---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE -- SMALL CLAIMS AND CONSUMER CLAIMS -- PROCEDURE IN PARTICULAR ACTIONS (Increases the maximum amount to be recovered in civil court action as a small claims from two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) to seven thousand dollars ($7,000).)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE -- SMALL CLAIMS AND CONSUMER CLAIMS -- PROCEDURE IN PARTICULAR ACTIONS (Increases the maximum amount to be recovered in civil court action as a small claims from two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) to seven thousand dollars ($7,000).)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "HB 6237"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 6237 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Civil Procedure", "Claims", "Courts"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Batista", "Felix", "Kislak", "Knight", "McEntee", "Newberry"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 15
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2021-04-14"
last_action: "2021-07-03"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/02beff23-f265-43a1-9633-b4cf4b471d5d"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "eceec471954ef5afcbc3659d22c7c45449933d5655bc3ff86d0d85dea7135b78"
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 6237 (2021) — AN ACT RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE -- SMALL CLAIMS AND CONSUMER CLAIMS -- PROCEDURE IN PARTICULAR ACTIONS (Increases the maximum amount to be recovered in civil court action as a small claims from two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) to seven thousand dollars ($7,000).)

## Version chain

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

1. **6237 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText21/HouseText21/H6237A.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **70–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Batista — primary (person)
- Felix — primary (person)
- Kislak — primary (person)
- Knight — primary (person)
- McEntee — primary (person)
- Newberry — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-04-14** 04/14/2021 Introduced, referred to House Judiciary `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-23** 04/23/2021 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (04/27/2021)
- **2021-04-27** 04/27/2021 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2021-06-04** 06/04/2021 Scheduled for consideration (06/10/2021)
- **2021-06-04** 06/04/2021 Proposed Substitute
- **2021-06-10** 06/10/2021 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-06-11** 06/11/2021 Placed on House Calendar (06/16/2021)
- **2021-06-16** 06/16/2021 House passed Sub A `passage`
- **2021-06-17** 06/17/2021 Referred to Senate Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-18** 06/18/2021 Scheduled for consideration (06/21/2021)
- **2021-06-21** 06/21/2021 Committee recommends passage of Sub A in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-06-25** 06/25/2021 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/02beff23-f265-43a1-9633-b4cf4b471d5d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).