---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR - UNION REPRESENTATION (Clarifies the rights and options of government employees who decide not to join their employer's exclusive bargaining unit.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR - UNION REPRESENTATION (Clarifies the rights and options of government employees who decide not to join their employer's exclusive bargaining unit.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "SB 712"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 712 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ciccone", "Lombardi", "McCaffrey"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 18
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2019-03-21"
last_action: "2019-07-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/70798041-d9ab-48f8-9f10-3981d18b1b74"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "bbadeb4a864d921a90fe6b5ef9652180a5c4bc2ab78ffd782be5fd9def2cd0be"
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 712 (2019) — AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR - UNION REPRESENTATION (Clarifies the rights and options of government employees who decide not to join their employer's exclusive bargaining unit.)

## Version chain

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

1. **712 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText19/SenateText19/S0712A.pdf)

## Votes

- IN CONCURRENCE — **72–0** (pass) · upper
- Passage — **36–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Ciccone — primary (person)
- Lombardi — primary (person)
- McCaffrey — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-03-21** 03/21/2019 Introduced, referred to Senate Labor `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2019-04-26** 04/26/2019 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (05/01/2019)
- **2019-04-30** 04/30/2019 Proposed Substitute
- **2019-05-01** 05/01/2019 Committee recommended indefinite postponement
- **2019-05-01** 05/01/2019 Committee recommended Substitute A be held for further study
- **2019-05-24** 05/24/2019 Scheduled for consideration (05/29/2019)
- **2019-05-29** 05/29/2019 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-05-30** 05/30/2019 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/11/2019)
- **2019-06-11** 06/11/2019 Senate passed Sub A `passage`
- **2019-06-12** 06/12/2019 Referred to House Labor `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-14** 06/14/2019 Scheduled for consideration (06/19/2019)
- **2019-06-20** 06/20/2019 Placed on House Calendar
- **2019-06-20** 06/20/2019 Placed on the House Consent Calendar (06/26/2019)
- **2019-06-19** 06/19/2019 Committee recommends passage of Sub A in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-06-26** 06/26/2019 Placed on House Calendar (06/27/2019)
- **2019-06-27** 06/27/2019 House passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2019-07-03** 07/03/2019 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2019-07-08** 07/08/2019 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/70798041-d9ab-48f8-9f10-3981d18b1b74`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).