§ 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- Grants of title by the General Assembly - Approval to fill required - General Assembly to set policy - Harborlines repealed.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].

History of Section. (P.L. 2000, ch. 314, § 2.)