---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- OPEN MEETINGS (Exempts volunteer fire companies under the supervision, control, or jurisdiction of another public body from certain posting requirements of the open meetings act.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- OPEN MEETINGS (Exempts volunteer fire companies under the supervision, control, or jurisdiction of another public body from certain posting requirements of the open meetings act.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 261"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 261 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Fire District", "Open Meetings", "Police & Fire", "State Affairs"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Felag"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 15
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2021-02-10"
last_action: "2021-07-10"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e5d18064-0394-49db-8caf-f269cc3cf0e1"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "d557d2de9d4ecf2be2e14ca9dfebea542729753a3b67ef1ddae66334d26057e0"
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 261 (2021) — AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- OPEN MEETINGS (Exempts volunteer fire companies under the supervision, control, or jurisdiction of another public body from certain posting requirements of the open meetings act.)

## Version chain

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

1. **261 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText21/SenateText21/S0261A.pdf)

## Votes

- Passage — **35–0** (pass) · upper
- Passage — **35–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Felag — 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 recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-04-19** 04/19/2021 Placed on Senate Calendar (04/27/2021)
- **2021-04-27** 04/27/2021 Senate read and passed `passage`
- **2021-04-28** 04/28/2021 Referred to House State Government & Elections `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-25** 06/25/2021 Scheduled for consideration (06/28/2021)
- **2021-06-25** 06/25/2021 Proposed Substitute
- **2021-06-28** 06/28/2021 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-06-29** 06/29/2021 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`
- **2021-07-10** 07/10/2021 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/e5d18064-0394-49db-8caf-f269cc3cf0e1`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).