---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO MOTOR AND OTHER VEHICLES -- SUSPENSION AND REVOCATION OF LICENSES --VIOLATIONS (Reduces the civil penalty for the first and second offenses for driving without a license or driving with a suspended license, and would make a third violation a civil offense and a fourth offense a misdemeanor punishable by a fine.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO MOTOR AND OTHER VEHICLES -- SUSPENSION AND REVOCATION OF LICENSES --VIOLATIONS (Reduces the civil penalty for the first and second offenses for driving without a license or driving with a suspended license, and would make a third violation a civil offense and a fourth offense a misdemeanor punishable by a fine.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2022"
identifier: "HB 8247"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 8247 (2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Felix", "McEntee", "Messier", "Shanley", "Solomon"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 12
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2022-05-12"
last_action: "2022-06-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/1a306525-6222-4cdc-aa6a-65d9e4805741"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "e29584fc4721d5984758e75f35188b2866ac965eb020fda29070051dca339c9d"
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 8247 (2022) — AN ACT RELATING TO MOTOR AND OTHER VEHICLES -- SUSPENSION AND REVOCATION OF LICENSES --VIOLATIONS (Reduces the civil penalty for the first and second offenses for driving without a license or driving with a suspended license, and would make a third violation a civil offense and a fourth offense a misdemeanor punishable by a fine.)

## Version chain

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

1. **8247 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText22/HouseText22/H8247A.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **65–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Felix — primary (person)
- McEntee — primary (person)
- Messier — primary (person)
- Shanley — primary (person)
- Solomon — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2022-05-12** 05/12/2022 Introduced, referred to House Judiciary `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2022-05-13** 05/13/2022 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (05/19/2022)
- **2022-05-19** 05/19/2022 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2022-06-19** 06/19/2022 Scheduled for consideration (06/21/2022)
- **2022-06-19** 06/19/2022 Proposed Substitute `substitution`
- **2022-06-21** 06/21/2022 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2022-06-21** 06/21/2022 Placed on House Calendar (06/22/2022) `reading-3`
- **2022-06-22** 06/22/2022 House passed Sub A `passage`
- **2022-06-22** 06/22/2022 Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar (06/23/2022) `reading-3`
- **2022-06-23** 06/23/2022 Senate passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2022-06-24** 06/24/2022 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2022-06-29** 06/29/2022 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/1a306525-6222-4cdc-aa6a-65d9e4805741`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).