---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE--PROCEDURE IN PARTICULAR ACTIONS -- DEATH BY WRONGFUL ACT (Raises the minimum recovery in a civil action to recover for a wrongful death from $250,000 to $365,000 and automatically increases for inflation the minimum recovery annually on January 31. The increase is based on the consumer price index.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE--PROCEDURE IN PARTICULAR ACTIONS -- DEATH BY WRONGFUL ACT (Raises the minimum recovery in a civil action to recover for a wrongful death from $250,000 to $365,000 and automatically increases for inflation the minimum recovery annually on January 31. The increase is based on the consumer price index.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2023"
identifier: "HB 5513"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 5513 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Civil Procedure", "Consumer Affairs", "Courts", "Death", "Fees"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Baginski", "Dawson", "J. Brien", "McEntee", "Potter"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 15
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2023-02-10"
last_action: "2023-06-23"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8f735820-28c1-4aa5-8c86-3667e22302bc"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "af047c8bcd9197ada66cedab18ad564a04340fb8eb7a929cafa5d2908f8e6bad"
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 5513 (2023) — AN ACT RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE--PROCEDURE IN PARTICULAR ACTIONS -- DEATH BY WRONGFUL ACT (Raises the minimum recovery in a civil action to recover for a wrongful death from $250,000 to $365,000 and automatically increases for inflation the minimum recovery annually on January 31. The increase is based on the consumer price index.)

## Version chain

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

1. **5513 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText23/HouseText23/H5513A.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **67–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Baginski — primary (person)
- Dawson — primary (person)
- J. Brien — primary (person)
- McEntee — primary (person)
- Potter — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-02-10** 02/10/2023 Introduced, referred to House Judiciary `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2023-03-01** 03/01/2023 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (03/06/2023)
- **2023-03-06** 03/06/2023 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2023-05-12** 05/12/2023 Scheduled for consideration (05/16/2023)
- **2023-05-12** 05/12/2023 Proposed Substitute `substitution`
- **2023-05-16** 05/16/2023 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-05-19** 05/19/2023 Placed on House Calendar (05/23/2023) `reading-3`
- **2023-05-23** 05/23/2023 House passed Sub A `passage`
- **2023-06-05** 06/05/2023 Referred to Senate Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2023-06-10** 06/10/2023 Scheduled for consideration (06/13/2023)
- **2023-06-13** 06/13/2023 Committee recommends passage of Sub A in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-06-15** 06/15/2023 Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar (06/15/2023) `reading-3`
- **2023-06-15** 06/15/2023 Senate passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2023-06-15** 06/15/2023 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-06-23** 06/23/2023 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/8f735820-28c1-4aa5-8c86-3667e22302bc`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).