---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO PROPERTY -- ABANDONED PROPERTY"
description: "Amends chapter 44 of title 34 to establish energy storage systems on certain lands consistent with a municipality's comprehensive plan."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 8294"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 8294 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Baginski", "Boylan", "Carson", "Knight", "McGaw", "Speakman", "Spears"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 12
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2026-03-13"
last_action: "2026-06-24"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6489f3bf-addc-40ab-a6d9-adfde32e5752"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "931ecf80b21bd9095ad4b2f25218810623add035f11300174b7219ebfa030afd"
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 8294 (2026) — AN ACT RELATING TO PROPERTY -- ABANDONED PROPERTY

Amends chapter 44 of title 34 to establish energy storage systems on certain lands consistent with a municipality's comprehensive plan.

## Version chain

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

1. **8294 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText26/HouseText26/H8294A.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **59–8** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Baginski — primary (person)
- Boylan — primary (person)
- Carson — primary (person)
- Knight — primary (person)
- McGaw — primary (person)
- Speakman — primary (person)
- Spears — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-03-13** 03/13/2026 Introduced, referred to House Municipal Government & Housing `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2026-03-27** 03/27/2026 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (03/31/2026)
- **2026-03-31** 03/31/2026 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2026-06-02** 06/02/2026 Scheduled for consideration (06/05/2026)
- **2026-06-02** 06/02/2026 Proposed Substitute `substitution`
- **2026-06-05** 06/05/2026 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-06-05** 06/05/2026 Placed on House Calendar (06/08/2026) `reading-3`
- **2026-06-08** 06/08/2026 House passed Sub A `passage`
- **2026-06-08** 06/08/2026 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/10/2026) `reading-3`
- **2026-06-10** 06/10/2026 Senate passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2026-06-16** 06/16/2026 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2026-06-24** 06/24/2026 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/6489f3bf-addc-40ab-a6d9-adfde32e5752`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).