---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO TOWNS AND CITIES - GENERAL POWERS (Allows city/town/fire district to continue operations in state/local emergency when financial budget process is interrupted and to conduct virtual meetings during emergencies retroactive to March 9, 2020.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO TOWNS AND CITIES - GENERAL POWERS (Allows city/town/fire district to continue operations in state/local emergency when financial budget process is interrupted and to conduct virtual meetings during emergencies retroactive to March 9, 2020.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 8015"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 8015 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Cities & Towns", "Open Meetings", "Police & Fire"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Edwards"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 11
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2020-06-09"
last_action: "2020-06-24"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/69645d4e-d739-42f1-a382-3138f790edd5"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "7ac3ef96f1e487842ff006000ce3fa08d4f3e65ecd726262f954803de8b40fa2"
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 8015 (2020) — AN ACT RELATING TO TOWNS AND CITIES - GENERAL POWERS (Allows city/town/fire district to continue operations in state/local emergency when financial budget process is interrupted and to conduct virtual meetings during emergencies retroactive to March 9, 2020.)

## Version chain

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

1. **8015** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText20/HouseText20/H8015.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **72–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Edwards — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-06-09** 06/09/2020 Introduced, referred to House Finance `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2020-06-11** 06/11/2020 Committee transferred to House Municipal Government
- **2020-06-11** 06/11/2020 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (06/15/2020)
- **2020-06-15** 06/15/2020 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-06-15** 06/15/2020 Placed on House Calendar (06/17/2020)
- **2020-06-17** 06/17/2020 House read and passed `passage`
- **2020-06-18** 06/18/2020 Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar (06/18/2020)
- **2020-06-18** 06/18/2020 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/18/2020)
- **2020-06-18** 06/18/2020 Senate passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2020-06-18** 06/18/2020 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2020-06-24** 06/24/2020 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/69645d4e-d739-42f1-a382-3138f790edd5`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).