---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO AERONAUTICS -- AIRPORTS AND LANDING FIELDS (Adds airspace to the land the DOT can acquire that is necessary for a suitable airport or to preserve, maintain, or restore approach. Additionally this act would add the term “Approach, approach zone, approaches” to section 1-2-3.1.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO AERONAUTICS -- AIRPORTS AND LANDING FIELDS (Adds airspace to the land the DOT can acquire that is necessary for a suitable airport or to preserve, maintain, or restore approach. Additionally this act would add the term “Approach, approach zone, approaches” to section 1-2-3.1.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 259"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 259 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Airports", "Land/Landfills", "Zoning"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Seveney", "Sosnowski"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 13
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2021-02-10"
last_action: "2021-07-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ed699338-aa21-43aa-8b9b-d67a8a38f026"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "dcfb7ea2d42898d169cff8bb1a8d76dcbcccd833d8e3b917c9c1b0df3864546c"
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 259 (2021) — AN ACT RELATING TO AERONAUTICS -- AIRPORTS AND LANDING FIELDS (Adds airspace to the land the DOT can acquire that is necessary for a suitable airport or to preserve, maintain, or restore approach. Additionally this act would add the term “Approach, approach zone, approaches” to section 1-2-3.1.)

## Version chain

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

1. **259 as amended** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText21/SenateText21/S0259aa.pdf)

## Votes

- Passage as Amended — **28–8** (pass) · upper
- Approval of Amendment — **31–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Seveney — primary (person)
- Sosnowski — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-10** 02/10/2021 Introduced, referred to Senate Judiciary `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2021-04-09** 04/09/2021 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (04/15/2021)
- **2021-04-15** 04/15/2021 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2021-05-07** 05/07/2021 Scheduled for consideration
- **2021-05-13** 05/13/2021 Meeting postponed (05/13/2021)
- **2021-06-22** 06/22/2021 Scheduled for consideration (06/24/2021)
- **2021-06-24** 06/24/2021 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-06-24** 06/24/2021 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/29/2021)
- **2021-06-29** 06/29/2021 Senate passed as amended (floor amendment) `passage`
- **2021-06-29** 06/29/2021 Placed on the House Consent Calendar (07/01/2021)
- **2021-07-01** 07/01/2021 House passed as amended in concurrence `passage`
- **2021-07-07** 07/07/2021 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-07-12** 07/12/2021 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/ed699338-aa21-43aa-8b9b-d67a8a38f026`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).