---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO MOTOR AND OTHER VEHICLES -- SPEED RESTRICTIONS (Requires those vehicles traveling on any roadway or highway to move over to the left lane or slow down upon approaching a nonemergency vehicle that is stationary on the side of any roadway or highway.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO MOTOR AND OTHER VEHICLES -- SPEED RESTRICTIONS (Requires those vehicles traveling on any roadway or highway to move over to the left lane or slow down upon approaching a nonemergency vehicle that is stationary on the side of any roadway or highway.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2023"
identifier: "HB 5294"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 5294 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Highways", "Medical", "Motor Vehicles", "Roads", "Transportation"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bennett", "Felix", "Hull", "J. Lombardi", "McNamara", "Newberry", "Slater", "Tanzi"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2023-02-01"
last_action: "2023-06-12"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4db84241-46f1-4e8a-a54c-165076c09242"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "2f8489c9eeaa49968f3c27ef91887260843cab9c15616692b9dff90ce7a4f551"
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 5294 (2023) — AN ACT RELATING TO MOTOR AND OTHER VEHICLES -- SPEED RESTRICTIONS (Requires those vehicles traveling on any roadway or highway to move over to the left lane or slow down upon approaching a nonemergency vehicle that is stationary on the side of any roadway or highway.)

## Version chain

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

1. **5294 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText23/HouseText23/H5294A.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **66–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bennett — primary (person)
- Felix — primary (person)
- Hull — primary (person)
- J. Lombardi — primary (person)
- McNamara — primary (person)
- Newberry — primary (person)
- Slater — primary (person)
- Tanzi — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-02-01** 02/01/2023 Introduced, referred to House Judiciary `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2023-02-10** 02/10/2023 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (02/14/2023)
- **2023-02-14** 02/14/2023 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2023-05-12** 05/12/2023 Scheduled for consideration (05/16/2023)
- **2023-05-16** 05/16/2023 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-05-19** 05/19/2023 Scheduled for reconsideration (05/23/2023)
- **2023-05-19** 05/19/2023 Proposed Substitute `substitution`
- **2023-05-23** 05/23/2023 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-05-26** 05/26/2023 Placed on House Calendar (06/01/2023) `reading-3`
- **2023-06-01** 06/01/2023 House passed Sub A `passage`
- **2023-06-01** 06/01/2023 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/06/2023) `reading-3`
- **2023-06-06** 06/06/2023 Senate passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2023-06-06** 06/06/2023 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-06-12** 06/12/2023 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/4db84241-46f1-4e8a-a54c-165076c09242`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).