---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO TAXATION -- LEVY AND ASSESSMENT OF LOCAL TAXES"
description: "Allows the town of Middletown to adopt a tax classification plan for residential real estate which divides the class into non-owner and owner-occupied properties with separate tax rates."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2025"
identifier: "HB 5694"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 5694 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Carson", "Cortvriend", "Finkelman", "Spears"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2025-02-26"
last_action: "2025-05-09"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/aadf606a-eb7d-454a-ad4d-a1f03264a8fc"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "bcb8bca16560536acb02e92d84605b24df805e7b9f993bb94c5f93e2724e8dd8"
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 5694 (2025) — AN ACT RELATING TO TAXATION -- LEVY AND ASSESSMENT OF LOCAL TAXES

Allows the town of Middletown to adopt a tax classification plan for residential real estate which divides the class into non-owner and owner-occupied properties with separate tax rates.

## Version chain

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

1. **5694** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText25/HouseText25/H5694.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **63–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Carson — primary (person)
- Cortvriend — primary (person)
- Finkelman — primary (person)
- Spears — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-02-26** 02/26/2025 Introduced, referred to House Municipal Government & Housing `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2025-02-28** 02/28/2025 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (03/04/2025)
- **2025-03-04** 03/04/2025 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2025-03-14** 03/14/2025 Scheduled for consideration (03/20/2025)
- **2025-03-20** 03/20/2025 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-21** 03/21/2025 Placed on House Calendar (03/25/2025) `reading-3`
- **2025-03-25** 03/25/2025 House read and passed `passage`
- **2025-03-27** 03/27/2025 Referred to Senate Housing and Municipal Government `referral-committee`
- **2025-04-04** 04/04/2025 Scheduled for consideration (04/10/2025)
- **2025-04-10** 04/10/2025 Committee recommends passage in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-04-11** 04/11/2025 Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar (05/01/2025) `reading-3`
- **2025-05-01** 05/01/2025 Senate passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2025-05-01** 05/01/2025 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-05-09** 05/09/2025 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/aadf606a-eb7d-454a-ad4d-a1f03264a8fc`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).