---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO LIBRARIES -- HISTORICAL SOCIETY LIBRARIES (Includes all books, periodicals and papers in the keeping of the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society to be placed under the care of the state librarian.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO LIBRARIES -- HISTORICAL SOCIETY LIBRARIES (Includes all books, periodicals and papers in the keeping of the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society to be placed under the care of the state librarian.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2023"
identifier: "HB 5615"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 5615 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Business & Professions", "Cultural", "Libraries", "State Affairs", "State Employees"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Abney", "Alzate", "Batista", "Cruz", "Felix", "Henries", "Hull", "Morales", "Sanchez"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 13
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2023-02-15"
last_action: "2023-06-20"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ef5a9440-8c00-473e-8d35-8a061a9a0682"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "8d839b8c16138eeede00756ec6a4967e8b52607fcbe695dc2770b74b2ec0b367"
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 5615 (2023) — AN ACT RELATING TO LIBRARIES -- HISTORICAL SOCIETY LIBRARIES (Includes all books, periodicals and papers in the keeping of the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society to be placed under the care of the state librarian.)

## Version chain

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

1. **5615** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText23/HouseText23/H5615.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **69–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Abney — primary (person)
- Alzate — primary (person)
- Batista — primary (person)
- Cruz — primary (person)
- Felix — primary (person)
- Henries — primary (person)
- Hull — primary (person)
- Morales — primary (person)
- Sanchez — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-02-15** 02/15/2023 Introduced, referred to House State Government & Elections `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2023-03-10** 03/10/2023 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration
- **2023-03-13** 03/13/2023 Committee postponed at request of sponsor (03/14/2023)
- **2023-03-31** 03/31/2023 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (04/05/2023)
- **2023-04-05** 04/05/2023 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2023-06-09** 06/09/2023 Scheduled for consideration (06/12/2023)
- **2023-06-12** 06/12/2023 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-06-12** 06/12/2023 Placed on House Calendar (06/13/2023) `reading-3`
- **2023-06-13** 06/13/2023 House read and passed `passage`
- **2023-06-13** 06/13/2023 Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar (06/14/2023) `reading-3`
- **2023-06-14** 06/14/2023 Senate passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2023-06-15** 06/15/2023 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-06-20** 06/20/2023 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/ef5a9440-8c00-473e-8d35-8a061a9a0682`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).