---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- COMMERCIAL SEXUAL ACTIVITY"
description: "Under certain circumstances, provides immunity from arrest and prosecution for prostitution, procurement of sexual conduct for a fee, loitering for prostitution and soliciting from motor vehicles for indecent purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2025"
identifier: "SB 278"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 278 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Acosta", "Bissaillon", "McKenney", "Murray", "Pearson"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2025-02-13"
last_action: "2025-07-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/cb87f252-ec78-44d8-bf9e-25d2364472f2"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "38b215bb958c2181fb9747b05e4503a834b04b8f4977be02bfebab75c47b0c49"
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 278 (2025) — AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- COMMERCIAL SEXUAL ACTIVITY

Under certain circumstances, provides immunity from arrest and prosecution for prostitution, procurement of sexual conduct for a fee, loitering for prostitution and soliciting from motor vehicles for indecent purposes.

## Version chain

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

1. **278 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText25/SenateText25/S0278A.pdf)

## Votes

- IN CONCURRENCE — **67–5** (pass) · upper
- Passage — **36–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Acosta — primary (person)
- Bissaillon — primary (person)
- McKenney — primary (person)
- Murray — primary (person)
- Pearson — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-02-13** 02/13/2025 Introduced, referred to Senate Judiciary `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2025-03-14** 03/14/2025 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration
- **2025-03-17** 03/17/2025 Committee postponed at request of sponsor (03/18/2025)
- **2025-03-21** 03/21/2025 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (03/25/2025)
- **2025-03-25** 03/25/2025 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2025-06-06** 06/06/2025 Scheduled for consideration (06/10/2025)
- **2025-06-09** 06/09/2025 Proposed Substitute `substitution`
- **2025-06-10** 06/10/2025 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-06-12** 06/12/2025 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/17/2025) `reading-3`
- **2025-06-17** 06/17/2025 Senate passed Sub A `passage`
- **2025-06-18** 06/18/2025 Placed on House Calendar (06/20/2025) `reading-3`
- **2025-06-20** 06/20/2025 House 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/cb87f252-ec78-44d8-bf9e-25d2364472f2`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).