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Rhode Island Senate opens 2026 session, outlines health, education and small-business priorities
Summary
The Rhode Island Senate opened the 2026 session with 36 members present. The presiding officer said the chamber will focus on stabilizing health care (including a URI medical school study), expanding early-childhood programs, and easing rules for small businesses, and previewed a bond question for a workforce center.
Madam President opened the 2026 legislative session and recorded 36 members in attendance, saying the Senate will focus this year on health care, education and small-business supports.
"We will build upon the senate's important work," the presiding officer said, outlining priorities that included steps to stabilize hospitals and strengthen the health-care workforce, measures aimed at lowering prescription drug costs and greater transparency for pharmacy benefit managers, and continued work to expand behavioral-health supports and secure recurring funding linked to 988 programs.
The president's remarks placed a particular emphasis on education. The chamber will seek to extend childcare subsidies beyond their current 2028 expiration and pursue broader access to prekindergarten for 3- and 4-year-olds. The Senate also said it will study the potential creation of a medical school at the University of Rhode Island, and pursue a proposal to create a workforce innovation center at the Community College of Rhode Island that would require voter approval and a bond question in November. Lawmakers also expressed interest in making the HOPE scholarship at Rhode Island College permanent.
On small-business policy, the presiding officer said the chamber will pursue user-friendly changes to a tangible tax exemption enacted in 2023, intended to ease the regulatory burden on small-business owners.
Attendance and procedure: the presiding officer opened the session with an invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance, noted there were no committee reports or regular calendar items for the day, and announced that immediately after session the Senate will conduct ethics training.
Planning and limits: the opening remarks framed these items as priorities to be fleshed out in coming weeks; specific bill language, timelines and fiscal impacts were not offered during the remarks. The presiding officer said the Senate has been meeting with stakeholders to develop proposals and that more detailed legislation will be released in the coming weeks.
