---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO DOMESTIC RELATIONS -- UNIFORM LAW ON PATERNITY -- UNIFORM PARENTAGE ACT (Repeals current state law regarding paternity and replaces it with a uniform parentage act that provides procedures establishing parentage, genetic testing, surrogacy agreements and assisted reproduction.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO DOMESTIC RELATIONS -- UNIFORM LAW ON PATERNITY -- UNIFORM PARENTAGE ACT (Repeals current state law regarding paternity and replaces it with a uniform parentage act that provides procedures establishing parentage, genetic testing, surrogacy agreements and assisted reproduction.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 7541"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 7541 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Children and Families", "Domestic Relations", "Health & Safety", "Minors"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Caldwell", "Craven", "Mattiello", "McEntee", "Shekarchi"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 12
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2020-02-12"
last_action: "2020-07-21"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/53e9051b-b95a-4adc-9338-7d201fa58ebe"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "cd15df27544ff5f058c35188b773be6bf293744abbfe5eff6c69750eae42b3e9"
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 7541 (2020) — AN ACT RELATING TO DOMESTIC RELATIONS -- UNIFORM LAW ON PATERNITY -- UNIFORM PARENTAGE ACT (Repeals current state law regarding paternity and replaces it with a uniform parentage act that provides procedures establishing parentage, genetic testing, surrogacy agreements and assisted reproduction.)

## Version chain

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

1. **7541 SUB A as amended** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText20/HouseText20/H7541Aaa.pdf)

## Votes

- AS AMENDED — **67–1** (pass) · lower
- PASSAGE OF AMENDMENT — **66–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Caldwell — primary (person)
- Craven — primary (person)
- Mattiello — primary (person)
- McEntee — primary (person)
- Shekarchi — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-02-12** 02/12/2020 Introduced, referred to House Judiciary `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2020-02-17** 02/17/2020 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (02/26/2020)
- **2020-02-26** 02/26/2020 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2020-07-02** 07/02/2020 Scheduled for consideration (07/07/2020)
- **2020-07-02** 07/02/2020 Proposed Substitute
- **2020-07-07** 07/07/2020 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-07-14** 07/14/2020 Placed on House Calendar (07/16/2020)
- **2020-07-16** 07/16/2020 House passed Sub A as amended (floor amendment) `passage`
- **2020-07-16** 07/16/2020 Placed on Senate Calendar (07/16/2020)
- **2020-07-16** 07/16/2020 Senate passed Sub A as amended in concurrence `passage`
- **2020-07-17** 07/17/2020 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2020-07-21** 07/21/2020 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/53e9051b-b95a-4adc-9338-7d201fa58ebe`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).