A date has been set for a committee hearing for a bill in the Rhode Island House of Representatives that would regulate who may perform medical spa procedures. The bill is known as House Bill 5844 (H 5844); we previously discussed it here, and you can read the bill in full here. To briefly recap, H 5844 would require that all medical spas contract with a physician, physician assistant or registered nurse to perform all cosmetic medical procedures. The bill’s sponsors—representatives Jacquelyn Baginski, Julie Casimiro and David Bennett—had twice requested the hearing for this bill to be postponed, which might have signaled some issues with it proceeding. However, the House Health and Human Services Committee has now set an initial hearing date of April 15, which is the first step in it potentially moving forward.
The meeting begins at 6 pm on April 15 and will be available to view online. Information on the bills that are being considered and how to view the hearing is available here. The committee is also accepting requests to give verbal or written testimony regarding any of the bills being discussed at the meeting. Written testimony can be submitted to the committee using this email address: HouseHealthandHumanServices@rilegislature.gov; requests to give verbal testimony must be received no later than Wednesday, April 14 at 4 pm through the form at this link. The primary point of contact for questions is through the committee’s clerk, Lisa Cataldi, at the above email address. If you have interest in attending or would like to make a comment, please read the above links. We will continue to monitor this bill as it potentially progresses through this legislative session.