Here are Rhode Island's new laws taking effect Jan. 1, 2023

PROVIDENCE — Come New Year's Day, a slew of new laws take effect, including a boost in the state's minimum wage from $12.25 to $13 an hour.

Along with this latest step in the state's multiyear march to $15 an hour in 2025, lawmakers also set Jan. 1, 2023, as the start date for:

• The exemption of military pensions from the state income tax, and an increase from $15,000 to $20,000 in the tax exemption for other kinds of pension income received by Rhode Island retirees.

• The effective date for the Equal Pay Law passed in 2021 that requires: equal pay for "comparable work" — defined as work that requires substantially similar skill, effort and responsibility that is performed under "similar working conditions" —  regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, age or disability.

• The creation of a stand-alone Department of Housing, with a Cabinet-level "secretary" — a title already bestowed on the state's housing czar, Josh Saal — at the helm.

On the way to $15/hour:Everything you need to know about Rhode Island's minimum wage in 2023

Political Scene:New RI housing chief sees himself as more moderator than 'czar'

That bill was one of three housing bills with a Jan. 1, 2023, trigger date. Another is aimed at "streamlining" the housing-approval process by, for example, allowing alternates to vote when there may not otherwise be a quorum of the state housing appeals board.

• An expansion of Rhode Island's "Temporary Caregiver Insurance" benefits from a maximum of five weeks up to a maximum of six for employees who take time off from work to care for a seriously ill family member or "bond'' with a newborn, adopted or foster child.

The program is wholly financed now by employees, who are required to contribute 1.1% of their wages up to the first $84,000 earned to the program.

For the record, the push is already on to expand the employee-subsidized caregiver program during the 2023 legislative session.

The argument? "Rhode Island was once a leader in its paid leave policy and benefits, but with only six weeks of leave and 60% wage replacement, we have fallen behind other states," the Economic Progress Institute's new executive director, Weayonnoh Nelson-Davies, told The Journal recently:

"Data show that low-income Rhode Islanders pay more into the system than they receive. Workers with low wages cannot afford to receive a portion of their wages when they are on 'paid leave.' If they receive closer to 100% of their wages, they can benefit from a program that empowers people to take care of ailing family members," she said.

Spend a little or spend a lot: Ideas on places to go for New Year's Eve in Rhode Island

But that's an issue for the next legislative session. The maximum weekly benefit now is $1,007 for an employee with no dependents, and $1,359 for an employee with up to five dependents, according to the state's Department of Labor & Training.

Overall, there are at least 18 already-passed laws timed to take effect in Jan. 1. Many were the result of compromises reached after years-long standoffs between competing interests, such as labor and business.

Pay-equity law aims to reduce gender income disparities

One such example: the long-running fight for "pay equity" for women, people of color and others who, historically, have not always gotten equal pay for comparable work.

Past efforts went up in flames, including the memorable refusal of the Senate to go along with the significantly watered-down version of a bill it had passed that emerged from the House under then-Speaker Nicholas Mattiello.

In 2021, with a different House speaker — K. Joseph Shekarchi — at the rostrum, lawmakers approved the new law about to take effect in the face of this troubling data from the National Women's Law Center.

Census:Rhode Island's population is still shrinking. A look at the latest number.

Based on the Census' 2019 American Community Survey, the center reported that women in Rhode Island were making 85 cents for every dollar made by men, for a difference of $8,722 a year.

Over a 40-year career, that would amount to $402,400.

The discrepancy increased when women's earnings were compared with those of white, non-Hispanic men, according to the law center. It found that for every dollar made by a white, non-Hispanic man, white women made 83 cents, Black women made 61 cents, Asian women made 73 cents and Latinas made 53 cents.

The pay-equity law bans employers from requiring a wage history from job applicants; requires equal pay for equal or at least comparable work, and provides that, if an employer violates the law, employees may be eligible to collect back pay, unpaid wages and damages.

What are some of the other laws taking effect Jan. 1?

• A mandate that all single-user restrooms in public places be non-gender specific.

At the time of passage, the lead House sponsor, Rep. John Edwards, explained: “Gender-specific restrooms can cause a great deal of anxiety for members of the transgender community. ... The reason for that anxiety is the verbal — and sometimes physical — harassment that many of them have experienced. This bill would simply strip single-user bathrooms of any gender designation, which will go a long way toward improving the mental health of members of the transgender and non-binary community."

'That's not right':Workers, records describe troubling conditions at Pawtucket nursing home

• A boost in the minimum staffing level at nursing homes to what has been described as the highest level in the country — 3.81 hours of resident care per day — under a law passed in 2021 that was supposed to kick in on Jan. 1, 2022, but was suspended until March.

As to how well the law is working so far, John Gage at the RI Healthcare Association told The Journal the industry is where it feared it would be: "80-90% of facilities cannot achieve the mandated staffing levels, and the resultant fines for Q3 2022 are estimated to be $12 million — fines that will escalate in subsequent quarters of non-compliance.

"Five facilities have already closed since the beginning of the pandemic. Without meaningful action, these fines will force more facilities to close — disrupting our frailest elders from their homes and eliminating health care jobs," he warned.

• A prohibition on health insurers engaging in the "discriminatory practice known as gender rating, or routinely charging women and men different premiums for individual insurance."

According to the Senate sponsor, V. Susan Sosnowski: “Women sometimes are charged 10% to 25% to 50% more than men for insurance providing identical coverage, especially during the age bracket associated with child-bearing years.” Added the House sponsor, Katherine Kazarian:  "This bill will eliminate this gross injustice and finally bring women in our state the health care equality that they rightfully deserve.”

Service Employees International Union:McKee agrees to 'landmark new contract' with at-home child care workers

• The sunset of an earlier law sparing first-time violators from a fine for driving while using a handheld mobile device, as long as they could provide proof they subsequently purchased a hands-free device.

• The elimination of a barrier to people having their arrest records sealed in cases where they have been acquitted or in some other way exonerated, which they have, to date, been unable to do if they have any felony convictions on their records.

• A reduction in the penalties for driving without a license — or driving with a suspended license. The new law also adds a magistrate to the state's Traffic Tribunal.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: New laws in Rhode Island 2023: Minimum wage, equal pay and more