---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION -- RIGHTS AND DUTIES TEACHERS GENERALLY -- SEPTEMBER 11 CLASSROOM MOMENT OF SILENCE"
description: "Allows teachers in all grades to provide the opportunity for students to observe a brief moment of silence on every September 11."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2025"
identifier: "SB 179"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 179 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Appollonio", "Burke", "Felag", "LaMountain", "McKenney", "Patalano", "Raptakis", "Rogers", "Tikoian", "de la Cruz"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 12
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2025-02-07"
last_action: "2025-07-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/3b1d978f-195c-4f97-a7e7-e88c8df38abb"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "c4dc58e093f0900c5732abe3e1a6cbfcb85ee41166a7c5a53b436b6ce9d61b70"
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 179 (2025) — AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION -- RIGHTS AND DUTIES TEACHERS GENERALLY -- SEPTEMBER 11 CLASSROOM MOMENT OF SILENCE

Allows teachers in all grades to provide the opportunity for students to observe a brief moment of silence on every September 11.

## Version chain

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

1. **179 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText25/SenateText25/S0179A.pdf)

## Votes

- Passage — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- IN CONCURRENCE — **60–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Appollonio — primary (person)
- Burke — primary (person)
- Felag — primary (person)
- LaMountain — primary (person)
- McKenney — primary (person)
- Patalano — primary (person)
- Raptakis — primary (person)
- Rogers — primary (person)
- Tikoian — primary (person)
- de la Cruz — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-02-07** 02/07/2025 Introduced, referred to Senate Education `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2025-04-04** 04/04/2025 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (04/09/2025)
- **2025-04-09** 04/09/2025 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2025-06-13** 06/13/2025 Scheduled for consideration (06/17/2025)
- **2025-06-16** 06/16/2025 Proposed Substitute `substitution`
- **2025-06-17** 06/17/2025 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-06-17** 06/17/2025 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/18/2025) `reading-3`
- **2025-06-18** 06/18/2025 Senate passed Sub A `passage`
- **2025-06-18** 06/18/2025 Placed on the House Consent 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/3b1d978f-195c-4f97-a7e7-e88c8df38abb`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).