---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO TOWNS AND CITIES -- ZONING ORDINANCES (Extends the moratorium on penalties related to COVID-19 modifications to food business or food service establishments to February 15, 2024.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO TOWNS AND CITIES -- ZONING ORDINANCES (Extends the moratorium on penalties related to COVID-19 modifications to food business or food service establishments to February 15, 2024.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2023"
identifier: "HB 5264"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 5264 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Business & Professions", "COVID-19", "Cities & Towns", "Food and Drugs", "Zoning"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Batista", "Caldwell", "Carson", "Cortvriend", "Craven", "Dawson", "Finkelman", "McEntee", "Morales", "Vella-Wilkinson"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 12
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2023-01-27"
last_action: "2023-03-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6cb7e3d0-b8a2-4f07-9865-d0476d5aa434"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "f8fe2bd9464145f34641f366fe3962f2b9f1de39dc429aa98997d41e754f228b"
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 5264 (2023) — AN ACT RELATING TO TOWNS AND CITIES -- ZONING ORDINANCES (Extends the moratorium on penalties related to COVID-19 modifications to food business or food service establishments to February 15, 2024.)

## Version chain

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

1. **5264 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText23/HouseText23/H5264A.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **69–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Batista — primary (person)
- Caldwell — primary (person)
- Carson — primary (person)
- Cortvriend — primary (person)
- Craven — primary (person)
- Dawson — primary (person)
- Finkelman — primary (person)
- McEntee — primary (person)
- Morales — primary (person)
- Vella-Wilkinson — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-01-27** 01/27/2023 Introduced, referred to House Small Business `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2023-02-03** 02/03/2023 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (02/08/2023)
- **2023-02-08** 02/08/2023 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2023-03-03** 03/03/2023 Scheduled for consideration (03/07/2023)
- **2023-03-03** 03/03/2023 Proposed Substitute `substitution`
- **2023-03-08** 03/08/2023 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-03-10** 03/10/2023 Placed on House Calendar (03/16/2023) `reading-3`
- **2023-03-16** 03/16/2023 House passed Sub A `passage`
- **2023-03-24** 03/24/2023 Placed on Senate Calendar (03/28/2023) `reading-3`
- **2023-03-28** 03/28/2023 Senate passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2023-03-29** 03/29/2023 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-03-30** 03/30/2023 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/6cb7e3d0-b8a2-4f07-9865-d0476d5aa434`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).