Sen. Todd Patalano told the state ethics panel Tuesday that his three-decade career with the Cranston Police Department makes him an ideal sponsor for forthcoming legislation boosting pension benefits for the Rhode Island State Police.
“As with any legislation that comes before the Senate, we want to give it to someone with the background or knowledge to explain it,” Patalano said. “I was best suited. I could speak on its behalf.”
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But those same ties also raised questions over ethical conflicts: One of Patalano’s three sons is a state trooper and could benefit from the proposed retirement benefit changes. That’s why the first-term Warwick Democrat sought an advisory opinion from the R.I. Ethics Commission before making any moves on Smith Hill.
The nine-member panel quickly gave Patalano its blessing to proceed, unanimously approving the staff recommendation without discussion. The reasoning: Patalano’s son is one of 256 State Police workers eligible to retire after July 1, 2026, who stand to benefit from a piece of the pension legislation, triggering a clause in the state ethics code referred to as the “class exception.”
The state ethics code broadly bans public officials from participating in matters that benefit or negate their own financial situations, or those of their family or business partners. But there are exceptions. Among them: a stipulation that lets public officials participate in actions that benefit them or their families if enough other people also receive the same benefit.
Patalano, a major and second-in-command for Cranston police, referenced the class exception in his March 2 letter to the ethics panel, suggesting the “well-established” workaround might apply to his situation.
The same clause has applied to other state lawmakers in past situations of retirement and pension legislation, including Senate President Valarie Lawson (then Senate Majority Whip) in 2024. The commission agreed that Lawson could vote on a host of pension reforms for state workers, despite being a former public school teacher turned president of the state teacher’s union, because she was among thousands of state workers and retirees, including several other lawmakers, eligible to collect a pension.
Similarly, in 2003, the ethics commission gave the go-ahead for Sen. James Sheehan to vote on legislation increasing contributions and capping cost-of-living increases for state workers and, even though he was a teacher and part of the state pension system, because he was part of a 30,000-person group of state employees and teachers.
Patalano wrote that his situation was no different: The bill that proposes recalculating benefits based on state troopers’ highest annual compensation would apply equally to the 256 members eligible to retire after July 1, 2026, including his son, who started with the agency in 2024. The bill also includes other elements meant to boost benefits for state police members who have already retired, but that does not affect Patalano’s son, he wrote.
The ethics commission’s legal staff agreed, pointing to the class exception as justification for its recommendation to let Patalano introduce the bill. However, the recommendation comes with a caveat: Patalano should seek additional guidance if any tweaks during State House deliberations that shrink the amount of benefiting state police members to a group smaller than 256 people. The class exception relies on a “significant” and “definable” group, so changing the parameters to a smaller number of people could mean it no longer applies.
Commission Chair Loren Jones asked Patalano during the meeting whether he understood this condition. Patalano assured him he did.
After the commission vote, Jones spoke again, addressing the broader public to explain that the class exception, while written into the state ethics code, was the product of the General Assembly in 1987.
“We don’t control this regulation,” he said.
Patalano did not immediately respond to inquiries for comment Tuesday.
A companion bill was introduced in the House by Rep Jacquelyn Baginski, a Cranston Democrat, in February.
Similar bills introduced in both chambers in 2025 failed to advance. The 2025 legislation was sponsored by Sen. Mark McKenney, a Warwick Democrat, and Rep. Thomas Noret, a Coventry Democrat. Noret is also a retired police officer, having served 20 years with the Coventry Police Department.
Commissioners Frank Cenerini and Matthew Strauss were absent from the meeting.
Nancy Lavin is a senior staff writer for the Rhode Island Current.
