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S TATE OF RHODE IS LAND
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2023
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A N A C T
RELATING TO AGRICULTURE AND FORE STRY -- FORESTRY AND FOREST PRODUCT
OPERATIONS
Introduced By: Representatives Cotter, Edwards, Potter, Baginski, Speakman, Casimiro,
Kazarian, McNamara, Kennedy, and Shallcross Smith
Date Introduced: February 22, 2023
Referred To: House Municipal Government & Housing
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
SECTION 1. Title 2 of the General Laws entitled "AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY" 1
is hereby amended by adding thereto the following chapter: 2
CHAPTER 28 3
FORESTRY AND FOREST PRODUCT OPERATIONS 4
2-28-1. Short title. 5
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Forestry Parity Act." 6
2-28-2. Legislative findings. 7
The general assembly finds and declares: 8
(1) That maintaining forests is vital to maintain both biodiversity, and ecosystem services, 9
including carbon sequestration in the state; 10
(2) That forests are more likely to be maintained if they provide economic value; 11
(3) That providing for the economic viability of the forest products industry is an interest 12
of the state; 13
(4) That forest conservation is given the same status as farm and open space conservation 14
under the chapter 27 of title 44 ("taxation of farm, forest, and open space land"), but that elsewhere 15
in the general laws forestry, and the production of forest products, are not given the same benefits, 16
and protections as agriculture; and 17
(5) That it is in the interest of the state, in order to protect economic viability of forests and 18
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to provide for their conservation for the future benefit and enjoyment of the people of the state. 1
2-28-3. Purpose. 2
It is purpose of this chapter to provide parity of treatment, under the law, with farming and 3
agriculture operations to forestry and forest product operations. 4
2-28-4. Definitions. 5
When used in this chapter, the following words and phrases are construed as follows: 6
(1) “Forest-based business” shall have the same meaning as defined in § 2-27-2. 7
(2) “Forest land” shall have the same meaning as defined in § 2-27-2. 8
(3) “Forest management” shall have the same meaning as defined in § 2-27-2. 9
(4) “Forest product operations” means any and all trade occupations involving the 10
harvesting, production, maintaining, and sale of forest products originating in the state, including, 11
but not limited to: 12
(i) Arboriculture, logging, land clearing; and 13
(ii) Kiln drying, operations of firewood, saw milling, lumber, pallets, biochar, mulch, 14
compost, biomass, wood chips, saw dust, timbers, posts, beams, shingles, and artisan tree carvings, 15
seasonal greens and berries. 16
(5) “Forest property owner” means a person who owns “forest land” or leases “forest land” 17
for a period of five (5) years or more, which lease permits the conduct of some or all “forest product 18
operations” on the “forest land”. 19
(6) “Person” shall have the same meaning as defined in § 43-3-6. 20
2-28-5. Declaration of policies. 21
The general assembly finds and declares that it is the policy of the state to promote an 22
environment in which forest operations and forest-based businesses are safeguarded against 23
nuisance actions arising out of conflicts between forestry operations and urban and suburban land 24
uses, in a manner consistent with the provisions of chapter 23 of title 2 ("right to farm act"), and to 25
protect forest landowners with forest management plans from state administrative actions and 26
regulations above and beyond the restrictions on farms and agricultural operations on the same 27
subject, provided, that nothing herein shall be construed to authorize forestry activity in freshwater 28
wetlands except in accordance with all regulatory requirements imposed by the department of 29
environmental management. 30
2-28-6. Intentional and negligent actions. 31
The provisions of § 2-28-5 do not apply to forestry operations conducted in a malicious or 32
negligent manner, or to forestry operations conducted in violation of federal or state law. 33
SECTION 2. Chapter 31-1 of the General Laws entitled "Definitions and General Code 34
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Provisions" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following section: 1
31-1-8.1. Forestry vehicle. 2
“Forestry vehicle” means every vehicle which is designed for and used for forest product 3
operations purposes, as defined in § 2-28-4, and used by the owner of the vehicle or family 4
member(s) or employee(s) or designees of the owner, in the conduct of the owner’s forestry product 5
operations, which use shall include the delivery of forest products produced by the forester but shall 6
not include commercial hire for non-forestry product operation uses, including, but not limited to, 7
hauling of sand and gravel, snow plowing, other than directly on the vehicle owner’s forest land. 8
For an owner to qualify as having forestry purposes, the owner shall provide evidence that he or 9
she meets the requirements of § 44-18-30. 10
SECTION 3. Chapter 31-3 of the General Laws entitled "Registration of Vehicles" is 11
hereby amended by adding thereto the following section: 12
31-3-31.4. Registration of forestry vehicles. 13
(a) Forestry vehicles, as defined in § 31-1-8.1, equipped with rubber tires while being used 14
in forestry and operated on highways shall be registered on a form furnished by the administrator 15
of the division of motor vehicles and shall be assigned a special number plate with a suitable symbol 16
or letter indicating the usage of the forestry vehicle. 17
(b) The administrator of the division of motor vehicles shall promulgate rules and 18
regulations for the inspection of forestry vehicles. 19
(c) Forestry plates may be displayed on vehicles used in the delivery of forestry products 20
produced by the forester/forest product operator; however, forestry plates shall not be displayed on 21
vehicles used for delivery of products not produced from forest product operations. 22
(d) Any forestry vehicle, as defined in § 31-1-8.1, that is not required to be registered other 23
than pursuant to the provisions of § 31-1-8.1, and that is covered by a liability insurance policy 24
applicable to forest land and/or forest product operations, shall be deemed to satisfy the liability 25
insurance as required by § 31-3-3(c) if the liability policy provides liability coverage for operation 26
of the vehicle, in limits meeting or exceeding, the provisions of § 31-32-24. Documentation of such 27
insurance, including the name of the carrier, policy, number, and effective date, may be required 28
by the division of motor vehicles for the registration of said vehicle and for the renewal of such 29
registration. 30
SECTION 4. Section 42-64-5 of the General Laws in Chapter 42-64 entitled "Rhode Island 31
Commerce Corporation" is hereby amended to read as follows: 32
42-64-5. Purposes. 33
The Rhode Island commerce corporation is authorized, created, and established to be an 34
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agency under the jurisdiction of the state’s lead agency for economic development, the executive 1
office of commerce, and to be the operating agency of the state to carry out the policies and 2
procedure as established by the secretary, governor and the board of directors for the following 3
purposes: 4
(1) To promote and encourage the preservation, expansion, and sound development of new 5
and existing industry, business, commerce, agriculture, forestry, tourism, and recreational facilities 6
in the state, which will promote the economic development of the state and the general welfare of 7
its citizens; and 8
(2) With respect to real property other than federal land or land related to federal land, to 9
undertake any project, except a residential facility; and 10
(3) With respect to federal land or land related to federal land, to undertake any project, 11
except as those responsibilities are assigned to the Quonset Development Corporation; and 12
(4) To create an organization that is responsive to the needs and interests of businesses of 13
all sizes within the state of Rhode Island and to be structured to be customer centric to enhance 14
commerce in the state utilizing all available resources. 15
SECTION 5. Section 44-5-12.1 of the General Laws in Chapter 44-5 entitled "Levy and 16
Assessment of Local Taxes" is hereby amended to read as follows: 17
44-5-12.1. Assessment of tangible personal property. 18
(a) All tangible personal property subject to taxation shall be assessed for taxation based 19
on the original purchase price (new or used) including all costs such as freight and installation. 20
Assets will be classified and depreciated as defined in this section. 21
(b) The following classification and depreciation table shall be used in determining the 22
assessed value of tangible personal property. 23
State of Rhode Island Tangible Property Classification 24
Class I Class II Class III 25
Class of Assets Short Life Mid-Life Long Life 26
Age 1-5 yrs 6-12 yrs 13+ yrs 27
1 95 95 95 28
2 80 90 90 29
3 60 80 85 30
4 30 70 80 31
5 20 60 75 32
6 20 50 70 33
7 20 40 65 34
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8 20 30 60 1
9 20 30 55 2
10 20 30 50 3
11 20 30 45 4
12 20 30 40 5
13 20 30 35 6
14 20 30 30 7
15+ 20 30 30 8
Assets Shall Not be Trended 9
(c) Assets shall be classified on an annual basis by the Rhode Island Association of 10
Assessing Officers’ Personal Property Committee based on the following table: 11
INDUSTRY GROUP IN YEARS CLASS 12
Agriculture and forestry machinery and equipment II 13
Aircraft and all helicopters II 14
Amusement and theme parks II 15
Apparel and fabricated textile manufacturing II 16
Automobile repair shops II 17
Bakeries and confectionery production II 18
Barber and beauty shops II 19
Billboards III 20
Brewery equipment not used directly in manufacturing II 21
Cable television, headend facilities: II 22
Microwave systems II 23
Program origination II 24
Service and test II 25
Subscriber connection and distribution II 26
Canneries and frozen food production II 27
Cement processing III 28
Chemical and allied production II 29
Clay products processing III 30
Cold storage and ice-making equipment III 31
Cold storage warehouse equipment II 32
Computers, personal computers (PC), laptops, tablets, cellphones, 33
mainframe/servers, peripherals, keyboard, mouse I 34
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Condiments, processing II 1
Construction equipment, general construction, backhoes, 2
forklifts, loaders, cranes, unregistered vehicles II 3
Dairy products processing II 4
Data handling equipment, except computers II 5
printers, copiers, bridges, routers and gateways II 6
Distilling II 7
Electrical equipment not used in manufacturing II 8
Electronic equipment II 9
Fabricated metal products/special tools II 10
Fishing equipment, excluding boats and barges, lines, nets I 11
Food and beverage production II 12
Fur processing II 13
Gas distribution, total distribution equipment III 14
Glass and glass products/special tools II 15
Grain and grain mill products processing III 16
Gypsum products III 17
Hand tools II 18
Hospital furnishings and equipment II 19
Hotel and motel furnishings and equipment II 20
Jewelry products and pens II 21
Knitwear and knit products, ex, work uniforms I 22
Laundry equipment II 23
Leather and leather products II 24
Logging, timber cutting II 25
Marine construction II 26
Meatpacking II 27
Medical and dental supply production II 28
Metalworking machinery processing II 29
Mining and quarrying II 30
Motion picture and television production II 31
Motor vehicle and parts/special tools II 32
Office furniture and equipment II 33
Optical lenses and instrument processing II 34
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Paints and varnishes I 1
Petroleum refining III 2
pipeline transportation III 3
Plastics manufacturing I/II 4
Plastic products processing/special tools II 5
Primary metals production, nonferrous and foundry products III 6
special tools III 7
Primary steel mill products III 8
Printing and publishing II 9
Professional and scientific instruments II 10
Radio and television, broadcasting II 11
Railroad transportation equipment II 12
locomotive II 13
Recreation and amusement II 14
Retail trades, fixtures and equipment II 15
Residential furniture II 16
Restaurant and bar equipment II 17
Restaurant equipment, fast foods II 18
Rubber products processing/special tools II 19
Sawmills, permanent/portable II 20
Service establishments II 21
Ship and boat building equipment/special tools II 22
Soft drink processing and bottling II 23
Stone products processing III 24
Telecommunications, local and interstate II 25
analog switching II 26
circuit, digital, analog, optic II 27
information/origination equipment I/II 28
smart phones I 29
metallic cable III 30
fiber cable, poles, conduit III 31
all other equipment II 32
Telecommunications, cellular 33
analog/digital switching II 34
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radio frequency channel and control II 1
power equipment II 2
antennae II 3
towers III 4
transmission equipment II 5
cellular phones I 6
Textile products, including finishing and dyeing II 7
yarn, thread and woven fabrics II 8
Theater equipment II 9
Utilities/power production III 10
generation, transmission, or distribution equipment III 11
Waste reduction and resource recovery II 12
Water transportation III 13
vessels, barges and tugs III 14
Water utilities III 15
Wharves, docks and piers III 16
Wholesale trade fixtures and equipment II 17
Wood products and furniture manufacturing II 18
(d) Any industry, group, or asset not enumerated in subsection (c) of this section, shall be 19
categorized as class II. 20
SECTION 6. Chapter 44-5 of the General Laws entitled "Levy and Assessment of Local 21
Taxes" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following section: 22
44-5-42.2. Taxation of forestry product operations buildings. 23
Cities and towns may tax forestry product operations buildings at a rate that reflects the 24
actual costs incurred by the city or town in providing services to those buildings. 25
SECTION 7. Section 44-27-1 of the General Laws in Chapter 44-27 entitled "Taxation of 26
Farm, Forest, and Open Space Land" is hereby amended to read as follows: 27
44-27-1. Legislative declaration. 28
It is declared: 29
(1) That it is in the public interest to encourage the preservation of farm, forest, and open 30
space land in order to maintain a readily available source of food, and farm and forest products 31
close to the metropolitan areas of the state, to conserve the state’s natural resources, and to provide 32
for the welfare and happiness of the inhabitants of the state. 33
(2) That it is in the public interest to prevent the forced conversion of farm, forest, and open 34
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space land to more intensive uses as the result of economic pressures caused by the assessment for 1
purposes of property taxation at values incompatible with their preservation as farm, forest, and 2
open space land. 3
(3) That the necessity in the public interest of the enactment of the provisions of this chapter 4
is a matter of legislative determination. 5
SECTION 8. Section 45-24-37 of the General Laws in Chapter 45-24 entitled "Zoning 6
Ordinances" is hereby amended to read as follows: 7
45-24-37. General provisions — Permitted uses. 8
(a) The zoning ordinance shall provide a listing of all land uses and/or performance 9
standards for uses that are permitted within the zoning use districts of the municipality. The 10
ordinance may provide for a procedure under which a proposed land use that is not specifically 11
listed may be presented by the property owner to the zoning board of review or to a local official 12
or agency charged with administration and enforcement of the ordinance for an evaluation and 13
determination of whether the proposed use is of a similar type, character, and intensity as a listed 14
permitted use. Upon such determination, the proposed use may be considered to be a permitted use. 15
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the following uses are permitted 16
uses within all residential zoning use districts of a municipality and all industrial and commercial 17
zoning use districts except where residential use is prohibited for public health or safety reasons: 18
(1) Households; 19
(2) Community residences; and 20
(3) Family daycare homes. 21
(c) Any time a building or other structure used for residential purposes, or a portion of a 22
building containing residential units, is rendered uninhabitable by virtue of a casualty such as fire 23
or flood, the owner of the property is allowed to park, temporarily, mobile and manufactured home, 24
or homes, as the need may be, elsewhere upon the land, for use and occupancy of the former 25
occupants for a period of up to twelve (12) months, or until the building or structure is rehabilitated 26
and otherwise made fit for occupancy. The property owner, or a properly designated agent of the 27
owner, is only allowed to cause the mobile and manufactured home, or homes, to remain 28
temporarily upon the land by making timely application to the local building official for the 29
purposes of obtaining the necessary permits to repair or rebuild the structure. 30
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, appropriate access for people with 31
disabilities to residential structures is allowed as a reasonable accommodation for any person(s) 32
residing, or intending to reside, in the residential structure. 33
(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, an accessory dwelling unit in an 34
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owner-occupied residence that complies with §§ 45-24-31 and 45-24-73 shall be permitted as a 1
reasonable accommodation for family members with disabilities or who are sixty-two (62) years of 2
age or older, or to accommodate other family members. 3
(f) When used in this section the terms “people with disabilities” or “member, or members, 4
with disabilities” means a person(s) who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially 5
limits one or more major life activities, as defined in § 42-87-1(7). 6
(g) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, plant agriculture is a permitted 7
use and forest product operations, as defined in § 2-28-4 are permitted uses within all zoning 8
districts of a municipality, including all industrial and commercial zoning districts, except where 9
prohibited for public health or safety reasons or the protection of wildlife habitat. 10
SECTION 9. Construction. This act, being necessary for the welfare of the state and its 11
inhabitants, shall be construed liberally so as to effectuate its purposes. 12
SECTION 10. Severability. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, section, or part of this act 13
shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, that judgment shall not 14
affect, impair, or invalidate the remainder of this act but shall be confined in its operation to the 15
clause, sentence, paragraph, section, or part directly involved in the controversy in which that 16
judgment shall have been rendered. 17
SECTION 11. This act shall take effect upon passage. 18
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EXPLANATION
BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
OF
A N A C T
RELATING TO AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY -- FORESTRY AND FOREST PRODUCT
OPERATIONS
***
This act would create a new motor vehicle registration for "forestry vehicles" and would 1
provide that forest product operations are permitted uses within all zoning districts of a municipality 2
except where prohibited for public health or safety reasons or the protection of wildlife habitat. 3
This act would take effect upon passage. 4
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