---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE - PROCEDURE IN PARTICULAR ACTIONS - CONTRIBUTION AMONG JOINT TORTFEASORS (Provides that a release by one claimant relative to claims relating to the Feld Entertainment/Ringling Brothers Circus accident of 5/4/14 would not discharge other joint tortfeasors.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE - PROCEDURE IN PARTICULAR ACTIONS - CONTRIBUTION AMONG JOINT TORTFEASORS (Provides that a release by one claimant relative to claims relating to the Feld Entertainment/Ringling Brothers Circus accident of 5/4/14 would not discharge other joint tortfeasors.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "SB 494"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 494 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Civil Procedure", "Claims", "Courts"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Archambault", "Euer", "Lynch Prata", "McCaffrey", "McKenney"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 17
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2019-02-27"
last_action: "2019-06-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d89df072-9c3f-4677-8c68-ef5922a9e857"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "3a17c5b3a569818fac872c6a58a24020c093e6d7491089ae8536b7cc8e100d8a"
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 494 (2019) — AN ACT RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE - PROCEDURE IN PARTICULAR ACTIONS - CONTRIBUTION AMONG JOINT TORTFEASORS (Provides that a release by one claimant relative to claims relating to the Feld Entertainment/Ringling Brothers Circus accident of 5/4/14 would not discharge other joint tortfeasors.)

## Version chain

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

1. **494 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText19/SenateText19/S0494A.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **61–10** (pass) · upper
- Passage — **37–1** (pass) · upper
- In Concurrence — **37–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Archambault — primary (person)
- Euer — primary (person)
- Lynch Prata — primary (person)
- McCaffrey — primary (person)
- McKenney — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-27** 02/27/2019 Introduced, referred to Senate Judiciary `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2019-03-22** 03/22/2019 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (03/28/2019)
- **2019-03-28** 03/28/2019 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2019-04-26** 04/26/2019 Scheduled for consideration (04/30/2019)
- **2019-04-30** 04/30/2019 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-05-01** 05/01/2019 Placed on Senate Calendar (05/07/2019)
- **2019-05-07** 05/07/2019 Senate read and passed `passage`
- **2019-05-08** 05/08/2019 Referred to House Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2019-05-24** 05/24/2019 Scheduled for hearing and/or 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`
- **2019-05-28** 05/28/2019 Placed on House Calendar (06/06/2019)
- **2019-06-06** 06/06/2019 House passed Sub A `passage`
- **2019-06-11** 06/11/2019 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/13/2019)
- **2019-06-13** 06/13/2019 Senate passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2019-06-13** 06/13/2019 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2019-06-13** 06/13/2019 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/d89df072-9c3f-4677-8c68-ef5922a9e857`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).