---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO BUSINESSES AND PROFESSIONS - ENGINEERS (Requires that plans for natural gas infrastructure be built to a set of design standards approved by a certified engineer if the work poses a material public safety risk.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO BUSINESSES AND PROFESSIONS - ENGINEERS (Requires that plans for natural gas infrastructure be built to a set of design standards approved by a certified engineer if the work poses a material public safety risk.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "SB 538"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 538 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Adm/Public Utilities", "Business & Professions", "Environment", "Gas"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Coyne", "DiPalma", "Euer", "Murray", "Seveney"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 15
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2019-03-14"
last_action: "2019-07-15"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/cd7fdef6-72ec-42d7-850e-d6c57f40cd66"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "428e42fc71f6d44f07d87479bcd074dc0152e92f81358f6cde46f841513dd9d7"
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 538 (2019) — AN ACT RELATING TO BUSINESSES AND PROFESSIONS - ENGINEERS (Requires that plans for natural gas infrastructure be built to a set of design standards approved by a certified engineer if the work poses a material public safety risk.)

## Version chain

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

1. **538 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText19/SenateText19/S0538A.pdf)

## Votes

- Passage — **37–1** (pass) · upper
- IN CONCURRENCE — **65–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Coyne — primary (person)
- DiPalma — primary (person)
- Euer — primary (person)
- Murray — primary (person)
- Seveney — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-03-14** 03/14/2019 Introduced, referred to Senate Commerce `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2019-04-26** 04/26/2019 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (04/30/2019)
- **2019-04-30** 04/30/2019 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2019-06-14** 06/14/2019 Scheduled for consideration (06/18/2019)
- **2019-06-17** 06/17/2019 Proposed Substitute
- **2019-06-18** 06/18/2019 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-06-18** 06/18/2019 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/20/2019)
- **2019-06-20** 06/20/2019 Senate passed Sub A `passage`
- **2019-06-21** 06/21/2019 Referred to House Corporations `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-25** 06/25/2019 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (06/27/2019)
- **2019-06-27** 06/27/2019 Committee recommends passage of Sub A in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-06-27** 06/27/2019 Placed on House Calendar (06/28/2019)
- **2019-06-28** 06/28/2019 House passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2019-07-11** 07/11/2019 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2019-07-15** 07/15/2019 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/cd7fdef6-72ec-42d7-850e-d6c57f40cd66`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).