---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO FOOD AND DRUGS -- UNIFORM CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT -- ELECTRONIC PRESCRIPTION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES (Amends the statute governing prescriptions of controlled substances by making reference to regulations issued by the department of health.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO FOOD AND DRUGS -- UNIFORM CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT -- ELECTRONIC PRESCRIPTION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES (Amends the statute governing prescriptions of controlled substances by making reference to regulations issued by the department of health.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 546"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 546 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Food and Drugs", "Dept. of Health", "Prescription drugs", "Health & Safety"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Crowley", "Metts", "Miller", "Nesselbush"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 11
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2017-03-09"
last_action: "2017-07-19"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0fcb4c39-d0df-4d48-9bf3-52b67bb2daaa"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "dc244ff6d5339b6aead0ab594ddde843315fd13ff6f42ee2566f9d86ed357959"
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 546 (2017) — AN ACT RELATING TO FOOD AND DRUGS -- UNIFORM CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT -- ELECTRONIC PRESCRIPTION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES (Amends the statute governing prescriptions of controlled substances by making reference to regulations issued by the department of health.)

## Version chain

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

1. **546 as amended** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText17/SenateText17/S0546aa.pdf)

## Votes

- Approval of Amendment — **35–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passage as Amended — **35–0** (pass) · legislature
- IN CONCURRENCE — **69–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Crowley — primary (person)
- Metts — primary (person)
- Miller — primary (person)
- Nesselbush — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-03-09** 03/09/2017 Introduced, referred to Senate Health and Human Services `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
- **2017-05-26** 05/26/2017 Scheduled for consideration (05/30/2017)
- **2017-05-30** 05/30/2017 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-06-20** 06/20/2017 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/27/2017)
- **2017-06-27** 06/27/2017 Senate passed as amended (floor amendment) `passage`
- **2017-06-28** 06/28/2017 Placed on the House Consent Calendar (06/28/2017)
- **2017-06-28** 06/28/2017 House passed as amended in concurrence `passage`
- **2017-07-18** 07/18/2017 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2017-07-19** 07/19/2017 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/0fcb4c39-d0df-4d48-9bf3-52b67bb2daaa`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).