---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- CHILDREN (Raises the legal age for persons to purchase or be sold or delivered certain tobacco products, electronic nicotine-delivery systems and liquid nicotine containers from eighteen (18) years of age to twenty-one (21) years of age.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- CHILDREN (Raises the legal age for persons to purchase or be sold or delivered certain tobacco products, electronic nicotine-delivery systems and liquid nicotine containers from eighteen (18) years of age to twenty-one (21) years of age.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "HB 5571"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 5571 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Children and Families", "Criminal Offense", "Minors", "Smoking", "Tobacco"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ackerman", "Corvese", "Diaz", "Kazarian", "Noret", "Perez", "Tanzi", "Williams"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 12
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2021-02-12"
last_action: "2021-07-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4b1170d0-c63f-40f6-bc33-ff0b72278a2b"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "fc5add832a86aef631eae931599a87b75a174eadb9deea9ac8c7eb9eb14e7de2"
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 5571 (2021) — AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- CHILDREN (Raises the legal age for persons to purchase or be sold or delivered certain tobacco products, electronic nicotine-delivery systems and liquid nicotine containers from eighteen (18) years of age to twenty-one (21) years of age.)

## Version chain

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

1. **5571 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText21/HouseText21/H5571A.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **59–11** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Ackerman — primary (person)
- Corvese — primary (person)
- Diaz — primary (person)
- Kazarian — primary (person)
- Noret — primary (person)
- Perez — primary (person)
- Tanzi — primary (person)
- Williams — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-12** 02/12/2021 Introduced, referred to House Judiciary `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-05** 03/05/2021 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (03/10/2021)
- **2021-03-10** 03/10/2021 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2021-06-28** 06/28/2021 Scheduled for consideration (06/30/2021)
- **2021-06-28** 06/28/2021 Proposed Substitute
- **2021-06-30** 06/30/2021 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-06-30** 06/30/2021 Placed on House Calendar (07/01/2021)
- **2021-07-01** 07/01/2021 House passed Sub A `passage`
- **2021-07-01** 07/01/2021 Placed on Senate Calendar (07/01/2021)
- **2021-07-01** 07/01/2021 Senate passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2021-07-02** 07/02/2021 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-07-07** 07/07/2021 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/4b1170d0-c63f-40f6-bc33-ff0b72278a2b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).