---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO AERONAUTICS -- UNPILOTED AERIAL VEHICLES (Provides for the regulation of unpiloted aircraft systems in accordance with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requirements.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO AERONAUTICS -- UNPILOTED AERIAL VEHICLES (Provides for the regulation of unpiloted aircraft systems in accordance with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requirements.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2023"
identifier: "HB 5420"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 5420 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Airports", "Cities & Towns", "Health & Safety", "Military Affairs", "Warwick"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ackerman", "Azzinaro", "Kennedy"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 16
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2023-02-08"
last_action: "2023-06-19"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5b15ea42-9d32-4bae-88b9-deb95f4388a0"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "62396ce6433f3096ef823f8d2b743bfee2e9bb69e456c8eb0704a37a301c9207"
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 5420 (2023) — AN ACT RELATING TO AERONAUTICS -- UNPILOTED AERIAL VEHICLES (Provides for the regulation of unpiloted aircraft systems in accordance with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requirements.)

## Version chain

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

1. **5420** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText23/HouseText23/H5420.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **64–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Ackerman — primary (person)
- Azzinaro — primary (person)
- Kennedy — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-02-08** 02/08/2023 Introduced, referred to House Corporations `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2023-02-24** 02/24/2023 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (02/28/2023)
- **2023-02-28** 02/28/2023 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2023-03-10** 03/10/2023 Scheduled for consideration
- **2023-03-14** 03/14/2023 Meeting postponed (03/14/2023)
- **2023-03-14** 03/14/2023 Scheduled for consideration (03/17/2023)
- **2023-03-17** 03/17/2023 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-03-17** 03/17/2023 Placed on House Calendar (03/23/2023) `reading-3`
- **2023-03-23** 03/23/2023 House read and passed `passage`
- **2023-05-15** 05/15/2023 Referred to Senate Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2023-06-06** 06/06/2023 Scheduled for consideration (06/08/2023)
- **2023-06-08** 06/08/2023 Committee recommends passage in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-06-12** 06/12/2023 Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar (06/13/2023) `reading-3`
- **2023-06-13** 06/13/2023 Senate passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2023-06-14** 06/14/2023 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-06-19** 06/19/2023 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/5b15ea42-9d32-4bae-88b9-deb95f4388a0`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).