Rhode Island: weather & geoengineering bills

2026 Regular Session

2 bills · Adjourned 30 Jun 2026

H7422 Introduced

Creates "the Rhode Island clean air preservation act."

Rhode Island's "Clean Air Preservation Act" builds a muscular enforcement regime around its geoengineering ban -- authorising Air National Guard aircraft interdiction, mandating dual citizen reporting portals from two separate agencies, and classifying violations as felonies with per-day stacking penalties -- while also venturing into unusual territory by listing artificial intelligence as a prosecutable "entity" and defining pollutants broadly enough to encompass electromagnetic pulses, smart dust, and sound waves.

Remained in House Environment and Natural Resources (Held for further studies)

S2220 Introduced

Establishes the Rhode Island Clean Air Preservation Act that establishes a regulatory process to prohibit polluting atmospheric experimentation.

Rhode Island's Senate version of the "Clean Air Preservation Act" pairs its geoengineering ban with a $500,000-per-violation penalty floor, mandatory citizen deputization by state police, and -- reaching well beyond atmospheric modification -- imposes specific RF signal strength limits on all wireless telecommunications infrastructure and requires statewide fiber-optic deployment to homes, schools, and businesses, effectively bundling telecommunications regulation into an atmospheric pollution bill.

Remained in Senate Environment and Agriculture

2025 Regular Session

2 bills · Adjourned 20 Jun 2025

H5217 Sine die

Establishes the Rhode Island Clean Air Preservation Act that establishes a regulatory process to prohibit polluting atmospheric experimentation.

H 5217 is the House companion to S 0405, introduced nearly a month earlier with bipartisan sponsorship—the House version has already been held for further study, suggesting legislative scepticism about the bill's expansive scope, combining geoengineering bans with wireless infrastructure regulation.

Session adjourned 30th June 2025, House Environment and Natural Resources committee recommended measure be held for further study

S0405 Sine die

Establishes the Rhode Island Clean Air Preservation Act that establishes a regulatory process to prohibit polluting atmospheric experimentation.

This Rhode Island bill starts as a geoengineering prohibition but rapidly expands into wireless infrastructure regulation, requiring citizen deputization for enforcement, the formation of a state guard to defend the airspace from federal activities, and treating artificial intelligence as a legal entity capable of committing felonies.

Session adjourned 30th June 2025, remained in Environment and Agriculture committee

2024 Regular Session

2 bills · Adjourned sine die

H7295 Held for further study

Establishes regulations to prohibit stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI), solar radiation modification (SRM) experimentation, and other hazardous weather engineering activities.

This House version of Rhode Island's 2024 Clean Air Preservation Act assigns enforcement to the Department of Environmental Management rather than the State Police, embedding a prohibition on geoengineering within an environmental regulatory framework while still combining it with extensive restrictions on wireless infrastructure.

S2540 Held for further study

Establishes regulations to prohibit stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI), solar radiation modification (SRM) experimentation, and other hazardous weather engineering activities.

Rhode Island's 2024 Clean Air Preservation Act combines a prohibition on geoengineering with regulation of electromagnetic radiation, requiring State Police to respond within 2 hours to citizen reports while explicitly invoking states' rights to override federal weather modification programs.

2021 Regular Session

2 bills · Adjourned sine die

H5135 Held for further study

The Geoengineering Act

Rhode Island's 2021 geoengineering bill represents a second attempt at establishing comprehensive atmospheric manipulation regulations, reintroducing the same sweeping licensing framework and $500,000 minimum felony penalties that died in the previous session—but this time receiving actual committee consideration before being held for further study.

S0572 Held for further study

The Geoengineering - Hazardous Emissions Act

Rhode Island's 2021 Senate geoengineering bill streamlined the House approach by reducing public hearings from four to two while adding modern concerns like flame-throwing fire drones and the "Internet of Bodies" surveillance system—though it controversially raised the electromagnetic radiation enforcement threshold 1000-fold from 10 microwatts to 10 milliwatts per square meter, potentially undermining one of the bill's core enforcement mechanisms.

2020 Regular Session

1 bill · Adjourned sine die

H8062 Died in committee

The Geoengineering Act

Rhode Island's 2020 "Geoengineering Act" established the nation's most comprehensive regulatory framework for atmospheric manipulation, requiring $500,000 minimum fines for unlicensed activities while empowering citizens to report suspected geoengineering and triggering emergency state responses to excessive electromagnetic radiation levels—with the Department of Environmental Management authorised to override federal approvals under 10th Amendment authority.

2019 Regular Session

2 bills · Adjourned sine die

H5226 Held for further study

House Resolution Extending The Reporting And Expiration Dates Of The Special Legislative Commission To Study The Establishment Of Procedures To Regulate And License The Intentional Manipulation Of The Global Environment Through Geoengineering (extends The Reporting And Expiration Dates Of The Commission To Study The Regulation And Licensure Of Geoengineering And Expiration Dates From February 7, 2019, To April 30, 2019, And Expires On May 30, 2019.)

Rhode Island House Resolution 5226, introduced in January 2019 simultaneously with a comprehensive geoengineering regulation bill, would have extended the geoengineering study commission's reporting deadline from February to April 2019, but was held for further study in committee on the commission's original reporting deadline date.

H5992 Held for further study

The Geoengineering Act

Rhode Island House Bill 5992, introduced in April 2019 following years of study commission work, would have required elaborate state licensing for all geoengineering activities including stratospheric aerosol injection, cloud seeding, electromagnetic radiation deployment, and ocean fertilisation, with minimum penalties of five hundred thousand dollars or one hundred ninety days imprisonment per violation, but was held for further study in committee.

2018 Regular Session

1 bill · Adjourned sine die

H7408 Passed

House Resolution Amending The Membership And Extending The Reporting And Expiration Dates Of The Special Legislative Commission To Study The Establishment Of Procedures To Regulate And License The Intentional Manipulation Of The Global Environment Through Geoengineering (amends The Membership Of The Commission To Study The Regulation And Licensure Of Geoengineering From 5 To 7 Members And Extends The Reporting And Expiration Dates From April 2, 2018, To February 7, 2019, And Expires On May 7, 2019.)

Rhode Island House Resolution 7408, passed by the House in April 2018, extended the geoengineering study commission's deadline to February 2019 and expanded its membership from five to seven members, adding the Energy Resources Commissioner, an ecological scientist, a defence contractor representative, and a public member.

2017 Regular Session

2 bills · Adjourned sine die

H5607 Withdrawn

Geoengineering

Rhode Island House Bill 5607, introduced in 2017, would have required permission from the state environmental director for any climate geoengineering activities including attempts to alter earth's temperature or atmospheric electrical conductivity, with violations punishable by up to five million dollars and fifteen years imprisonment, but was withdrawn at the sponsor's request before committee consideration.

H6011 Died in chamber

House Resolution Creating A Special Legislative Commission To Study The Establishment Of Procedures To Regulate And License The Intentional Manipulation Of The Global Environment Through Geoengineering (creates A 5 Member Commission To Study And Provide Recommendations On The Regulation And Licensure Of Geoenginerring, And Who Would Report Back By April 2, 2018, And Expire On June 2, 2018.)

Rhode Island House Resolution 6011, passed by the House in September 2017, created a five-member legislative commission to study geoengineering technologies including solar radiation management and cloud whitening and provide recommendations for state regulation and licensure by April 2018.

2016 Regular Session

1 bill · Adjourned sine die

H7578 Held for further study

Geoengineering

Rhode Island House Bill 7578, introduced in 2016, would have required anyone seeking to conduct solar radiation management or climate geoengineering to obtain permission from the state environmental director following environmental impact assessment for activities above specified thresholds and public hearings, with violations punishable by fines up to five hundred dollars and imprisonment up to ninety days.

2015 Regular Session

1 bill · Adjourned sine die

H5480 Held for further study

Geoengineering

Rhode Island House Bill 5480, introduced in 2015, would have required anyone seeking to conduct geoengineering activities including solar radiation management or atmospheric carbon removal to obtain permission from the state environmental director following public hearings, with violations punishable by fines up to five hundred dollars and imprisonment up to ninety days.

2014 Regular Session

1 bill · Adjourned sine die

H7655 Held for further study

Geoengineering

Rhode Island House Bill 7655, introduced in 2014, would have required anyone seeking to conduct geoengineering activities including solar radiation management or atmospheric carbon removal to obtain permission from the state environmental director following public hearings, with violations punishable by fines up to five hundred dollars and imprisonment up to ninety days.