---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION -- TEACHERS' RETIREMENT (For purposes of teachers' retirement benefits, amends the definition \"former spouse divorced\" to include someone who was married to a deceased member 10+ yrs & deceased member was required by court order to contribute support post-divorce.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION -- TEACHERS' RETIREMENT (For purposes of teachers' retirement benefits, amends the definition \"former spouse divorced\" to include someone who was married to a deceased member 10+ yrs & deceased member was required by court order to contribute support post-divorce.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2023"
identifier: "HB 5093"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 5093 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Courts", "Death", "Domestic Relations", "Education", "Retirement", "Teachers"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Fellela", "Lima", "Messier", "Serpa"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 11
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2023-01-12"
last_action: "2023-06-24"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/03bc8571-b02f-4c1d-80eb-b5769864971b"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "2306e69e77acade1f509dd2ddb8ca5a2670ee2df3056d594683d579cafcbb3a2"
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 5093 (2023) — AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION -- TEACHERS' RETIREMENT (For purposes of teachers' retirement benefits, amends the definition "former spouse divorced" to include someone who was married to a deceased member 10+ yrs & deceased member was required by court order to contribute support post-divorce.)

## Version chain

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

1. **5093** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText23/HouseText23/H5093.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **73–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Fellela — primary (person)
- Lima — primary (person)
- Messier — primary (person)
- Serpa — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-01-12** 01/12/2023 Introduced, referred to House Finance `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2023-05-12** 05/12/2023 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (05/18/2023)
- **2023-05-18** 05/18/2023 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2023-06-12** 06/12/2023 Scheduled for consideration (06/14/2023)
- **2023-06-14** 06/14/2023 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-06-14** 06/14/2023 Placed on House Calendar (06/15/2023) `reading-3`
- **2023-06-15** 06/15/2023 House read and passed `passage`
- **2023-06-15** 06/15/2023 Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar (06/15/2023) `reading-3`
- **2023-06-16** 06/16/2023 Senate passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2023-06-19** 06/19/2023 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-06-24** 06/24/2023 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/03bc8571-b02f-4c1d-80eb-b5769864971b`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).