---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC RECORDS - ACCESS TO PUBLIC RECORDS (Excludes preliminary drafts, notes, impressions, memoranda, working papers and work products involving research at state institutions of higher learning from the definition of a public record.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC RECORDS - ACCESS TO PUBLIC RECORDS (Excludes preliminary drafts, notes, impressions, memoranda, working papers and work products involving research at state institutions of higher learning from the definition of a public record.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 177"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 177 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Public Records", "Education"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Conley", "Felag", "Jabour", "Sosnowski"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-02-01"
last_action: "2017-06-27"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/cf0b0c4e-ece7-4c63-86c9-bd150b3737d6"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "513380bd57c945f62bab067c20add602c539b2ff40d45d0b9211c226498df305"
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 SB 177 (2017) — AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC RECORDS - ACCESS TO PUBLIC RECORDS (Excludes preliminary drafts, notes, impressions, memoranda, working papers and work products involving research at state institutions of higher learning from the definition of a public record.)

## Version chain

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

1. **177** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText17/SenateText17/S0177.pdf)

## Votes

- Passage — **34–0** (pass) · legislature
- IN CONCURRENCE — **62–9** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Conley — primary (person)
- Felag — primary (person)
- Jabour — primary (person)
- Sosnowski — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-02-01** 02/01/2017 Introduced, referred to Senate Judiciary `referral-committee, introduction`
- **2017-02-03** 02/03/2017 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (02/07/2017)
- **2017-02-07** 02/07/2017 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`
- **2017-05-31** 05/31/2017 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/06/2017)
- **2017-06-06** 06/06/2017 Senate read and passed `passage`
- **2017-06-07** 06/07/2017 Referred to House Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-09** 06/09/2017 Scheduled for consideration (06/13/2017)
- **2017-06-13** 06/13/2017 Committee recommends passage in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-06-16** 06/16/2017 Placed on House Calendar (06/21/2017)
- **2017-06-21** 06/21/2017 House passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2017-06-21** 06/21/2017 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2017-06-27** 06/27/2017 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/cf0b0c4e-ece7-4c63-86c9-bd150b3737d6`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).