---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- RHODE ISLAND HEALTH BENEFIT EXCHANGE (Authorizes RI Health Exchange to seek waiver under Affordable Care Act to allow small business owners/sole proprietors to purchase health plans offered by RI Health Exchange.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- RHODE ISLAND HEALTH BENEFIT EXCHANGE (Authorizes RI Health Exchange to seek waiver under Affordable Care Act to allow small business owners/sole proprietors to purchase health plans offered by RI Health Exchange.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2018"
identifier: "SB 2019"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 2019 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Business & Professions", "Health Care Affordability", "Health Care Plans/Services", "Health Insurance", "State Affairs"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Picard"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 10
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2018-01-11"
last_action: "2018-07-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d9b93be7-de8e-42a6-9023-d08ad77dd715"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "87ab1368ed12247f9388e3f2d4c709558dfce0028947150fd4bec43416297ea0"
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 2019 (2018) — AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- RHODE ISLAND HEALTH BENEFIT EXCHANGE (Authorizes RI Health Exchange to seek waiver under Affordable Care Act to allow small business owners/sole proprietors to purchase health plans offered by RI Health Exchange.)

## Version chain

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

1. **2019** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText18/SenateText18/S2019.pdf)

## Votes

- IN CONCURRENCE — **55–0** (pass) · upper
- Passage — **25–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Picard — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-01-11** 01/11/2018 Introduced, referred to Senate Health and Human Services `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2018-06-23** 06/23/2018 Committee transferred to Senate Judiciary
- **2018-06-23** 06/23/2018 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (06/23/2018)
- **2018-06-23** 06/23/2018 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-06-23** 06/23/2018 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/23/2018)
- **2018-06-23** 06/23/2018 Senate read and passed `passage`
- **2018-06-23** 06/23/2018 Placed on House Calendar (06/23/2018)
- **2018-06-23** 06/23/2018 House passed 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/d9b93be7-de8e-42a6-9023-d08ad77dd715`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).