---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT--MARINE FISHERIES (Creates division of marine fisheries within DEM to manage saltwater fish and plant harvesting.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT--MARINE FISHERIES (Creates division of marine fisheries within DEM to manage saltwater fish and plant harvesting.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "SB 785"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 785 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Dept. of Environmental Management", "Fish & Wildlife", "State Affairs"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Coyne", "Sosnowski"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2017-04-25"
last_action: "2017-07-19"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/91b688e0-47f9-4eb6-87b2-973a16111983"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "e920b15810babe3167302b03538b1b6011f0136315ca7204308b673bb24023a3"
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 785 (2017) — AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT--MARINE FISHERIES (Creates division of marine fisheries within DEM to manage saltwater fish and plant harvesting.)

## Version chain

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

1. **785** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText17/SenateText17/S0785.pdf)

## Votes

- Passage — **36–0** (pass) · legislature
- IN CONCURRENCE — **69–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Coyne — primary (person)
- Sosnowski — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-04-25** 04/25/2017 Introduced, referred to Senate Environment and Agriculture `referral-committee, introduction`
- **2017-04-28** 04/28/2017 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (05/03/2017)
- **2017-05-03** 05/03/2017 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2017-06-02** 06/02/2017 Scheduled for consideration (06/07/2017)
- **2017-06-07** 06/07/2017 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-06-08** 06/08/2017 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/14/2017)
- **2017-06-14** 06/14/2017 Senate read and passed `passage`
- **2017-06-15** 06/15/2017 Referred to House Finance `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-27** 06/27/2017 Scheduled for consideration (06/27/2017)
- **2017-06-27** 06/27/2017 Committee recommends passage in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2017-06-28** 06/28/2017 Placed on the House Consent Calendar (06/28/2017)
- **2017-06-28** 06/28/2017 House passed 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/91b688e0-47f9-4eb6-87b2-973a16111983`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).