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| 4 | 4 | | |
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| 5 | 5 | | 2025 -- S 0729 |
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| 6 | 6 | | ======== |
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| 7 | 7 | | LC001332 |
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| 8 | 8 | | ======== |
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| 9 | 9 | | S T A T E O F R H O D E I S L A N D |
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| 10 | 10 | | IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 11 | 11 | | JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2025 |
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| 12 | 12 | | ____________ |
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| 13 | 13 | | |
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| 14 | 14 | | A N A C T |
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| 15 | 15 | | RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- THREATS AND EXTORTION |
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| 16 | 16 | | Introduced By: Senators Tikoian, Gallo, Felag, LaMountain, Britto, DiMario, Dimitri, |
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| 17 | 17 | | Appollonio, Burke, and Thompson |
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| 18 | 18 | | Date Introduced: March 07, 2025 |
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| 19 | 19 | | Referred To: Senate Judiciary |
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| 20 | 20 | | (Secretary of State) |
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| 21 | 21 | | |
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| 22 | 22 | | It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: |
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| 23 | 23 | | SECTION 1. Section 11-42-4 of the General Laws in Chapter 11-42 entitled "Threats and 1 |
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| 24 | 24 | | Extortion" is hereby amended to read as follows: 2 |
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| 25 | 25 | | 11-42-4. Threats to public officials. 3 |
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| 26 | 26 | | (a) Whoever knowingly and willfully delivers or conveys, directly or indirectly, a verbal 4 |
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| 27 | 27 | | or written threat to take the life of, or to inflict bodily harm upon, a public official or a member of 5 |
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| 28 | 28 | | his or her immediate family because of the performance or nonperformance of some public duty; 6 |
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| 29 | 29 | | because of hostility of the person making the threat toward the status or position of the public 7 |
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| 30 | 30 | | official; or because of some other factor related to the official’s public existence, shall be guilty of 8 |
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| 31 | 31 | | a felony and shall be imprisoned for not more than five (5) years, or fined not more than five 9 |
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| 32 | 32 | | thousand dollars ($5,000), or both. 10 |
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| 33 | 33 | | (b) For purposes of this section: 11 |
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| 34 | 34 | | (1) “Public official” means a person who is elected or appointed to office in accordance 12 |
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| 35 | 35 | | with the constitution, a statute, or a city or town charter, or who is an election official or poll worker, 13 |
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| 36 | 36 | | or who is a judge, magistrate, assistant attorney general, special assistant attorney general, or law 14 |
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| 37 | 37 | | enforcement officer, or in the case of an elective office, any person who has filed the required 15 |
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| 38 | 38 | | documents for nomination or election to that office or who is appointed by the governor to serve as 16 |
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| 39 | 39 | | the director or his or her designee of a state department that is established and the qualifications 17 |
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| 40 | 40 | | and duties of which are prescribed by statute to discharge a public duty for the state of Rhode 18 |
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| 41 | 41 | | Island; 19 |
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| 42 | 42 | | |
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| 43 | 43 | | |
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| 44 | 44 | | LC001332 - Page 2 of 3 |
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| 45 | 45 | | (2) “Immediate family” means a public official’s spouse, child, or children. 1 |
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| 46 | 46 | | SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage. 2 |
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| 47 | 47 | | ======== |
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| 48 | 48 | | LC001332 |
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| 49 | 49 | | ======== |
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| 51 | 51 | | |
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| 52 | 52 | | LC001332 - Page 3 of 3 |
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| 53 | 53 | | EXPLANATION |
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| 54 | 54 | | BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL |
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| 55 | 55 | | OF |
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| 56 | 56 | | A N A C T |
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| 57 | 57 | | RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- THREATS AND EXTORTION |
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| 58 | 58 | | *** |
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| 59 | 59 | | This act would consider election officials and poll workers "public officials" for purposes 1 |
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| 60 | 60 | | of the prohibition on making threats to public officials. 2 |
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| 61 | 61 | | This act would take effect upon passage. 3 |
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| 62 | 62 | | ======== |
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| 63 | 63 | | LC001332 |
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| 64 | 64 | | ======== |
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| 65 | 65 | | |
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