---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES -- MUNICIPAL POLICE AND FIREFIGHTERS' ARBITRATION (Relieves municipal police bargaining representatives from their obligation to represent employees in grievances/arbitrations if they were not members of the bargaining unit within the ninety (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 bargaining representatives from their obligation to represent employees in grievances/arbitrations if they were not members of the bargaining unit within the ninety (90) days prior to the events that caused the grievance.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2018"
identifier: "SB 2158"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 2158 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Labor", "Municipal Employees", "Police & Fire"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Calkin", "Coyne", "DiPalma", "Lombardi", "Seveney"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 11
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2018-01-23"
last_action: "2018-07-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b524fd17-2498-4200-8d88-b3e128dfdca7"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "48f2e0a9bbd6dd9001413e6727d424123e98119d6d89227e9c45120cc9548849"
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 2158 (2018) — AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES -- MUNICIPAL POLICE AND FIREFIGHTERS' ARBITRATION (Relieves municipal police bargaining representatives from their obligation to represent employees in grievances/arbitrations if they were not members of the bargaining unit within the ninety (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. **2158 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText18/SenateText18/S2158A.pdf)

## Votes

- IN CONCURRENCE — **69–0** (pass) · upper
- Passage — **35–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Calkin — primary (person)
- Coyne — primary (person)
- DiPalma — primary (person)
- Lombardi — primary (person)
- Seveney — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-01-23** 01/23/2018 Introduced, referred to Senate Labor `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2018-04-06** 04/06/2018 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (04/11/2018)
- **2018-04-11** 04/11/2018 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2018-06-08** 06/08/2018 Scheduled for consideration (06/13/2018)
- **2018-06-13** 06/13/2018 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-06-14** 06/14/2018 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/19/2018)
- **2018-06-19** 06/19/2018 Senate passed Sub A `passage`
- **2018-06-21** 06/21/2018 Placed on the House Consent Calendar (06/22/2018)
- **2018-06-22** 06/22/2018 House 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/b524fd17-2498-4200-8d88-b3e128dfdca7`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).