---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO TOWNS AND CITIES -- EMERGENCY POLICE POWER (Authorizes higher education institution department to enter into an agreement with any city/town to provide police assistance in non emergency situations.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO TOWNS AND CITIES -- EMERGENCY POLICE POWER (Authorizes higher education institution department to enter into an agreement with any city/town to provide police assistance in non emergency situations.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 717"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 717 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Cities & Towns", "Education", "Higher Education", "Police & Fire"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Sosnowski"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2021-03-26"
last_action: "2021-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6bb84b7c-e0aa-4fad-b605-8bfd2fce496b"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "7815f0c85639667f512bdaeae121392fe004242dd8adb98acd3c8da6dba48e1a"
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 717 (2021) — AN ACT RELATING TO TOWNS AND CITIES -- EMERGENCY POLICE POWER (Authorizes higher education institution department to enter into an agreement with any city/town to provide police assistance in non emergency situations.)

## Version chain

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

1. **717** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText21/SenateText21/S0717.pdf)

## Votes

- Passage — **34–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Sosnowski — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-03-26** 03/26/2021 Introduced, referred to Senate Judiciary `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2021-05-20** 05/20/2021 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (05/24/2021)
- **2021-05-24** 05/24/2021 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2021-06-11** 06/11/2021 Scheduled for consideration (06/14/2021)
- **2021-06-14** 06/14/2021 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-06-16** 06/16/2021 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/22/2021)
- **2021-06-22** 06/22/2021 Senate read and passed `passage`
- **2021-06-23** 06/23/2021 Referred to House Municipal Government & Housing `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-23** 06/23/2021 Scheduled for consideration (06/25/2021)
- **2021-06-25** 06/25/2021 Committee recommends passage in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-06-25** 06/25/2021 Placed on the House Consent Calendar (06/28/2021)
- **2021-06-28** 06/28/2021 House passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2021-06-30** 06/30/2021 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-07-01** 07/01/2021 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/6bb84b7c-e0aa-4fad-b605-8bfd2fce496b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).