---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE -- PROCEDURE GENERALLY -- CAUSES OF ACTION (Products liability defense of subsequent alteration eliminated.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE -- PROCEDURE GENERALLY -- CAUSES OF ACTION (Products liability defense of subsequent alteration eliminated.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 736"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 736 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Causes of Action", "Civil Procedure", "Courts", "Death", "Property"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Archambault", "McCaffrey"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 12
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2021-03-26"
last_action: "2021-07-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e93782d5-e5b5-4efe-828b-308b5a528f4f"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "4609381ecb6cec8ce9777687cc164f3feb4bdd243dcf8d02a638a694670c3e8d"
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 736 (2021) — AN ACT RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE -- PROCEDURE GENERALLY -- CAUSES OF ACTION (Products liability defense of subsequent alteration eliminated.)

## Version chain

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

1. **736 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText21/SenateText21/S0736A.pdf)

## Votes

- - CAUSES OF ACTION — **37–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Archambault — primary (person)
- McCaffrey — 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`
- **2021-04-23** 04/23/2021 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (04/29/2021)
- **2021-04-29** 04/29/2021 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2021-06-25** 06/25/2021 Scheduled for consideration (06/28/2021)
- **2021-06-26** 06/26/2021 Proposed Substitute
- **2021-06-28** 06/28/2021 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-06-28** 06/28/2021 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/30/2021)
- **2021-06-30** 06/30/2021 Senate passed Sub A `passage`
- **2021-07-01** 07/01/2021 Placed on the House Consent Calendar (07/01/2021)
- **2021-07-01** 07/01/2021 House passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2021-07-09** 07/09/2021 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-07-13** 07/13/2021 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/e93782d5-e5b5-4efe-828b-308b5a528f4f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).