---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO TOWNS AND CITIES (Creates a voluntary mechanism for municipalities to use to dedicate a park, conservation or other land they own as public trust land in perpetuity to protect and preserve its future use.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO TOWNS AND CITIES (Creates a voluntary mechanism for municipalities to use to dedicate a park, conservation or other land they own as public trust land in perpetuity to protect and preserve its future use.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "HB 5259"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 5259 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Cities & Towns", "Parks"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Edwards"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2021-01-29"
last_action: "2021-07-03"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0f2e49bd-0d40-41a3-ba7c-a22462714b92"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "8af76c603f85e94af553c535b47192bfb11b473323bc7076f0b0bc319a60156f"
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 5259 (2021) — AN ACT RELATING TO TOWNS AND CITIES (Creates a voluntary mechanism for municipalities to use to dedicate a park, conservation or other land they own as public trust land in perpetuity to protect and preserve its future use.)

## Version chain

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

1. **5259 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText21/HouseText21/H5259A.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **71–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Edwards — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-29** 01/29/2021 Introduced, referred to House Municipal Government & Housing `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2021-02-18** 02/18/2021 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (02/25/2021)
- **2021-02-25** 02/25/2021 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2021-06-14** 06/14/2021 Scheduled for consideration (06/17/2021)
- **2021-06-17** 06/17/2021 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2021-06-18** 06/18/2021 Scheduled for consideration (06/21/2021)
- **2021-06-19** 06/19/2021 Proposed Substitute
- **2021-06-21** 06/21/2021 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-06-21** 06/21/2021 Placed on House Calendar (06/23/2021)
- **2021-06-23** 06/23/2021 House passed Sub A `passage`
- **2021-06-26** 06/26/2021 Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar (06/29/2021)
- **2021-06-29** 06/29/2021 Senate passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2021-06-30** 06/30/2021 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-07-03** 07/03/2021 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/0f2e49bd-0d40-41a3-ba7c-a22462714b92`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).