---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO HIGHWAYS -- ABANDONMENT BY TOWNS (Allows town of Narragansett to sell highway or driftway to abutting owner at fair market value.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO HIGHWAYS -- ABANDONMENT BY TOWNS (Allows town of Narragansett to sell highway or driftway to abutting owner at fair market value.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2023"
identifier: "HB 5597"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 5597 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Cities & Towns", "Highways", "Land/Landfills", "Narragansett", "Property"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["McEntee", "Tanzi"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2023-02-15"
last_action: "2023-06-27"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/fb07958d-9012-41a9-a7eb-7e1f4c70ec76"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "f62f487df41a0fa1bd9e522d3a2acc3a6f6658ce6bb442512dc9369423fc22f7"
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 HB 5597 (2023) — AN ACT RELATING TO HIGHWAYS -- ABANDONMENT BY TOWNS (Allows town of Narragansett to sell highway or driftway to abutting owner at fair market value.)

## Version chain

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

1. **5597** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText23/HouseText23/H5597.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **65–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- McEntee — primary (person)
- Tanzi — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-02-15** 02/15/2023 Introduced, referred to House Municipal Government & Housing `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2023-03-03** 03/03/2023 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (03/07/2023)
- **2023-03-07** 03/07/2023 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2023-03-17** 03/17/2023 Scheduled for consideration (03/23/2023)
- **2023-03-23** 03/23/2023 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-03-24** 03/24/2023 Placed on House Calendar (03/29/2023) `reading-3`
- **2023-03-29** 03/29/2023 House read and passed `passage`
- **2023-05-15** 05/15/2023 Referred to Senate Finance `referral-committee`
- **2023-06-06** 06/06/2023 Scheduled for consideration (06/08/2023)
- **2023-06-08** 06/08/2023 Committee recommends passage in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-06-15** 06/15/2023 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/15/2023) `reading-3`
- **2023-06-15** 06/15/2023 Senate passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2023-06-19** 06/19/2023 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-06-27** 06/27/2023 Effective without Governor's signature `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/fb07958d-9012-41a9-a7eb-7e1f4c70ec76`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).