---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- LOCAL OWNERSHIP OPPORTUNITY ACT (Creates a process that provides affected employees an opportunity to purchase the business that employs them, but is in danger of being sold or going out of business.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- LOCAL OWNERSHIP OPPORTUNITY ACT (Creates a process that provides affected employees an opportunity to purchase the business that employs them, but is in danger of being sold or going out of business.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "SB 253"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 253 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Business & Professions"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Cano", "Gallo", "Goldin", "Goodwin", "Miller"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 17
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2019-02-13"
last_action: "2019-06-28"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e1293e00-2e7f-4582-99b4-e0d85a996bb7"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "fab037de3fdf598272ae25ddd0296e511b412959c873fb653a87ab5e712aa401"
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 253 (2019) — AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- LOCAL OWNERSHIP OPPORTUNITY ACT (Creates a process that provides affected employees an opportunity to purchase the business that employs them, but is in danger of being sold or going out of business.)

## Version chain

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

1. **253 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText19/SenateText19/S0253A.pdf)

## Votes

- Passage — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- IN CONCURRENCE — **67–5** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Cano — primary (person)
- Gallo — primary (person)
- Goldin — primary (person)
- Goodwin — primary (person)
- Miller — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-13** 02/13/2019 Introduced, referred to Senate Commerce `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2019-04-26** 04/26/2019 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (04/30/2019)
- **2019-04-30** 04/30/2019 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2019-05-24** 05/24/2019 Scheduled for consideration (05/28/2019)
- **2019-05-24** 05/24/2019 Proposed Substitute
- **2019-05-28** 05/28/2019 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-05-29** 05/29/2019 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/04/2019)
- **2019-06-04** 06/04/2019 Senate passed Sub A `passage`
- **2019-06-05** 06/05/2019 Referred to House Committee on Small Business `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-10** 06/10/2019 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (06/12/2019)
- **2019-06-12** 06/12/2019 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2019-06-14** 06/14/2019 Scheduled for consideration (06/19/2019)
- **2019-06-19** 06/19/2019 Committee recommends passage of Sub A in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-06-20** 06/20/2019 Placed on House Calendar (06/25/2019)
- **2019-06-25** 06/25/2019 House passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2019-06-26** 06/26/2019 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2019-06-28** 06/28/2019 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/e1293e00-2e7f-4582-99b4-e0d85a996bb7`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).