---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO BUSINESSES AND PROFESSIONS -- BARBERS, HAIRDRESSERS, COSMETICIANS, MANICURISTS AND ESTHETICIANS (Exempts natural hair braiders from the requirement to be licensed as hairdressers or cosmeticians, and would define the practice of natural hair braiding.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO BUSINESSES AND PROFESSIONS -- BARBERS, HAIRDRESSERS, COSMETICIANS, MANICURISTS AND ESTHETICIANS (Exempts natural hair braiders from the requirement to be licensed as hairdressers or cosmeticians, and would define the practice of natural hair braiding.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 5677"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 5677 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Business & Professions", "Hairdressing"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Almeida", "Alzate", "Cassar", "Vella-Wilkinson", "Williams"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 17
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2019-02-27"
last_action: "2019-07-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/2dd17b37-29e8-43ef-b86f-252e2e8558b3"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "ea3a9972bc153800aff194cf997012ba78a471748f95931953d542dc61e80a36"
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 5677 (2019) — AN ACT RELATING TO BUSINESSES AND PROFESSIONS -- BARBERS, HAIRDRESSERS, COSMETICIANS, MANICURISTS AND ESTHETICIANS (Exempts natural hair braiders from the requirement to be licensed as hairdressers or cosmeticians, and would define the practice of natural hair braiding.)

## Version chain

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

1. **5677 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText19/HouseText19/H5677A.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **65–0** (pass) · lower
- IN CONCURRENCE — **65–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Almeida — primary (person)
- Alzate — primary (person)
- Cassar — primary (person)
- Vella-Wilkinson — primary (person)
- Williams — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2019-02-27** 02/27/2019 Introduced, referred to House Corporations `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2019-03-15** 03/15/2019 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (03/19/2019)
- **2019-03-19** 03/19/2019 Committee recommended measure be held for further study
- **2019-03-29** 03/29/2019 Scheduled for consideration (04/02/2019)
- **2019-04-02** 04/02/2019 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-04-05** 04/05/2019 Placed on House Calendar (04/10/2019)
- **2019-04-10** 04/10/2019 House read and passed `passage`
- **2019-04-30** 04/30/2019 Referred to Senate Health and Human Services `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-21** 06/21/2019 Scheduled for consideration (06/25/2019)
- **2019-06-24** 06/24/2019 Proposed Substitute
- **2019-06-25** 06/25/2019 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-06-25** 06/25/2019 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/27/2019)
- **2019-06-27** 06/27/2019 Senate passed Sub A `passage`
- **2019-06-28** 06/28/2019 Placed on House Calendar (06/28/2019)
- **2019-06-28** 06/28/2019 House passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2019-07-03** 07/03/2019 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2019-07-08** 07/08/2019 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/2dd17b37-29e8-43ef-b86f-252e2e8558b3`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).