---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC RECORDS (Exempts the city or town of residence for city, town and state police officers from the definition of a public record and would prohibit the release of the same.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC RECORDS (Exempts the city or town of residence for city, town and state police officers from the definition of a public record and would prohibit the release of the same.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "HB 5417"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 5417 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Cities & Towns", "Health & Safety", "Police & Fire", "Public Records", "State Police"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bennett"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 12
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2021-02-05"
last_action: "2021-07-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/43e1be85-6490-4f31-900d-3dfbf33a6453"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "af6a510573f6c0094b8b03c2b4ac419942c7beba56d224826cca78f78e3fd7c8"
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 5417 (2021) — AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC RECORDS (Exempts the city or town of residence for city, town and state police officers from the definition of a public record and would prohibit the release of the same.)

## Version chain

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

1. **5417 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText21/HouseText21/H5417A.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **63–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bennett — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-05** 02/05/2021 Introduced, referred to House State Government & Elections `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2021-02-18** 02/18/2021 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (02/26/2021)
- **2021-02-26** 02/26/2021 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2021-06-27** 06/27/2021 Scheduled for consideration (06/29/2021)
- **2021-06-27** 06/27/2021 Proposed Substitute
- **2021-06-29** 06/29/2021 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-06-29** 06/29/2021 Placed on House Calendar (06/30/2021)
- **2021-06-30** 06/30/2021 House passed Sub A `passage`
- **2021-07-01** 07/01/2021 Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar (07/01/2021)
- **2021-07-01** 07/01/2021 Senate passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2021-07-07** 07/07/2021 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-07-09** 07/09/2021 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/43e1be85-6490-4f31-900d-3dfbf33a6453`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).