---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- OPEN MEETINGS -- REMOTE PARTICIPANTS (Allows University of Rhode Island trustee members to remotely participate in meetings, without excuse, and to have them considered as the meeting quorum.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- OPEN MEETINGS -- REMOTE PARTICIPANTS (Allows University of Rhode Island trustee members to remotely participate in meetings, without excuse, and to have them considered as the meeting quorum.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "HB 7817"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 7817 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Caldwell", "Carson", "Cassar", "Craven", "Donovan", "Fogarty", "McEntee", "O'Brien", "Ranglin-Vassell", "Tanzi"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 11
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2022-03-03"
last_action: "2022-03-28"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/fcc1e6e3-9693-4af2-b6e8-1822419d3124"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "68b862205f1dbcd750304eda280a1a85bcd6e0196b982cb7350f53944f5d1dc4"
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 7817 (2022) — AN ACT RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- OPEN MEETINGS -- REMOTE PARTICIPANTS (Allows University of Rhode Island trustee members to remotely participate in meetings, without excuse, and to have them considered as the meeting quorum.)

## Version chain

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

1. **7817** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText22/HouseText22/H7817.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **66–3** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Caldwell — primary (person)
- Carson — primary (person)
- Cassar — primary (person)
- Craven — primary (person)
- Donovan — primary (person)
- Fogarty — primary (person)
- McEntee — primary (person)
- O'Brien — primary (person)
- Ranglin-Vassell — primary (person)
- Tanzi — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-03-03** 03/03/2022 Introduced, referred to House State Government & Elections `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2022-03-04** 03/04/2022 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (03/08/2022)
- **2022-03-08** 03/08/2022 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2022-03-11** 03/11/2022 Scheduled for consideration (03/15/2022)
- **2022-03-15** 03/15/2022 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-03-18** 03/18/2022 Placed on House Calendar (03/22/2022) `reading-3`
- **2022-03-22** 03/22/2022 House read and passed `passage`
- **2022-03-22** 03/22/2022 Placed on Senate Calendar (03/24/2022) `reading-3`
- **2022-03-24** 03/24/2022 Senate passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2022-03-24** 03/24/2022 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2022-03-28** 03/28/2022 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/fcc1e6e3-9693-4af2-b6e8-1822419d3124`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).