The Rhode Island General Assembly’s 2025 session ended last month. We are thankful to the many advocates, bay stewards, and community partners who contacted their state legislators, shared our social media posts, and talked to friends and family about matters pertaining to the health of Narragansett Bay and its watershed.
In short, we did not achieve the desired outcome for either of our 2025 legislative priorities, CRMC reform or the bottle bill. However, we made progress on both fronts, and we are proud of our efforts. Here’s a quick summary of where we landed on our priorities and other key issues we weighed in on throughout the session.
CRMC Reform
Save The Bay advocated for legislation introduced by the Attorney General and sponsored by Sen. Mark McKenney and Rep. Terri Cortvriend that would have eliminated the politically-appointed Council, renamed the agency as the Department of Coastal Resources and required the hiring of a staff attorney. Despite strong support from a broad coalition of environmental organizations, commercial and recreational user groups and others, this legislation did not pass.
Instead, the Assembly passed legislation sponsored by Rep. Alex Finkelman (H6126 sub A) and Sen. Sue Sosnowski (S998 sub A) that reduces the number of Council members from 10 to 7 and adds “qualifications” to serve on the Council but keeps the Council structure intact. While these changes were framed as a “step in the right direction,” they will not fix the underlying flaws inherent in the Council structure. We will assess where we landed post-session and refine our legislative strategy for CRMC reform heading into 2026.
Bottle Bill
The bottle bill became one of the more hotly contested legislative battles of the 2025 legislative session, with the beverage industry spending considerably to try to kill the bill. Save The Bay served on a special legislative study commission that spent 18 months examining this issue and, ultimately, recommended the passage of a bottle bill, leading the coalition that advocated for its passage.
Our advocacy was hampered by the fact that the study commission did not issue its final report until early April, with the actual legislation introduced shortly after. This complicated our advocacy efforts, limiting the time we had to educate both lawmakers and the public about the specifics of what is, frankly, a somewhat complicated bill. Ultimately, the Assembly chose to pass a severely amended version of the bill, which directs the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RI DEM) to commission an implementation analysis of what it would take to make a bottle bill a reality in Rhode Island.
Save The Bay worked diligently in the final days of the session to secure improvements to the amended bill, strengthening it, and we’re hopeful that this report will aid our efforts moving forward. Our bill sponsors, Sen. McKenney and Rep. Carol Hagan McEntee, are committed to reintroducing a bottle bill again next session. We will continue to work during the “offseason,” educating lawmakers on the issue.
Additional Priorities
Save The Bay supported and submitted testimony on several other bills during the legislative session that passed that will impact the health and future of Narragansett Bay:
- S626 (Gu) and H5686 (Fogarty) – requires cities and towns to maintain a list of rights-of-way to the shore, and include those ROWs on official town maps.
- S716 (Gu) and H6093 (Cortvriend) – provides a procedure for modifying parking near CRMC ROWs to the shore.
- S711 (Bissaillon) and H5310 (Speakman) – Restructures the Rhode Island Housing and Conservation Trust Fund, increases its membership to 15, and reallocates the percentage of the funds for housing, conservation and other goals. We applaud our friends with the RI Land Trust Council for their hard work to secure passage of this legislation.
Thanks again for everyone’s help and support.