---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES AND CARRIERS -- DUTIES OF UTILITIES AND CARRIERS (Amends the utility base rate statute to make clean transportation, clean heating, and energy storage.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES AND CARRIERS -- DUTIES OF UTILITIES AND CARRIERS (Amends the utility base rate statute to make clean transportation, clean heating, and energy storage.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2023"
identifier: "SB 856"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 856 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Electric Vehicles", "Energy", "Public Utilities Commission"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Britto", "Burke", "LaMountain", "Tikoian"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2023-03-30"
last_action: "2023-06-23"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f83f3b6a-e0d1-45b3-a77a-5f802854b5b4"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "6677f7112106d67feae53b48ff4b10eeb317a8ba0afb09674ceb860d3eb1b72f"
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 856 (2023) — AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES AND CARRIERS -- DUTIES OF UTILITIES AND CARRIERS (Amends the utility base rate statute to make clean transportation, clean heating, and energy storage.)

## Version chain

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

1. **856** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText23/SenateText23/S0856.pdf)

## Votes

- Passage — **34–2** (pass) · upper
- IN CONCURRENCE — **62–8** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Britto — primary (person)
- Burke — primary (person)
- LaMountain — primary (person)
- Tikoian — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-03-30** 03/30/2023 Introduced, referred to Senate Commerce `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2023-05-12** 05/12/2023 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (05/16/2023)
- **2023-05-16** 05/16/2023 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2023-05-19** 05/19/2023 Scheduled for consideration (05/23/2023)
- **2023-05-23** 05/23/2023 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-05-30** 05/30/2023 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/01/2023) `reading-3`
- **2023-06-01** 06/01/2023 Senate read and passed `passage`
- **2023-06-02** 06/02/2023 Referred to House 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`
- **2023-06-09** 06/09/2023 Placed on House Calendar (06/12/2023) `reading-3`
- **2023-06-12** 06/12/2023 House passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2023-06-15** 06/15/2023 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-06-23** 06/23/2023 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/f83f3b6a-e0d1-45b3-a77a-5f802854b5b4`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).