PROVIDENCE – An effort by Senate Minority Whip Jessica de la Cruz to include additional exemptions to the state’s healthcare mandate for employers who say the insurance requirements go against their religious beliefs was rejected the Rhode Island Senate this week.
Senate Bill 2080 Sub, which aims to codify the Affordable Care Act into Rhode Island law, was passed by a vote of 26-8 on Friday, March 25.
de la Cruz, a Republican representing Burrillville, Glocester and North Smithfield, had introduced an amendment to the legislation that sought to allow religious employers to refuse to provide coverage for contraceptive services. The senator’s proposed language would have required employers to provide written notice to prospective enrollees in the plan listing healthcare services they refuse to cover.
The bill’s sponsor, Democratic Sen. Joshua Miller of Cranston and Providence, argued that his bill already included the religious exemption at issue in the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Little Sisters of the Poor v. the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, which affirmed the Trump administration’s regulatory exemption for religious entities.
According to a report in Rhode Island Catholic, de la Cruz contended that the bill, as written, does not codify or even reference exemptions from the federal mandate.
“This bill thus creates a Rhode Island State mandate and tramples upon the rights of the Little Sisters of the Poor in Pawtucket and other objecting Rhode Island employers by forcing them to participate in the deliberate taking of human life in violation of their conscience and their deeply held beliefs,” de la Cruz was quoted as saying.
Her amendment failed in a separate 26-8 vote.
“It is shameful that the Senate of this state, founded by Roger Williams as a refuge for liberty and conscience, would seek for even a moment to impose such a mandate without these exemptions,” she reportedly said.
de la Cruz recently launched her campaign for the 2nd Congressional District in hopes to succeed U.S. Rep. Jim Langevin.
The legislation was co-sponsored by Sen. Melissa Murray, a Democrat representing Woonsocket and North Smithfield, among others. It has been referred to the House Health and Human Services Committee.
