MEDIA ADVISORY
Affordable Care Act bill faces committee vote
STATE HOUSE – The Senate Health and Human Services Committee will vote tomorrow on legislation meant to protect Rhode Island consumers from changes at the federal level should Congress repeal or weaken the Affordable Care Act.
The committee meets tomorrow, Tuesday, June 6, at the rise of the Senate (around 4:45 p.m.) in the Senate Lounge on the second floor of the State House.
Scheduled for a vote is:
· 2017-S 0831 — Sponsored by Health and Human Services Chairman Joshua Miller (D-Dist. 28, Cranston, Providence), this legislation would enact the provisions of the Affordable Care Act at the state level to protect consumers and provide predictability to insurers, stabilizing the Rhode Island insurance market despite the undetermined future of the federal law.
The committee also meets Thursday, June 8, at the rise of the Senate session, in Room 211 on the second floor of the State House.
At that hearing, the committee will consider advice and consent for the appointment of Eric J. Beane as the secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, to replace Elizabeth Roberts.
Among the bills being heard at that hearing is:
· 2017-S 0924 — This bill sponsored by Sen. Roger A. Picard (D-Dist. 20, Woonsocket, Cumberland) would require that all transactions involving any hospital, for-profit or not-for-profit, are reviewed by the Department of Health and the Attorney General.
-30-
Top Republicans are harshly criticizing the Biden administration's decision to halt weapon shipments to Israel. Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell sent a letter to President Biden expressing alarm over the administration's decision to put a hold on a shipment of bombs. The leaders said security assistance to Israel "is an urgent priority that must not be delayed." 
