R.I. Gen. Laws
Rhode Island General Laws

R.I. Gen. Laws § 40-9.1-1 (2026)

Declaration of policy

✓ current as of July 2026
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section RI-LEGwebserver.rilegislature.gov JustiaTitle on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

It is the policy of this state that:

(1) Persons who are blind, visually impaired, deaf, hard-of-hearing or otherwise have a disability have the same rights as the able-bodied to the full and free use of the streets, highways, walkways, public buildings, public facilities, and other public places.

(2) Persons who are blind, visually impaired, deaf, hard-of-hearing or otherwise have a disability are entitled to full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges on any public conveyance operated on land or water or in the air, or any stations and terminals thereof, not limited to taxis, airplanes, motor vehicles, railroad trains, motor buses, street cars, boats; and in any educational institution, not limited to any kindergarten, primary and secondary school, trade or business school, high school, academy, college and university; and in places of public resort, accommodation, assemblage, or amusement, not limited to hotels, lodging places, restaurants, theater; and in all other places to which the general public is invited, subject only to the conditions and limitations established by law and applicable alike to all persons.

(3) [Deleted by P.L. 2019, ch. 96, § 1 and P.L. 2019, ch. 131, § 1.]

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 1 case, 1982–1982 · leading case: Rhode Island Handicapped Action Comm. v. Rhode Island Pub. Transit Auth., 549 F. Supp. 592 (D.R.I. 1982).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Rhode Island Handicapped Action Comm. v. Rhode Island Pub. Transit Auth., 549 F. Supp. 592 (D.R.I. 1982). · cites it 6× “Further, the statute does not expressly provide for a cause of action to enforce its provisions, and the Rhode Island Supreme Court has not devised a rule for *616 the implication of a private cause of action from a Rhode Island statute.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.