---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- CHILDREN (Raises the legal age for individuals to be sold or delivered certain tobacco products, including electronic nicotine-delivery systems products from eighteen (18) years of age to twenty-one (21) years of age.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- CHILDREN (Raises the legal age for individuals to be sold or delivered certain tobacco products, including electronic nicotine-delivery systems products from eighteen (18) years of age to twenty-one (21) years of age.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 263"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 263 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Civil Procedure", "Criminal Offense", "Statutes", "Tobacco", "Vaping / E-Cigarettes"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Coyne", "DiMario", "F Lombardi", "Gallo", "Goodwin", "Lombardo", "McCaffrey", "Miller", "Ruggerio", "Sosnowski"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 18
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2021-02-10"
last_action: "2021-07-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/13e88437-1227-4845-a778-1e6bf8518011"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "377491e35f619edf95be268c11734053eaec5b52ae355c57f7aa8ec0b36b8ddb"
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 263 (2021) — AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- CHILDREN (Raises the legal age for individuals to be sold or delivered certain tobacco products, including electronic nicotine-delivery systems products from eighteen (18) years of age to twenty-one (21) years of age.)

## Version chain

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

1. **263 SUB B** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText21/SenateText21/S0263B.pdf)

## Votes

- Passage — **35–2** (pass) · upper
- Passage — **36–0** (pass) · upper
- PASSAGE — **59–11** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Coyne — primary (person)
- DiMario — primary (person)
- F Lombardi — primary (person)
- Gallo — primary (person)
- Goodwin — primary (person)
- Lombardo — primary (person)
- McCaffrey — primary (person)
- Miller — primary (person)
- Ruggerio — 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`
- **2021-03-11** 03/11/2021 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (03/15/2021)
- **2021-03-15** 03/15/2021 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2021-04-23** 04/23/2021 Scheduled for consideration (04/29/2021)
- **2021-04-28** 04/28/2021 Proposed Substitute
- **2021-04-29** 04/29/2021 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-05-06** 05/06/2021 Placed on Senate Calendar (05/11/2021)
- **2021-05-11** 05/11/2021 Senate passed Sub A `passage`
- **2021-05-12** 05/12/2021 Referred to House Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-28** 06/28/2021 Scheduled for consideration (06/30/2021)
- **2021-06-28** 06/28/2021 Proposed Substitute
- **2021-06-30** 06/30/2021 Committee recommends passage of Sub B `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-06-30** 06/30/2021 Placed on House Calendar (07/01/2021)
- **2021-07-01** 07/01/2021 House passed Sub B `passage`
- **2021-07-01** 07/01/2021 Placed on Senate Calendar (07/01/2021)
- **2021-07-01** 07/01/2021 Senate passed Sub B in concurrence `passage`
- **2021-07-02** 07/02/2021 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-07-07** 07/07/2021 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/13e88437-1227-4845-a778-1e6bf8518011`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).