---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION -- LICENSING (Creates a new process with standards to be utilized when deciding whether an applicant's past conviction of a crime should disqualify the applicant from receiving an occupational license, permit, certificate, or registration issued by the state.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION -- LICENSING (Creates a new process with standards to be utilized when deciding whether an applicant's past conviction of a crime should disqualify the applicant from receiving an occupational license, permit, certificate, or registration issued by the state.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 7947"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 7947 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Criminal Procedure", "Labor", "Licenses"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Blazejewski", "Craven", "Diaz", "Edwards", "Slater"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 10
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2020-02-27"
last_action: "2020-07-22"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/733e9e01-b48b-4562-a072-b28a8b32eb92"
source_url: "http://status.rilin.state.ri.us/"
source_hash: "b650b88bd235956b73329c6d9e836142a38d4718a7ce8ea5ff4b9b17d4df9637"
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 7947 (2020) — AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION -- LICENSING (Creates a new process with standards to be utilized when deciding whether an applicant's past conviction of a crime should disqualify the applicant from receiving an occupational license, permit, certificate, or registration issued by the state.)

## Version chain

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

1. **7947 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText20/HouseText20/H7947A.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **69–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Blazejewski — primary (person)
- Craven — primary (person)
- Diaz — primary (person)
- Edwards — primary (person)
- Slater — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-02-27** 02/27/2020 Introduced, referred to House Judiciary `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2020-07-02** 07/02/2020 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (07/07/2020)
- **2020-07-03** 07/03/2020 Proposed Substitute
- **2020-07-07** 07/07/2020 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-07-14** 07/14/2020 Placed on House Calendar (07/16/2020)
- **2020-07-16** 07/16/2020 House passed Sub A `passage`
- **2020-07-16** 07/16/2020 Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar (07/16/2020)
- **2020-07-16** 07/16/2020 Senate passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2020-07-17** 07/17/2020 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2020-07-22** 07/22/2020 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/733e9e01-b48b-4562-a072-b28a8b32eb92`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).