---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO TAXATION -- SALES AND USE TAX--NON-COLLECTING RETAILERS, REFERRERS, AND RETAIL SALE FACILITATORS ACT (Extends the requirement to collect sales tax to remote sellers in a way that conforms to a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision making it easier for states to compel collection/sales tax from retailers who do not have a physical presence in their state.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO TAXATION -- SALES AND USE TAX--NON-COLLECTING RETAILERS, REFERRERS, AND RETAIL SALE FACILITATORS ACT (Extends the requirement to collect sales tax to remote sellers in a way that conforms to a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision making it easier for states to compel collection/sales tax from retailers who do not have a physical presence in their state.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 5278"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 5278 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Business & Professions", "Courts"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Abney"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 12
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2019-02-05"
last_action: "2019-03-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/67ea2c83-2a5c-4867-be12-904f1b81a582"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "a2785449443025423bf0c0de0e255cf403bfe389f8ddcbe340303ae611f32821"
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 5278 (2019) — AN ACT RELATING TO TAXATION -- SALES AND USE TAX--NON-COLLECTING RETAILERS, REFERRERS, AND RETAIL SALE FACILITATORS ACT (Extends the requirement to collect sales tax to remote sellers in a way that conforms to a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision making it easier for states to compel collection/sales tax from retailers who do not have a physical presence in their state.)

## Version chain

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

1. **5278 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText19/HouseText19/H5278A.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **63–6** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Abney — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-05** 02/05/2019 Introduced, referred to House Finance `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2019-02-05** 02/05/2019 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (02/07/2019)
- **2019-02-07** 02/07/2019 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2019-03-01** 03/01/2019 Scheduled for consideration (03/05/2019)
- **2019-03-01** 03/01/2019 Proposed Substitute
- **2019-03-05** 03/05/2019 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-03-08** 03/08/2019 Placed on House Calendar (03/13/2019)
- **2019-03-13** 03/13/2019 House passed Sub A `passage`
- **2019-03-26** 03/26/2019 Placed on Senate Calendar (03/28/2019)
- **2019-03-28** 03/28/2019 Senate passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2019-03-28** 03/28/2019 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2019-03-29** 03/29/2019 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/67ea2c83-2a5c-4867-be12-904f1b81a582`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).