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S 2550Government Assets

State Affairs and Government - Motor Vehicles Owned by a Governmental Body

Requires the state to track and report detailed data on gas, hybrid, and electric vehicles in its government fleet.

Held for study
Population
Affected
15
Email Legislator
Introduced Feb 13, 2026Committee Senate Finance

Plain-English Summary

This legislation updates the reporting requirements for vehicles owned by the state government. It introduces a definition for "Zero-Emission vehicles" (ZEVs). It mandates that the Director of Administration include specific data in their annual report regarding the engine type of state vehicles—specifically distinguishing between combustion engines, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and ZEVs. The report must now track the number of new purchases for each type, the percentage of the fleet they represent, and the cost per mile to operate them. This aims to provide transparency regarding the makeup and efficiency of the state's vehicle fleet.

For younger readers

This law changes how the state government keeps track of the cars and trucks it owns. It creates a new rule to count "Zero-Emission vehicles," which are cars that don't make the air dirty, like electric cars. Once a year, the people in charge must write a report listing how many regular gas cars, hybrid cars, and electric cars the state has. They also have to write down how much it costs to drive each type of car. This helps the state understand what kind of cars they are using and how much money they cost to run.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
Department of AdministrationState Government AgenciesState Fleet ManagersEnvironmental Advocacy GroupsTaxpayers
Impacted communities
All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost
Amount unknown
Estimated revenue
None

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Promotes environmental accountability by forcing the state to explicitly track and report the adoption rate of zero-emission vehicles within public fleets.
  • Provides essential data on the cost-per-mile of electric versus combustion vehicles, which will likely demonstrate the long-term cost savings of green technology and justify further investment in sustainable infrastructure.
  • Increases transparency regarding government assets, allowing climate advocates to monitor whether the state is meeting its obligations to reduce its carbon footprint.
  • Fails to mandate the actual purchase of electric vehicles or set emission reduction targets, limiting the bill to data collection rather than direct climate action.
  • Does not allocate specific funding to assist agencies in transitioning their fleets to zero-emission vehicles, potentially leaving poorer agencies reliant on older, polluting vehicles.
  • The focus on "light-duty" fleets for certain statistics may obscure the environmental impact of heavier, more polluting government vehicles that remain unregulated by this specific reporting metric.
For Conservatives
  • Enhances fiscal responsibility by requiring a detailed analysis of the cost-per-mile for state vehicles, identifying which vehicles are the most efficient use of taxpayer dollars.
  • Does not impose a mandate to purchase expensive electric vehicles, preserving the freedom of agencies to procure vehicles based on current needs rather than ideology.
  • Increases transparency in government spending and asset management, allowing taxpayers to see exactly how the state fleet is being managed and maintained.
  • Expands government bureaucracy by adding more red tape and reporting requirements for state administrators, diverting time and resources from core functions.
  • Lays the groundwork for future bans on internal combustion engines by creating a data framework intended to shame agencies into buying electric vehicles.
  • Focuses administrative energy on "green" signaling rather than strictly on the performance and reliability of law enforcement and service vehicles.

Votes

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Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 21 additions

SECTION 1. Sections 42-11.3-1 and 42-11.3-5 of the General Laws in Chapter 42-11.3 entitled "Motor Vehicles Owned by a Governmental Body" are hereby amended to read as follows: 42-11.3-1. Definitions. As used in this chapter, the following terms have the following meanings unless otherwise specified:

(1) “Commuting” means driving a motor vehicle owned by a governmental body to and from the work place and the employee’s residence.

(2) “Employee” means an individual who works for a governmental body not less than thirty-five (35) hours a week.

(3) “General officer” means the governor, the lieutenant governor, the attorney general, the secretary of state, and the general treasurer. (4)(i) “Governmental body” means any department, commission, council, board, bureau, committee, institution, legislative body, agency, government corporation, including, without limitation, the council on postsecondary education and council on elementary and secondary education or other establishment of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the state.

(ii) “Governmental body” also means the Rhode Island industrial recreational building authority, the Rhode Island commerce corporation, the Rhode Island industrial facilities corporation, the Rhode Island refunding bond authority, the Rhode Island housing and mortgage finance corporation, the Rhode Island solid waste management corporation, the Rhode Island public transit authority, the Rhode Island student loan authority, the Howard development corporation, the water resources board, the Rhode Island health and education building corporation, the Rhode Island turnpike and bridge authority, the Blackstone Valley district commission, the Narragansett Bay water quality management district commission, Rhode Island telecommunications authority, the convention center authority, channel 36 foundation, their successors and assigns, and any other body corporate and politic that has been here before or that is hereinafter created or established within this state excepting cities and towns.

(5) “Law enforcement officer” means an individual: (i) who is employed on a full-time basis by a governmental body that is responsible for the prevention or investigation of crime involving injury to persons or property (including the apprehension or detention of persons for such crimes); (ii) who is authorized by law to carry firearms, execute search warrants, and to make arrests (other than merely a citizen’s arrest); and (iii) who regularly carries firearms (except when it is not possible to do so because of the requirements of undercover work). The term law enforcement officer shall include an arson investigator if the investigator otherwise meets these requirements.

(6) “Own” means control and the intent to control and includes any type of arrangement, including by way of illustration, and not by limitation, a lease arrangement, whereby an employee of a governmental body is supplied principal or exclusive use of a motor vehicle by the employee’s employer.

(7) "Zero-Emission vehicle" or "ZEV" means a vehicle that produces zero exhaust emission of any criteria pollutant or precursor pollutant or greenhouse gas, excluding emissions from air conditioning systems, under any possible operational modes or conditions. 42-11.3-5. Annual report.

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

(b) The report pursuant to subsection (a) shall also provide the total number of new vehicles purchased in the light-duty fleet in the previous year, and specify the total number of newly purchased combustion engine vehicles, hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles and ZEV. The report shall also include the percentage of hybrid, combustion engine, plug-in hybrid, and ZEV new vehicles purchased with regard to the total number of vehicles in the light-duty fleet existing at year end, and the total per mile cost for each vehicle and the total average cost per vehicle mile for all vehicles of similar drive mechanisms or category of combustion engine, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and ZEV, including the percentage of hybrid, combustion engine, plug-in hybrid, and ZEV vehicles in the total light-duty fleet. The report shall also include the number of hybrid, combustion engine, plug-in hybrid, and ZEV vehicles in operation in each state agency shown as a percentage of the whole light duty fleet.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.