---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE -- COURTS -- FAMILY COURT"
description: "Provides that a magistrate of the family court has the power and authority to hear contested divorce matters."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2024"
identifier: "SB 2226"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 2226 (2024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Burke", "Euer", "Gallo", "LaMountain", "Murray", "Ruggerio", "Sosnowski", "Tikoian"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 11
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2024-01-24"
last_action: "2024-06-28"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8dbcc29d-d6d9-41f9-919f-ea3a32d73ce9"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "ac821d0b6fc0c037b3c971eed57370b1ffac3a7956cac30da3a8116081a1f68e"
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 SB 2226 (2024) — AN ACT RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE -- COURTS -- FAMILY COURT

Provides that a magistrate of the family court has the power and authority to hear contested divorce matters.

## Version chain

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

1. **2226** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText24/SenateText24/S2226.pdf)

## Votes

- IN CONCURRENCE — **61–9** (pass) · upper
- Passage — **30–7** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Burke — primary (person)
- Euer — primary (person)
- Gallo — primary (person)
- LaMountain — primary (person)
- Murray — primary (person)
- Ruggerio — primary (person)
- Sosnowski — primary (person)
- Tikoian — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2024-01-24** 01/24/2024 Introduced, referred to Senate Judiciary `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2024-03-22** 03/22/2024 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (03/26/2024)
- **2024-03-26** 03/26/2024 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2024-06-04** 06/04/2024 Scheduled for consideration (06/06/2024)
- **2024-06-06** 06/06/2024 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-06-07** 06/07/2024 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/11/2024) `reading-3`
- **2024-06-11** 06/11/2024 Senate read and passed `passage`
- **2024-06-11** 06/11/2024 Placed on House Calendar (06/12/2024) `reading-3`
- **2024-06-12** 06/12/2024 House passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2024-06-20** 06/20/2024 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2024-06-28** 06/28/2024 Effective without Governor's signature `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/8dbcc29d-d6d9-41f9-919f-ea3a32d73ce9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).