---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL PROCEDURE - IDENTIFICATION AND APPREHENSION OF CRIMINALS (Provides that any applicant for employment or volunteer activity of a religious organization, undergo a national background check at the request of said religious organization, as a condition of employment.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL PROCEDURE - IDENTIFICATION AND APPREHENSION OF CRIMINALS (Provides that any applicant for employment or volunteer activity of a religious organization, undergo a national background check at the request of said religious organization, as a condition of employment.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 661"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 661 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Equal Rights/Discrimination", "Religion", "Criminal Procedure"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Conley", "Coyne", "Crowley", "Satchell", "Seveney"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-03-29"
last_action: "2017-06-27"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/73f96c3c-cc85-4a09-a1d0-c24017a83971"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "b54ddbde013db6493c76dc7a734c8aba5e1978b50798baa6b02762c709336d28"
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 661 (2017) — AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL PROCEDURE - IDENTIFICATION AND APPREHENSION OF CRIMINALS (Provides that any applicant for employment or volunteer activity of a religious organization, undergo a national background check at the request of said religious organization, as a condition of employment.)

## Version chain

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

1. **661 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText17/SenateText17/S0661A.pdf)

## Votes

- APPREHENSION OF CRIMINALS — **36–0** (pass) · legislature
- IN CONCURRENCE — **71–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Conley — primary (person)
- Coyne — primary (person)
- Crowley — primary (person)
- Satchell — primary (person)
- Seveney — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-03-29** 03/29/2017 Introduced, referred to Senate Judiciary `referral-committee, introduction`
- **2017-03-30** 03/30/2017 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (04/04/2017)
- **2017-04-04** 04/04/2017 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2017-05-19** 05/19/2017 Scheduled for consideration (05/23/2017)
- **2017-05-23** 05/23/2017 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-05-25** 05/25/2017 Placed on Senate Calendar (05/31/2017)
- **2017-05-31** 05/31/2017 Senate passed Sub A `passage`
- **2017-06-01** 06/01/2017 Referred to House Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-02** 06/02/2017 Scheduled for consideration (06/06/2017)
- **2017-06-06** 06/06/2017 Committee recommends passage of Sub A 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 Sub A 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/73f96c3c-cc85-4a09-a1d0-c24017a83971`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).