

daily, weekly, monthly, or annual basis and to promulgate, by ordinance, reasonable rules and

regulations as to the placement, duration, location, number, and operation of those licenses within

the city of Warwick and to establish reasonable fees for the issuance and revocation that may exceed

the sum prescribed in this section;

     (9) West Warwick. The town council of the town of West Warwick is authorized to

prescribe through ordinance reasonable rules and regulations as to the placement, duration,

location, number, and operation of those licenses within the town of West Warwick and to establish

a fee not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500) per issuance. The town council is also authorized

to establish by ordinance a penalty for violation of the ordinance not to exceed one thousand dollars

($1,000) enforced through the West Warwick municipal court;

     (10) Burrillville. The town council of the town of Burrillville is authorized to provide, by

ordinance, for the discretionary issuance and revocation of licenses to hawkers and peddlers on a

daily, weekly, monthly, or annual basis, and to promulgate, by ordinance, reasonable rules and

regulations as to the placement, duration, location, number, and operation of those licenses within

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the town of Burrillville, and to establish reasonable fees for the issuance and revocation that may

exceed the sum prescribed in this section. The town council is also authorized to establish, by

ordinance, a penalty for violation of the ordinance not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000)

enforced through the Burrillville municipal court; and

     (11) Richmond. The town council of the town of Richmond is authorized to provide by

ordinance for the licensing of any person over the age of eighteen (18) who sells, or attempts to

sell, merchandise at the home or business of a customer having not been invited to the home or

business by the occupant for purposes of the sale, in the same manner that hawkers and peddlers

are licensed and the town is further authorized to provide by ordinance for the licensing of these

sellers as well as hawkers and peddlers on a daily, weekly, monthly, or annual basis for a fee not

to exceed five hundred dollars ($500) per year.

     (c) No license shall be issued under this section without the hawker or peddler providing

proof that he or she has been issued a permit to make sales at retail by the division of taxation. Each

applicant shall provide two (2) forms of identification containing the applicant’s address prior to

the issuance of that peddling license. If the applicant is a resident of a homeless shelter or other

transitional housing program, a letter certifying this residency from the homeless shelter or

transitional housing program is acceptable in lieu of the two (2) forms of identification containing

the applicant’s address.

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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LC006186

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO BUSINESSES AND PROFESSIONS -- HAWKERS AND PEDDLERS

***

     This act would expand the definition of door-to-door salespersons to include those who sell

services. The act would also authorize the town of Cumberland to license and regulate door-to-door

salespersons in the same manner as hawkers and peddlers.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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LC006186

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