---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES - HOMICIDE (Known and may be cited as Kristen's Law, and would provide that the death of a human being as a result of a controlled substance transaction, would subject the person providing the controlled substance up to life imprisonment.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES - HOMICIDE (Known and may be cited as Kristen's Law, and would provide that the death of a human being as a result of a controlled substance transaction, would subject the person providing the controlled substance up to life imprisonment.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2018"
identifier: "SB 2279"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 2279 (2018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Attorney General", "Criminal Offense", "Drugs"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Coyne", "Gallo", "Lombardi", "Seveney"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 18
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2018-02-01"
last_action: "2018-06-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/555a0af9-827c-4501-9ac0-35404a0a1112"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "642a8d011fe5b4e139a3dfead23dca0f6fa0a06e380ccf97a9bf2d08c066a1c5"
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 2279 (2018) — AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES - HOMICIDE (Known and may be cited as Kristen's Law, and would provide that the death of a human being as a result of a controlled substance transaction, would subject the person providing the controlled substance up to life imprisonment.)

## Version chain

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

1. **2279 SUB B** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText18/SenateText18/S2279B.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **54–15** (pass) · upper
- Passage — **24–11** (pass) · upper
- Approval of Amendment — **11–22** (fail) · upper
- In Concurrence — **25–11** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Coyne — primary (person)
- Gallo — primary (person)
- Lombardi — primary (person)
- Seveney — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2018-02-01** 02/01/2018 Introduced, referred to Senate Judiciary `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2018-03-09** 03/09/2018 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration
- **2018-03-12** 03/12/2018 Meeting postponed (03/13/2018)
- **2018-04-19** 04/19/2018 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (04/26/2018)
- **2018-04-26** 04/26/2018 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2018-05-11** 05/11/2018 Scheduled for consideration (05/15/2018)
- **2018-05-15** 05/15/2018 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-05-17** 05/17/2018 Placed on Senate Calendar (05/29/2018)
- **2018-05-29** 05/29/2018 Senate passed Sub A `passage`
- **2018-05-31** 05/31/2018 Referred to House Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2018-06-16** 06/16/2018 Scheduled for consideration (06/19/2018)
- **2018-06-19** 06/19/2018 Committee recommends passage of Sub B `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2018-06-19** 06/19/2018 Placed on House Calendar (06/20/2018)
- **2018-06-20** 06/20/2018 House passed Sub B `passage`
- **2018-06-20** 06/20/2018 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/21/2018)
- **2018-06-21** 06/21/2018 Senate passed Sub B in concurrence `passage`
- **2018-06-26** 06/26/2018 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2018-06-29** 06/29/2018 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/555a0af9-827c-4501-9ac0-35404a0a1112`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).