---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT - OPEN MEETINGS (Amends the definition of \"public body\" to include the board of directors of any library which has funded at least twenty-five percent (25%) of its operational budget in the prior budget year with public funds.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT - OPEN MEETINGS (Amends the definition of \"public body\" to include the board of directors of any library which has funded at least twenty-five percent (25%) of its operational budget in the prior budget year with public funds.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 5355"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 5355 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ajello", "Almeida", "Williams"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 11
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2019-02-08"
last_action: "2019-07-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ae293dcc-7f30-4446-a037-c19087a5853a"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "154ab504e38b6b3378d7a1f297ef41fac8dcb4633f8f6c20bfd4d1ebe2d9bc06"
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 5355 (2019) — AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT - OPEN MEETINGS (Amends the definition of "public body" to include the board of directors of any library which has funded at least twenty-five percent (25%) of its operational budget in the prior budget year with public funds.)

## Version chain

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

1. **5355** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText19/HouseText19/H5355.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **69–4** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Ajello — primary (person)
- Almeida — primary (person)
- Williams — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-08** 02/08/2019 Introduced, referred to House Judiciary `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2019-03-08** 03/08/2019 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (03/13/2019)
- **2019-03-13** 03/13/2019 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2019-06-14** 06/14/2019 Scheduled for consideration (06/18/2019)
- **2019-06-18** 06/18/2019 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-06-18** 06/18/2019 Placed on House Calendar (06/20/2019)
- **2019-06-20** 06/20/2019 House read and passed `passage`
- **2019-06-25** 06/25/2019 Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar (06/26/2019)
- **2019-06-26** 06/26/2019 Senate passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2019-07-03** 07/03/2019 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2019-07-08** 07/08/2019 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/ae293dcc-7f30-4446-a037-c19087a5853a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).