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State Representative outlines legislative priorities for Richmond, emphasizing school transportation, child online safety and energy costs
Summary
State Representative spoke to the Richmond Town Council about a package of bills including an inspector general oversight measure, the "kids' code" for online safety, regional school funding reforms and proposals to limit utility profits; council members thanked her and discussed local follow-up steps.
State Representative Kotter visited the Richmond Town Council to outline several bills she will pursue in the state legislature, placing particular emphasis on oversight of state spending, online child safety, regional school transportation and energy costs.
Kotter told the council she is sponsoring an inspector general bill to provide oversight of how released state funds are spent. "Once the money is released, we have no idea how well it's being spent," she said, arguing for independent oversight. She also described a "kids' code" that has passed in other states and aims "to keep our children safe when they're online," citing statistics she said show "97% of teens are online every day" and that many receive unwanted direct messages.
Kotter outlined education-related proposals: a regional-transportation amendment to how school funding is allocated, a 6% regional bonus to incentivize district regionalization, and a bill to allow districts to use in-house buses when available to lower transportation costs. She described a school behavioral-health committee bill that would require districts to adopt formal policies for handling disruptive students and related behavioral health issues.
On energy policy, Kotter said she introduced legislation to cap certain utility profits after noting Rhode Island Energy's reported 4.05% profit in the prior year, which she said equates to about $25,000,000. "I put in a bill to cap the profits of the utility companies," she said. She also proposed a study commission on utility costs and described publicly owned utilities in Nebraska and Jacksonville as reference points.
Council members thanked Kotter for attending and discussed possible council resolutions to support several school-related bills. Councilor Wilcox said Richmond had supported the regional bonus previously and was likely to again. Council members and Kotter also discussed how residents can contact her (she provided a business card and phone number) and whether the council should consult outside experts on energy aggregation matters before entering agreements.
The discussion was introductory; Kotter said many items are early in the legislative session and she would share a fact sheet and additional materials with the council. No formal town action was taken during the visit.
