---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT - PRESERVATION OF FAMILIES WITH DISABLED PARENT ACT (Precludes a parent's disability from serving as the sole basis for the state to institute an investigation of the disabled parent's family.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT - PRESERVATION OF FAMILIES WITH DISABLED PARENT ACT (Precludes a parent's disability from serving as the sole basis for the state to institute an investigation of the disabled parent's family.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 56"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 56 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Children and Families", "Developmentally Disabled", "Equal Rights/Discrimination", "Handicapped", "State Affairs"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["DiPalma", "Goodwin", "McCaffrey", "Ruggerio", "de la Cruz"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2021-01-19"
last_action: "2021-05-26"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a37939ed-330c-4cf7-9eb8-2a10bc16e136"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "fbc8f2688cc229fe227859568da76dbcb6e2347d110b16c635ffb5458d588966"
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 56 (2021) — AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT - PRESERVATION OF FAMILIES WITH DISABLED PARENT ACT (Precludes a parent's disability from serving as the sole basis for the state to institute an investigation of the disabled parent's family.)

## Version chain

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

1. **56** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText21/SenateText21/S0056.pdf)

## Votes

- IN CONCURRENCE — **73–0** (pass) · upper
- DISABLED PARENT ACT — **37–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- DiPalma — primary (person)
- Goodwin — primary (person)
- McCaffrey — primary (person)
- Ruggerio — primary (person)
- de la Cruz — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-01-19** 01/19/2021 Introduced, referred to Senate Judiciary `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
- **2021-03-19** 03/19/2021 Scheduled for consideration (03/25/2021)
- **2021-03-25** 03/25/2021 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-26** 03/26/2021 Placed on Senate Calendar (03/30/2021)
- **2021-03-30** 03/30/2021 Senate read and passed `passage`
- **2021-04-01** 04/01/2021 Referred to House Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2021-05-07** 05/07/2021 Scheduled for consideration (05/12/2021)
- **2021-05-12** 05/12/2021 Committee recommends passage in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-05-14** 05/14/2021 Placed on House Calendar (05/18/2021)
- **2021-05-18** 05/18/2021 House passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2021-05-18** 05/18/2021 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-05-26** 05/26/2021 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/a37939ed-330c-4cf7-9eb8-2a10bc16e136`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).