---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY -- STATE BUILDING CODE (Establishes E-permitting for construction permitting.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY -- STATE BUILDING CODE (Establishes E-permitting for construction permitting.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2021"
identifier: "SB 981"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 981 (2021)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Cities & Towns", "Computer Technology", "Construction", "Health & Safety", "Housing"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Picard"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 9
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2021-06-25"
last_action: "2021-07-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/51e601d9-518b-426f-8489-343e15293be2"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "5befd20fadf314a2ac49e4b0b62f0a7c70e7d05141308b07cb790b81c6829a60"
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 981 (2021) — AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY -- STATE BUILDING CODE (Establishes E-permitting for construction permitting.)

## Version chain

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

1. **981** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText21/SenateText21/S0981.pdf)

## Votes

- Passage — **38–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Picard — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-06-25** 06/25/2021 Introduced, referred to Senate Housing and Municipal Government `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2021-06-25** 06/25/2021 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (06/28/2021)
- **2021-06-28** 06/28/2021 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-06-28** 06/28/2021 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/30/2021)
- **2021-06-30** 06/30/2021 Senate read and passed `passage`
- **2021-07-01** 07/01/2021 Placed on the House Consent Calendar (07/01/2021)
- **2021-07-01** 07/01/2021 House passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2021-07-07** 07/07/2021 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2021-07-09** 07/09/2021 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/51e601d9-518b-426f-8489-343e15293be2`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).