---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO MILITARY AFFAIRS AND DEFENSE -- RECORDATION OF HONORABLE DISCHARGES (Provides a petition process to have a discharge from service recorded as honorable for members of the armed services separated from service with a general or other than honorable discharge due solely to their sexual orientation/gender identity/expression.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO MILITARY AFFAIRS AND DEFENSE -- RECORDATION OF HONORABLE DISCHARGES (Provides a petition process to have a discharge from service recorded as honorable for members of the armed services separated from service with a general or other than honorable discharge due solely to their sexual orientation/gender identity/expression.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 5443"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 5443 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Almeida", "Millea", "Shanley", "Vella-Wilkinson", "Williams"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 15
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2019-02-14"
last_action: "2019-06-21"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/23356a31-a12c-43ae-92ea-c3fb5201cbf7"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "e59f8d2a1c2b5e02b82fcceb82d6a5f3f34cfbca1559a3bcbc05bb53ad652d34"
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 5443 (2019) — AN ACT RELATING TO MILITARY AFFAIRS AND DEFENSE -- RECORDATION OF HONORABLE DISCHARGES (Provides a petition process to have a discharge from service recorded as honorable for members of the armed services separated from service with a general or other than honorable discharge due solely to their sexual orientation/gender identity/expression.)

## Version chain

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

1. **5443 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText19/HouseText19/H5443A.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **67–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Almeida — primary (person)
- Millea — primary (person)
- Shanley — primary (person)
- Vella-Wilkinson — primary (person)
- Williams — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-14** 02/14/2019 Introduced, referred to House Veterans Affairs `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2019-03-08** 03/08/2019 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (03/14/2019)
- **2019-03-14** 03/14/2019 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2019-04-02** 04/02/2019 Scheduled for consideration (04/04/2019)
- **2019-04-02** 04/02/2019 Proposed Substitute
- **2019-04-04** 04/04/2019 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-04-05** 04/05/2019 Placed on House Calendar (04/11/2019)
- **2019-04-11** 04/11/2019 House passed Sub A `passage`
- **2019-05-22** 05/22/2019 Referred to Senate Special Legislation and Veterans Affairs `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-31** 05/31/2019 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (06/05/2019)
- **2019-06-05** 06/05/2019 Committee recommends passage of Sub A in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-06-18** 06/18/2019 Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar (06/19/2019)
- **2019-06-19** 06/19/2019 Senate passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2019-06-19** 06/19/2019 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2019-06-21** 06/21/2019 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/23356a31-a12c-43ae-92ea-c3fb5201cbf7`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).