---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY (Creates a forest conservation commission, to be coordinated with the department of environmental management, to seek new funding and identify incentives for landowners to maintain their land as forest.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY (Creates a forest conservation commission, to be coordinated with the department of environmental management, to seek new funding and identify incentives for landowners to maintain their land as forest.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 470"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 470 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Agriculture", "Commissions", "Environment", "Land/Landfills"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Acosta", "Bell", "Calkin", "Ciccone", "DiMario", "Euer", "Kallman", "Lombardo", "Valverde"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 17
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2021-03-04"
last_action: "2021-07-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/65e59fd9-fc5b-4c59-89cf-0c6bb2f24243"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "353cd5f0bf7c5f562197e3f55fc073bd7a8429ddf70f825d29f1c8f9149c429f"
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 470 (2021) — AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY (Creates a forest conservation commission, to be coordinated with the department of environmental management, to seek new funding and identify incentives for landowners to maintain their land as forest.)

## Version chain

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

1. **470 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText21/SenateText21/S0470A.pdf)

## Votes

- Passage — **36–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Acosta — primary (person)
- Bell — primary (person)
- Calkin — primary (person)
- Ciccone — primary (person)
- DiMario — primary (person)
- Euer — primary (person)
- Kallman — primary (person)
- Lombardo — primary (person)
- Valverde — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-03-04** 03/04/2021 Introduced, referred to Senate Environment and Agriculture `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-11** 03/11/2021 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (03/17/2021)
- **2021-03-17** 03/17/2021 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2021-05-28** 05/28/2021 Scheduled for consideration (06/02/2021)
- **2021-06-02** 06/02/2021 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-06-03** 06/03/2021 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/08/2021)
- **2021-06-08** 06/08/2021 Senate read and passed `passage`
- **2021-06-10** 06/10/2021 Referred to House Environment and Natural Resources `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`
- **2021-07-07** 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/65e59fd9-fc5b-4c59-89cf-0c6bb2f24243`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).