---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO TOWNS AND CITIES -- EMERGENCY POLICE POWER (Authorizes higher education institution department to enter into an agreement with any city/town to provide police assistance in non emergency situations.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO TOWNS AND CITIES -- EMERGENCY POLICE POWER (Authorizes higher education institution department to enter into an agreement with any city/town to provide police assistance in non emergency situations.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "HB 5815"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 5815 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Cities & Towns", "Education", "Higher Education", "Police & Fire"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Barros", "Costantino", "Hull", "McLaughlin", "Perez"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2021-02-24"
last_action: "2021-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/bc0c2ff7-7240-4880-913c-84e0b7d6502f"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "ba15bccac351a28dc86f469a87b907bcf02f4fecbeb6054d79782a20b6358efb"
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 5815 (2021) — AN ACT RELATING TO TOWNS AND CITIES -- EMERGENCY POLICE POWER (Authorizes higher education institution department to enter into an agreement with any city/town to provide police assistance in non emergency situations.)

## Version chain

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

1. **5815** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText21/HouseText21/H5815.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **70–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Barros — primary (person)
- Costantino — primary (person)
- Hull — primary (person)
- McLaughlin — primary (person)
- Perez — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-24** 02/24/2021 Introduced, referred to House Municipal Government & Housing `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2021-02-26** 02/26/2021 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (03/04/2021)
- **2021-03-04** 03/04/2021 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2021-04-30** 04/30/2021 Scheduled for consideration (05/06/2021)
- **2021-05-06** 05/06/2021 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-05-14** 05/14/2021 Placed on House Calendar (05/18/2021)
- **2021-05-18** 05/18/2021 House read and passed `passage`
- **2021-05-20** 05/20/2021 Referred to Senate Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-11** 06/11/2021 Scheduled for consideration (06/14/2021)
- **2021-06-14** 06/14/2021 Committee recommends passage in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-06-26** 06/26/2021 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/29/2021)
- **2021-06-29** 06/29/2021 Senate passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2021-06-30** 06/30/2021 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-07-01** 07/01/2021 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/bc0c2ff7-7240-4880-913c-84e0b7d6502f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).