---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO TOWNS AND CITIES -- RETIREMENT OF MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES--MIDDLETOWN MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT (Allows the town of Middletown to enroll its full-time police officers hired on or after July 1, 2021, in a defined contribution plan established by the town and prevents newly hired police officers from becoming members of the retirement system.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO TOWNS AND CITIES -- RETIREMENT OF MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES--MIDDLETOWN MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT (Allows the town of Middletown to enroll its full-time police officers hired on or after July 1, 2021, in a defined contribution plan established by the town and prevents newly hired police officers from becoming members of the retirement system.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 296"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 296 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Cities & Towns", "Middletown", "Police & Fire", "Public Officers", "Retirement"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["DiPalma"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2021-02-18"
last_action: "2021-06-18"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/109c84d5-ab64-4bbb-ba37-79c08b48a0a3"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "e9537ce0df1573f709750ca39e07b31bbf83a1ce0904b2d69ce61fac20dfe43a"
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 296 (2021) — AN ACT RELATING TO TOWNS AND CITIES -- RETIREMENT OF MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES--MIDDLETOWN MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT (Allows the town of Middletown to enroll its full-time police officers hired on or after July 1, 2021, in a defined contribution plan established by the town and prevents newly hired police officers from becoming members of the retirement system.)

## Version chain

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

1. **296** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText21/SenateText21/S0296.pdf)

## Votes

- RETIREMENT — **33–4** (pass) · upper
- IN CONCURRENCE — **71–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- DiPalma — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-18** 02/18/2021 Introduced, referred to Senate Finance `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2021-02-19** 02/19/2021 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (02/25/2021)
- **2021-02-25** 02/25/2021 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2021-03-05** 03/05/2021 Scheduled for consideration (03/11/2021)
- **2021-03-11** 03/11/2021 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-11** 03/11/2021 Placed on Senate Calendar (03/16/2021)
- **2021-03-16** 03/16/2021 Senate read and passed `passage`
- **2021-03-18** 03/18/2021 Referred to House Municipal Government & Housing `referral-committee`
- **2021-05-14** 05/14/2021 Scheduled for consideration (05/19/2021)
- **2021-05-19** 05/19/2021 Committee recommends passage in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-06-04** 06/04/2021 Placed on House Calendar (06/10/2021)
- **2021-06-10** 06/10/2021 House passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2021-06-10** 06/10/2021 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-06-18** 06/18/2021 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/109c84d5-ab64-4bbb-ba37-79c08b48a0a3`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).