---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- LABOR RELATIONS ACT -- EMPLOYEE FREE SPEECH RIGHTS"
description: "Protects the rights of employees in the workplace relating to free speech, assembly and religion, as well as attendance at employer-sponsored meetings regarding political or religious matters."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2025"
identifier: "SB 126"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 126 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Appollonio", "Bissaillon", "Ciccone", "Dimitri", "LaMountain", "Murray", "Patalano", "Thompson", "Urso", "Vargas"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 15
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2025-01-31"
last_action: "2025-07-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3331c95e-86fd-4b01-915b-c49c18f8177d"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "36e220836e7547a22799fd630bb4a630b299d0dd3f9117d66cdf928efcda3831"
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 126 (2025) — AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- LABOR RELATIONS ACT -- EMPLOYEE FREE SPEECH RIGHTS

Protects the rights of employees in the workplace relating to free speech, assembly and religion, as well as attendance at employer-sponsored meetings regarding political or religious matters.

## Version chain

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

1. **126 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText25/SenateText25/S0126A.pdf)

## Votes

- Passage — **30–4** (pass) · upper
- IN CONCURRENCE — **69–2** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Appollonio — primary (person)
- Bissaillon — primary (person)
- Ciccone — primary (person)
- Dimitri — primary (person)
- LaMountain — primary (person)
- Murray — primary (person)
- Patalano — primary (person)
- Thompson — primary (person)
- Urso — primary (person)
- Vargas — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-01-31** 01/31/2025 Introduced, referred to Senate Labor and Gaming `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2025-03-07** 03/07/2025 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (03/12/2025)
- **2025-03-12** 03/12/2025 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2025-03-28** 03/28/2025 Scheduled for consideration (04/02/2025)
- **2025-04-01** 04/01/2025 Proposed Substitute `substitution`
- **2025-04-02** 04/02/2025 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-04-03** 04/03/2025 Placed on Senate Calendar (04/10/2025) `reading-3`
- **2025-04-10** 04/10/2025 Senate passed Sub A `passage`
- **2025-04-11** 04/11/2025 Referred to House Labor `referral-committee`
- **2025-06-13** 06/13/2025 Scheduled for consideration (06/16/2025)
- **2025-06-16** 06/16/2025 Committee recommends passage of Sub A in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-06-18** 06/18/2025 Placed on House Calendar (06/20/2025) `reading-3`
- **2025-06-20** 06/20/2025 House passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2025-06-27** 06/27/2025 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-07-02** 07/02/2025 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/3331c95e-86fd-4b01-915b-c49c18f8177d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).