---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS - FIREFIGHTERS' ARBITRATION (Allows unionized firefighters to enter into an agreement which continues all contractual provisions contained in an expiring contract until a successor agreement has been reached.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS - FIREFIGHTERS' ARBITRATION (Allows unionized firefighters to enter into an agreement which continues all contractual provisions contained in an expiring contract until a successor agreement has been reached.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 5973"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 5973 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Police & Fire", "Labor"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Almeida", "Johnston", "Keable", "Lombardi", "McKiernan"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-03-22"
last_action: "2017-06-21"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ea22dd31-48d1-4164-87f5-6e6e447e0ae3"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "bf7e7f6212cd1e51d50981ed24775e17a268696d3d2ff89a9eef17cbf15f0dc5"
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 5973 (2017) — AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS - FIREFIGHTERS' ARBITRATION (Allows unionized firefighters to enter into an agreement which continues all contractual provisions contained in an expiring contract until a successor agreement has been reached.)

## Version chain

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

1. **5973** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText17/HouseText17/H5973.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **73–0** (pass) · legislature
- PASSAGE OF AMENDMENT — **10–62** (fail) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Almeida — primary (person)
- Johnston — primary (person)
- Keable — primary (person)
- Lombardi — primary (person)
- McKiernan — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-03-22** 03/22/2017 Introduced, referred to House Labor `referral-committee, introduction`
- **2017-03-31** 03/31/2017 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (04/06/2017)
- **2017-04-06** 04/06/2017 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2017-05-19** 05/19/2017 Scheduled for consideration (05/25/2017)
- **2017-05-25** 05/25/2017 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-05-26** 05/26/2017 Placed on House Calendar (06/01/2017)
- **2017-06-01** 06/01/2017 House read and passed `passage`
- **2017-06-07** 06/07/2017 Referred to Senate Labor `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-09** 06/09/2017 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (06/14/2017)
- **2017-06-14** 06/14/2017 Committee recommends passage in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-06-15** 06/15/2017 Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar (06/20/2017)
- **2017-06-20** 06/20/2017 Senate passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2017-06-20** 06/20/2017 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2017-06-21** 06/21/2017 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/ea22dd31-48d1-4164-87f5-6e6e447e0ae3`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).