Policing, health care, minimum wage top RI Black and Latino Caucus agenda

The Rhode Island Legislative Black and Latino Caucus unveiled its 2021 agenda on Friday, aimed at tackling housing discrimination and boosting health care access, police accountability and economic opportunity.

Lawmakers' priorities include advancing a bill sponsored by Sen. Ana Quezada, D-Providence, to raise the minimum wage from $11.50 to $15 an hour over the course of four years, starting with a 75-cent increase by 2022.

Quezada pointed to the lack of employees returning to the service industry as evidence that wages are too low.

More: RI Senate approves gradual increase to $15 minimum wage

"I hear in the news every day that they don't find workers ... because they don't pay enough, and people are making more money getting unemployment than going back to work. That proves that this bill, it was the right time to do it."

Another bill the caucus is backing is a measure sponsored by Rep. Anastasia Williams, D-Providence, to allow the state Department of Motor Vehicles to issue "driving privilege" licenses and permits to those who cannot establish lawful presence in Rhode Island, such as undocumented immigrants.

More: RI lawmakers fling 'racist,' 'lies' accusations at each other

The caucus is also hoping to advance initiatives to guarantee children federal or state-funded health care; provide abortion coverage through Medicaid; repeal abortion coverage exclusions for state employee insurance plans; and increase family leave from 13 to 26 weeks.

On police accountability, a major objective is supporting the Rishod K. Gore Justice in Policing Act, which would make body cameras mandatory statewide, ban choke holds, promote accountability and throw out qualified immunity in cases in which constitutional rights have been violated.

More: Lawmakers introduce policing bill banning chokeholds, requiring body cameras

While the Rhode Island Police Chiefs' Association has previously expressed support for most of what is included in the bill, it has generally opposed eliminating qualified immunity and feels that excessive-force incidents should be judged on a case-by-case basis.

Lawmakers are also looking to amend the Law Enforcement Officers' Bill of Rights by renaming it the Law Enforcement Officers' Accountability Act, increasing the length of suspensions without pay and expanding the panel responsible for disciplinary action.

However, activists such as those within the local Black Lives Matter movement have called for a repeal of the act, and critics have argued that it has shielded police from penalties for misconduct.

More: RI activists demand police accountability after Ma’Khia Bryant was killed in Ohio

Rep. Karen Alzate, D-Pawtucket, who chairs the caucus, acknowledged that her colleagues are divided on the issue, with some supporting the proposed changes and others wanting the policy scrapped altogether.

"We also have other members who feel strongly about repealing it, but at some point we have to ... come together in order to get to what is our end goal. Our end goal is to really bring attention to the fact that our communities are hurting, but we can't do this alone. That's why I invite everybody, including the police, to come to the table and have these really difficult discussions so they become productive discussions, so that something really great comes out of it."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Policing, health care, minimum wage top RI Black and Latino Caucus agenda

___

(c)2021 The Providence Journal (Providence, R.I.)

Visit The Providence Journal (Providence, R.I.) at www.projo.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.