---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTIONS -- REGISTRATION OF VOTERS (Provides that persons who apply to the DMV for a driver's license, its renewal or personal identification document shall simultaneously register to vote, unless they expressly decline to do so.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTIONS -- REGISTRATION OF VOTERS (Provides that persons who apply to the DMV for a driver's license, its renewal or personal identification document shall simultaneously register to vote, unless they expressly decline to do so.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 770"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 770 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Driver Licenses", "Elections", "Secretary of State"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Conley", "Goldin", "Goodwin", "Lynch Prata", "Miller"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 11
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-04-12"
last_action: "2017-09-27"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/50f5ad54-6df6-467f-abf9-8fa63fbf53a0"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "e07faa66c5b03c8417b9837edbe2bb86c84aca9b79fb1fbe5048e14f5bb444b1"
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 770 (2017) — AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTIONS -- REGISTRATION OF VOTERS (Provides that persons who apply to the DMV for a driver's license, its renewal or personal identification document shall simultaneously register to vote, unless they expressly decline to do so.)

## Version chain

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

1. **770 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText17/SenateText17/S0770A.pdf)

## Votes

- RELATING TO ELECTIONS -- REGISTR — **69–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passage — **32–4** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Conley — primary (person)
- Goldin — primary (person)
- Goodwin — primary (person)
- Lynch Prata — primary (person)
- Miller — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-04-12** 04/12/2017 Introduced, referred to Senate Judiciary `referral-committee, introduction`
- **2017-04-28** 04/28/2017 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (05/04/2017)
- **2017-05-04** 05/04/2017 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2017-06-27** 06/27/2017 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (06/29/2017)
- **2017-06-29** 06/29/2017 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-06-29** 06/29/2017 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/29/2017)
- **2017-06-29** 06/29/2017 Senate passed Sub A `passage`
- **2017-09-15** 09/15/2017 Placed on the House Consent Calendar (09/19/2017)
- **2017-09-19** 09/19/2017 House passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2017-09-21** 09/21/2017 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2017-09-27** 09/27/2017 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/50f5ad54-6df6-467f-abf9-8fa63fbf53a0`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).