---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO FOOD AND DRUGS - UNIFORM CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT (Restricts the initial prescription to an adult and all prescriptions to a minor patient for an opiate to a seven (7) day supply with exceptions for certain conditions and medicines designed for substance abuse or opioid dependence treatment.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO FOOD AND DRUGS - UNIFORM CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT (Restricts the initial prescription to an adult and all prescriptions to a minor patient for an opiate to a seven (7) day supply with exceptions for certain conditions and medicines designed for substance abuse or opioid dependence treatment.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "SB 981"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 981 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Food and Drugs"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ruggerio"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 11
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2019-06-13"
last_action: "2019-07-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/adf46b0b-6c66-4809-b999-f03f2cb526ec"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "957f03a1a10c42a7fa2edaba58e05dd88a45117dc3e7f79901a1b2eeb01a475d"
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 981 (2019) — AN ACT RELATING TO FOOD AND DRUGS - UNIFORM CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT (Restricts the initial prescription to an adult and all prescriptions to a minor patient for an opiate to a seven (7) day supply with exceptions for certain conditions and medicines designed for substance abuse or opioid dependence treatment.)

## Version chain

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

1. **981** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText19/SenateText19/S0981.pdf)

## Votes

- Passage — **38–0** (pass) · upper
- IN CONCURRENCE — **68–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Ruggerio — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-06-13** 06/13/2019 Introduced, referred to Senate Health and Human Services `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2019-06-14** 06/14/2019 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (06/18/2019)
- **2019-06-18** 06/18/2019 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2019-06-21** 06/21/2019 Scheduled for consideration (06/25/2019)
- **2019-06-25** 06/25/2019 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-06-25** 06/25/2019 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/27/2019)
- **2019-06-27** 06/27/2019 Senate read and passed `passage`
- **2019-06-28** 06/28/2019 Placed on the House Consent Calendar (06/28/2019)
- **2019-06-28** 06/28/2019 House passed 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/adf46b0b-6c66-4809-b999-f03f2cb526ec`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).