---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO TOWNS AND CITIES -- GENERAL POWERS (Requires that cities and towns comply with certain procedures when prosecuting defendants such as the right to counsel, and amends the penalties imposed for ordinance violations.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO TOWNS AND CITIES -- GENERAL POWERS (Requires that cities and towns comply with certain procedures when prosecuting defendants such as the right to counsel, and amends the penalties imposed for ordinance violations.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 5187"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 5187 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Cities & Towns", "Attorney", "Civil Procedure", "Courts"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Barros", "Blazejewski", "Keable", "Maldonado", "McKiernan"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-01-25"
last_action: "2017-06-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ee694fe4-d699-496a-ba25-a4af7bf5209f"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "827d46cb68a1a0e7e2c643d65da642c781a2b752add53c0b14dcb20250af5721"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ri"]
---

# Rhode Island HB 5187 (2017) — AN ACT RELATING TO TOWNS AND CITIES -- GENERAL POWERS (Requires that cities and towns comply with certain procedures when prosecuting defendants such as the right to counsel, and amends the penalties imposed for ordinance violations.)

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **5187 as amended** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText17/HouseText17/H5187aa.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE OF AMENDMENT — **72–0** (pass) · legislature
- AS AMENDED — **71–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Barros — primary (person)
- Blazejewski — primary (person)
- Keable — primary (person)
- Maldonado — primary (person)
- McKiernan — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-01-25** 01/25/2017 Introduced, referred to House Judiciary `referral-committee, introduction`
- **2017-02-10** 02/10/2017 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (02/14/2017)
- **2017-02-14** 02/14/2017 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2017-05-08** 05/08/2017 Scheduled for consideration (05/10/2017)
- **2017-05-10** 05/10/2017 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-05-19** 05/19/2017 Placed on House Calendar (05/23/2017)
- **2017-05-23** 05/23/2017 House passed as amended (floor amendment) `passage`
- **2017-05-30** 05/30/2017 Referred to Senate Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-16** 06/16/2017 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (06/20/2017)
- **2017-06-20** 06/20/2017 Committee recommends passage as amended in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-06-22** 06/22/2017 Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar (06/27/2017)
- **2017-06-27** 06/27/2017 Senate passed as amended in concurrence `passage`
- **2017-06-28** 06/28/2017 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2017-06-29** 06/29/2017 Signed by Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/ee694fe4-d699-496a-ba25-a4af7bf5209f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).