---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES -- MUNICIPAL POLICE AND FIREFIGHTERS' ARBITRATION (Relieves municipal police and firefighter bargaining representatives from their obligation to represent employees in grievances/arbitrations if they were not members of the bargaining unit within the 90 days prior to the events that caused the grievance.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES -- MUNICIPAL POLICE AND FIREFIGHTERS' ARBITRATION (Relieves municipal police and firefighter bargaining representatives from their obligation to represent employees in grievances/arbitrations if they were not members of the bargaining unit within the 90 days prior to the events that caused the grievance.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2018"
identifier: "HB 7377"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 7377 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Cities & Towns", "Labor", "Municipal Employees", "Police & Fire"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Almeida", "Canario", "McEntee", "O'Brien", "Shekarchi"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2018-01-31"
last_action: "2018-07-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/df189d1c-879b-43b5-8ece-ff8884c2a036"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "c003278ba7df31bb33e9aab0f2c251d66669ea59249fda4b7f5af135bd254747"
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 HB 7377 (2018) — AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES -- MUNICIPAL POLICE AND FIREFIGHTERS' ARBITRATION (Relieves municipal police and firefighter bargaining representatives from their obligation to represent employees in grievances/arbitrations if they were not members of the bargaining unit within the 90 days prior to the events that caused the grievance.)

## Version chain

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

1. **7377 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText18/HouseText18/H7377A.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **72–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Almeida — primary (person)
- Canario — primary (person)
- McEntee — primary (person)
- O'Brien — primary (person)
- Shekarchi — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-01-31** 01/31/2018 Introduced, referred to House Labor `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2018-02-19** 02/19/2018 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (03/01/2018)
- **2018-03-01** 03/01/2018 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2018-05-25** 05/25/2018 Scheduled for consideration (05/31/2018)
- **2018-05-31** 05/31/2018 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-06-01** 06/01/2018 Placed on House Calendar (06/05/2018)
- **2018-06-05** 06/05/2018 House passed Sub A `passage`
- **2018-06-07** 06/07/2018 Referred to Senate Labor `referral-committee`
- **2018-06-15** 06/15/2018 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (06/19/2018)
- **2018-06-19** 06/19/2018 Committee recommends passage of Sub A in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-06-21** 06/21/2018 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/21/2018)
- **2018-06-21** 06/21/2018 Senate passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2018-07-02** 07/02/2018 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2018-07-02** 07/02/2018 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/df189d1c-879b-43b5-8ece-ff8884c2a036`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).