AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES AND CARRIERS -- RHODE ISLAND PUBLIC TRANSIT AUTHORITY (Prohibits RIPTA from using state funds or the proceeds of any bond(s) to pay for any work performed after 8/1/26, pursuant to the “transit center joint development project” RFP and/or pursuant to related the preliminary services agreement.)

S2680

2026 -- S 2680
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2026
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A N A C T
RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES AND CARRIERS -- RHODE ISLAND PUBLIC
TRANSIT AUTHORITY

Introduced By:
Senators Bell, Mack, Kallman, and Quezada

Date Introduced:
February 27, 2026

Referred To:
Senate Finance
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
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SECTION 1. The general assembly finds and declares that:
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(1) The proposed relocation of the Providence bus hub is widely opposed by Rhode
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Islanders who use the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA);
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(2) The project to relocate the Providence bus hub was projected, in a December 2022 cost
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estimate provided to the RIPTA board's finance subcommittee, to have an overall cost of between
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$200,000,000 and $250,000,000;
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(3) RIPTA is in serious financial difficulties and would have trouble affording even a
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fraction of that cost estimate, which is only an estimate;
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(4) Subsequently, in January 2023, RIPTA made a Request for Proposals (RFP) to potential
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contractors for the Providence hub relocation, in which RIPTA specified that the bids in response
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to the RFP could name the profit margin that the vendor would get for work including final design,
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building of the facility, and operation services for the yet-to-be-constructed hub;
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(5) In February 2024, RIPTA signed a Preliminary Services Agreement to pay a vendor up
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to $16.9 million for work including public communications, initial design, and assistance in
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selecting a potential site for a relocated bus hub;
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(6) This Preliminary Services Agreement describes many details of how this vendor's
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potential ensuing contract with RIPTA (for final design, building of the facility, and operation
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services for the yet-to-be-constructed hub) will look like, and in particular it specifies that this

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potential ensuing contract with the vendor would grant the vendor the same profit margin that the
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vendor asked for in its response to the RFP;
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(7) Big contracts with a guaranteed profit margin and no maximum price are dangerous for
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the taxpayer;
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(8) RIPTA has taken no steps, either in the RFP or subsequently, to ensure that there is an
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enforceable maximum price for this hub relocation project;
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(9) It is not in the state's interest for RIPTA, with its financial difficulties, to enter into a
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subsequent contract where the vendor gets the guaranteed profit margin it asked for on top of
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whatever the vendor's costs or expected costs turn out to be, where these costs are likely to be in
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the hundreds of millions;
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(10) The existing Kennedy Plaza bus hub is located at the site where many of Providence's
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major streets converge, which is convenient for buses and riders alike, and Kennedy Plaza could
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be renovated for a fraction of the hundreds of millions of dollars that it would likely cost to relocate
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the hub;
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(11) Most bus riders who get off the bus in Kennedy Plaza are doing so not to transfer to
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another bus but to get to nearby destinations;
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(12) If the Providence hub was relocated, many of these bus riders who have their final
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destination in the Kennedy Plaza area would have to transfer buses at the new hub, forcing them to
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take an additional unnecessary bus trip;
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(13) The only contract currently in effect with the vendor, the Preliminary Services
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Agreement, has an off-ramp provision that allows RIPTA to terminate it at any time without paying
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for any not-yet-done work;
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(14) However, RIPTA’s RFP and its other legal agreements failed to specify that RIPTA
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has any off-ramp rights once a subsequent contract is signed;
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(15) It is in the state's best interest for RIPTA to exercise its option to terminate the
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Preliminary Services Agreement so that any further work done on the Providence bus hub is done
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under an RFP that better safeguards taxpayers' and riders' interests.
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SECTION 2. Section 39-18-10 of the General Laws in Chapter 39-18 entitled "Rhode
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Island Public Transit Authority" is hereby amended to read as follows:
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39-18-10. Trust funds.
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(a)
All moneys received pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, whether as proceeds
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from the sale of bonds or as revenues, shall be deemed to be trust funds to be held and applied
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solely as provided in this chapter. The authority may, in the resolution authorizing the bonds or in
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the trust agreement securing the bonds, provide for the payment of the proceeds of the sale of the

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bonds and the revenues to be received to a trustee, which shall be any trust company or bank having
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the powers of a trust company within or without the state, which shall act as trustee of the bonds
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and hold and apply the bonds to the purposes of this chapter, subject to this chapter and to
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regulations as the resolution or trust agreement may provide, or may provide for the funds to be
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held in a separate account of the authority maintained at any bank within or without the state to be
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disbursed therefrom on the instructions of such officer or officers of the authority as may be so
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authorized and empowered by resolution of the authority.
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(b) Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter to the contrary, no proceeds from trust
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funds subject to the provisions of subsection (a) of this section nor any appropriations provided by
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the state to the authority shall be used for any work performed after August 1, 2026, pursuant to
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the “transit center joint development project” request for proposals (RFP) issued in January, 2023
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and/or pursuant to the preliminary services agreement executed in February, 2024 which covered
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a portion of the process contemplated in that RFP.
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SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage.
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EXPLANATION
BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
OF
A N A C T
RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES AND CARRIERS -- RHODE ISLAND PUBLIC
TRANSIT AUTHORITY
***
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This act would prohibit the Rhode Island public transit authority (RIPTA) from using state
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funds or the proceeds of any bond or bonds to pay for any work performed after August 1, 2026,
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pursuant to the “transit center joint development project” request for proposals (RFP) and/or
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pursuant to the related preliminary services agreement.
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This act would take effect upon passage.
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