§ 46-5-1.2. State ownership of tidal lands — Grants of title by the General Assembly — Approval
to fill required — General Assembly to set policy — Harborlines repealed.
(a) The state of Rhode Island, pursuant to the public trust doctrine long recognized in
federal and Rhode Island state case law, and to Article 1, § 17 of the Constitution
of Rhode Island as originally adopted and as subsequently amended, has historically
maintained title in fee simple to all soil within its boundaries that lies below the
high water mark and to any land resulting from any filling of any tidal area, except
those portions of tidal lands or filled tidal lands in respect to which the state
has formally granted title in fee simple to private individuals or to which title
has been otherwise acquired by private individuals by judicially recognized mechanisms
prior to the effective date of this section [July 18, 2000]. Subsequent to the effective
date of this section [July 18, 2000], no title to any freehold estate in any tidal
land or filled land can be acquired by any private individual unless it is formally
conveyed by explicit grant of the state by the general assembly for public trust purposes.
(b) Subsequent to the effective date of this section [July 18, 2000], no lease of any
tidal land or filled land, and no license to use any of that land, can be acquired
by any private individual or entity unless the lease or license has been specifically
approved for public trust purposes by the general assembly itself or under the specific
authority of the general assembly such as, but not limited to, the delegation of authority
under chapter 23 of this title.
(c) No filling or dredging operation commenced or continued subsequent to the effective
date of this section [July 18, 2000] on tidal lands, whether or not title to the tidal
land is held by the state pursuant to this section, may be conducted unless the individual
or entity conducting the operation obtains and satisfies all appropriate and applicable
regulatory authorizations and approvals. Therefore, nothing in this chapter shall
be construed to limit or impair the authority of the state, or any duly established
agency of the state, to regulate filling or dredging affecting tidal lands.
(d)(1) The general assembly, by its enactments, establishes the policies for the preservation
and, in particular, for the use of natural resources of the state which are held in
public trust by the state, as provided in Article 1, § 17 of the Rhode Island Constitution
and in this chapter. The general assembly has the responsibility and the sole authority
to arrive at, and define, by its enactment, a policy balance between or among the
competing proposed uses or developments for tidal lands and the respective competing
assertions concerning the public interests in those lands, and that determination
shall be deemed to be, and be accepted as, the authoritative definition of the public
interest in relation to the preservation and use of tidal lands.
(2) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to repeal or limit any duly enacted delegation
of regulatory or adjudicatory authority to any administrative agency of the state
when exercised within statutory authority.
(e) Any prior enactment which creates a harborline is, to that extent, hereby repealed
and all harborlines are abolished, except that nothing in this section shall destroy
or impair any rights in previously filled land which may have already vested prior
to the date of this enactment [July 18, 2000].