---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION -- PRIVATE SCHOOLS (Requires accreditation by a Regional Accrediting Agency recognized by the United States Department of Education for distance learning institutions to transact business or grant degrees in Rhode Island.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION -- PRIVATE SCHOOLS (Requires accreditation by a Regional Accrediting Agency recognized by the United States Department of Education for distance learning institutions to transact business or grant degrees in Rhode Island.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 554"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 554 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Dept. of Education", "Education"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["DiPalma", "Gallo", "Metts", "Pearson", "Satchell"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-03-15"
last_action: "2017-06-27"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/81de577f-76de-486a-89c2-c7de2813b244"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "71377dd131f9d0da535a25849b6b7503b1e652daa4ecbdb0611c438b0c51f219"
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 554 (2017) — AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION -- PRIVATE SCHOOLS (Requires accreditation by a Regional Accrediting Agency recognized by the United States Department of Education for distance learning institutions to transact business or grant degrees in Rhode Island.)

## Version chain

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

1. **554** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText17/SenateText17/S0554.pdf)

## Votes

- PRIVATE SCHOOLS — **34–0** (pass) · legislature
- IN CONCURRENCE — **71–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- DiPalma — primary (person)
- Gallo — primary (person)
- Metts — primary (person)
- Pearson — primary (person)
- Satchell — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-03-15** 03/15/2017 Introduced, referred to Senate Education `referral-committee, introduction`
- **2017-05-12** 05/12/2017 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (05/17/2017)
- **2017-05-17** 05/17/2017 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2017-05-19** 05/19/2017 Scheduled for consideration (05/24/2017)
- **2017-05-24** 05/24/2017 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-05-30** 05/30/2017 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/01/2017)
- **2017-06-01** 06/01/2017 Senate read and passed `passage`
- **2017-06-02** 06/02/2017 Referred to House H.E.W. `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-12** 06/12/2017 Scheduled for consideration (06/14/2017)
- **2017-06-14** 06/14/2017 Committee recommends passage in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-06-16** 06/16/2017 Placed on the House Consent 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/81de577f-76de-486a-89c2-c7de2813b244`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).