---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO MILITARY AFFAIRS AND DEFENSE -- EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT"
description: "Provides that any disaster response worker shall, in the course of their duties, be considered a state employee and be entitled to all rights in like manner as state employees."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2025"
identifier: "HB 5157"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 5157 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bennett", "Casimiro", "Cotter", "Fogarty", "McNamara", "Morales", "Potter", "Slater", "Solomon", "Speakman"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 15
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2025-01-24"
last_action: "2025-07-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f4aa4690-7f89-4755-8556-704172d4a9f4"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "1ed7324e2501b15677db81a4202e78249b5bcd28830c055a207445ecc411c6b5"
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 5157 (2025) — AN ACT RELATING TO MILITARY AFFAIRS AND DEFENSE -- EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

Provides that any disaster response worker shall, in the course of their duties, be considered a state employee and be entitled to all rights in like manner as state employees.

## Version chain

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

1. **5157 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText25/HouseText25/H5157A.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **70–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bennett — primary (person)
- Casimiro — primary (person)
- Cotter — primary (person)
- Fogarty — primary (person)
- McNamara — primary (person)
- Morales — primary (person)
- Potter — primary (person)
- Slater — primary (person)
- Solomon — primary (person)
- Speakman — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-01-24** 01/24/2025 Introduced, referred to House Corporations `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2025-02-07** 02/07/2025 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (02/11/2025)
- **2025-02-11** 02/11/2025 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2025-02-28** 02/28/2025 Scheduled for consideration (03/04/2025)
- **2025-02-28** 02/28/2025 Proposed Substitute `substitution`
- **2025-03-04** 03/04/2025 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-28** 03/28/2025 Scheduled for reconsideration (04/01/2025)
- **2025-03-28** 03/28/2025 Proposed Substitute `substitution`
- **2025-04-01** 04/01/2025 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-04-18** 04/18/2025 Placed on House Calendar (04/22/2025) `reading-3`
- **2025-04-22** 04/22/2025 House passed Sub A `passage`
- **2025-06-19** 06/19/2025 Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar (06/20/2025) `reading-3`
- **2025-06-20** 06/20/2025 Senate passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2025-06-27** 06/27/2025 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-07-02** 07/02/2025 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/f4aa4690-7f89-4755-8556-704172d4a9f4`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).