AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- MOTOR VEHICLES OWNED BY A GOVERNMENTAL BODY (Requires as part of the director of administration’s report to the general assembly to include information on the number of hybrid, combustion engine, plug-in hybrid, and ZEV vehicles in the light duty fleet. This act would take effect upon passage.)

S2550

2026 -- S 2550
========
LC004478
========

STATE OF RHODE ISLAND
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2026
____________
A N A C T
RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- MOTOR VEHICLES OWNED
BY A GOVERNMENTAL BODY

Introduced By:
Senators Vargas, Zurier, Urso, DiMario, Kallman, and Murray

Date Introduced:
February 13, 2026

Referred To:
Senate Finance
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
1
SECTION 1. Sections 42-11.3-1 and 42-11.3-5 of the General Laws in Chapter 42-11.3
2
entitled "Motor Vehicles Owned by a Governmental Body" are hereby amended to read as follows:
3

42-11.3-1. Definitions.
4
As used in this chapter, the following terms have the following meanings unless otherwise
5
specified:
6
(1) “Commuting” means driving a motor vehicle owned by a governmental body to and
7
from the work place and the employee’s residence.
8
(2) “Employee” means an individual who works for a governmental body not less than
9
thirty-five (35) hours a week.
10
(3) “General officer” means the governor, the lieutenant governor, the attorney general, the
11
secretary of state, and the general treasurer.
12
(4)(i) “Governmental body” means any department, commission, council, board, bureau,
13
committee, institution, legislative body, agency, government corporation, including, without
14
limitation, the council on postsecondary education and council on elementary and secondary
15
education or other establishment of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the state.
16
(ii) “Governmental body” also means the Rhode Island industrial recreational building
17
authority, the Rhode Island commerce corporation, the Rhode Island industrial facilities
18
corporation, the Rhode Island refunding bond authority, the Rhode Island housing and mortgage

1
finance corporation, the Rhode Island solid waste management corporation, the Rhode Island
2
public transit authority, the Rhode Island student loan authority, the Howard development
3
corporation, the water resources board, the Rhode Island health and education building corporation,
4
the Rhode Island turnpike and bridge authority, the Blackstone Valley district commission, the
5
Narragansett Bay water quality management district commission, Rhode Island
6
telecommunications authority, the convention center authority, channel 36 foundation, their
7
successors and assigns, and any other body corporate and politic that has been here before or that
8
is hereinafter created or established within this state excepting cities and towns.
9
(5) “Law enforcement officer” means an individual: (i) who is employed on a full-time
10
basis by a governmental body that is responsible for the prevention or investigation of crime
11
involving injury to persons or property (including the apprehension or detention of persons for such
12
crimes); (ii) who is authorized by law to carry firearms, execute search warrants, and to make arrests
13
(other than merely a citizen’s arrest); and (iii) who regularly carries firearms (except when it is not
14
possible to do so because of the requirements of undercover work). The term law enforcement
15
officer shall include an arson investigator if the investigator otherwise meets these requirements.
16
(6) “Own” means control and the intent to control and includes any type of arrangement,
17
including by way of illustration, and not by limitation, a lease arrangement, whereby an employee
18
of a governmental body is supplied principal or exclusive use of a motor vehicle by the employee’s
19
employer.
20

(7) "Zero-Emission vehicle" or "ZEV" means a vehicle that produces zero exhaust emission
21
of any criteria pollutant or precursor pollutant or greenhouse gas, excluding emissions from air
22
conditioning systems, under any possible operational modes or conditions.
23

42-11.3-5. Annual report.
24

(a)
The director of administration shall annually in the month of January submit a report to
25
the house fiscal advisory staff and the senate fiscal advisory staff on motor vehicles owned by a
26
governmental body. The report shall identify the vehicle,
and whether the vehicle is combustion
27
engine, hybrid, plug-in hybrid or ZEV,
the principal driver of the vehicle, the mileage incurred by
28
the vehicle during the previous calendar year, the miles attributable to commuting in the previous
29
calendar year, the maintenance record and cost of maintenance of the vehicle during the previous
30
year,
as well as the same information collected from each hybrid, combustion engine, plug-in
31
hybrid, and ZEV vehicle
and such other information as the director of administration requires.
32

(b) The report pursuant to subsection (a) shall also provide the total number of new vehicles
33
purchased in the light-duty fleet in the previous year, and specify the total number of newly
34
purchased combustion engine vehicles, hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles and ZEV. The

LC004478 - Page 2 of 4
1
report shall also include the percentage of hybrid, combustion engine, plug-in hybrid, and ZEV
2
new vehicles purchased with regard to the total number of vehicles in the light-duty fleet existing
3
at year end, and the total per mile cost for each vehicle and the total average cost per vehicle mile
4
for all vehicles of similar drive mechanisms or category of combustion engine, hybrid, plug-in
5
hybrid and ZEV, including the percentage of hybrid, combustion engine, plug-in hybrid, and ZEV
6
vehicles in the total light-duty fleet. The report shall also include the number of hybrid, combustion
7
engine, plug-in hybrid, and ZEV vehicles in operation in each state agency shown as a percentage
8
of the whole light duty fleet.
9
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.
========
LC004478
========

LC004478 - Page 3 of 4
EXPLANATION
BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
OF
A N A C T
RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- MOTOR VEHICLES OWNED
BY A GOVERNMENTAL BODY
***
1
This act would require as part of the director of administration’s report to the general
2
assembly to include information on the number of hybrid, combustion engine, plug-in hybrid, and
3
ZEV vehicles in the light duty fleet.
4
This act would take effect upon passage.
========
LC004478
========

LC004478 - Page 4 of 4