---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO HIGHWAYS -- ABANDONMENT BY TOWNS (Allows the town of Middletown to sell an abandoned highway or driftway to the abutting property owner making the abandonment request at fair market value.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO HIGHWAYS -- ABANDONMENT BY TOWNS (Allows the town of Middletown to sell an abandoned highway or driftway to the abutting property owner making the abandonment request at fair market value.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 175"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 175 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Highways", "Middletown", "Property", "Roads", "Transportation"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["DiPalma"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2021-02-05"
last_action: "2021-07-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c5988bfc-f714-44bd-b1be-71d0a1092e61"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "2bbeb2622b7f7a0cdfb0178acce65bbf6ac1fc08c3c38cc7567a42c8a7b605dd"
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 SB 175 (2021) — AN ACT RELATING TO HIGHWAYS -- ABANDONMENT BY TOWNS (Allows the town of Middletown to sell an abandoned highway or driftway to the abutting property owner making the abandonment request at fair market value.)

## Version chain

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

1. **175** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText21/SenateText21/S0175.pdf)

## Votes

- Passage — **30–4** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- DiPalma — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-05** 02/05/2021 Introduced, referred to Senate Housing and Municipal Government `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
- **2021-05-21** 05/21/2021 Scheduled for consideration (05/27/2021)
- **2021-05-27** 05/27/2021 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-05-28** 05/28/2021 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/01/2021)
- **2021-06-01** 06/01/2021 Senate read and passed `passage`
- **2021-06-02** 06/02/2021 Referred to House Municipal Government & Housing `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-14** 06/14/2021 Scheduled for consideration (06/17/2021)
- **2021-06-17** 06/17/2021 Committee recommends passage in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-06-23** 06/23/2021 Placed on the House Consent Calendar (06/25/2021)
- **2021-06-25** 06/25/2021 House passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2021-06-30** 06/30/2021 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-07-08** 07/08/2021 Effective without Governor's signature `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c5988bfc-f714-44bd-b1be-71d0a1092e61`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).