---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO BUSINESSES AND PROFESSIONS -- PHARMACIES (Establishes audit requirements for pharmacy benefit managers and also establishes annual reporting requirements for health insurers.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO BUSINESSES AND PROFESSIONS -- PHARMACIES (Establishes audit requirements for pharmacy benefit managers and also establishes annual reporting requirements for health insurers.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 5544"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 5544 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Business & Professions", "Drugs"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bennett", "Jacquard", "McNamara", "Ruggiero"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 12
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2019-02-27"
last_action: "2019-07-16"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3b350d54-56c8-48b5-8359-5c059bc4fe90"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "aeb75690ee929ffd50ae4e323ca9393103a1cae8584120c5e52db64ffcd072d6"
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 5544 (2019) — AN ACT RELATING TO BUSINESSES AND PROFESSIONS -- PHARMACIES (Establishes audit requirements for pharmacy benefit managers and also establishes annual reporting requirements for health insurers.)

## Version chain

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

1. **5544 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText19/HouseText19/H5544A.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **71–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bennett — primary (person)
- Jacquard — primary (person)
- McNamara — primary (person)
- Ruggiero — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-27** 02/27/2019 Introduced, referred to House H.E.W. `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2019-03-15** 03/15/2019 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (03/20/2019)
- **2019-03-20** 03/20/2019 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2019-06-22** 06/22/2019 Scheduled for consideration (06/25/2019)
- **2019-06-24** 06/24/2019 Proposed Substitute
- **2019-06-25** 06/25/2019 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-06-25** 06/25/2019 Placed on House Calendar (06/27/2019)
- **2019-06-27** 06/27/2019 House passed Sub A `passage`
- **2019-06-28** 06/28/2019 Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar (06/28/2019)
- **2019-06-28** 06/28/2019 Senate passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2019-07-11** 07/11/2019 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2019-07-16** 07/16/2019 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/3b350d54-56c8-48b5-8359-5c059bc4fe90`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).