---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY -- ORGANIZATION OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY (Requires the secretary of state to maintain and provide to the public, an online directory of government officials and a limited number of printed government directories and eliminate the legislative manual used by the secretary of state.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY -- ORGANIZATION OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY (Requires the secretary of state to maintain and provide to the public, an online directory of government officials and a limited number of printed government directories and eliminate the legislative manual used by the secretary of state.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2023"
identifier: "HB 5517"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 5517 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Computer Technology", "General Assembly", "Public Officers", "Secretary of State"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Cotter", "Donovan", "Edwards", "Fenton-Fung", "Kislak", "Newberry"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2023-02-10"
last_action: "2023-06-19"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d6bdc13e-75b7-4dc7-a3ff-820a1ba3498d"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "1b169fa4010b6edb68965776b189f6555a65c051f0a297c87cc38e6895ce1b9a"
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 5517 (2023) — AN ACT RELATING TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY -- ORGANIZATION OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY (Requires the secretary of state to maintain and provide to the public, an online directory of government officials and a limited number of printed government directories and eliminate the legislative manual used by the secretary of state.)

## Version chain

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

1. **5517 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText23/HouseText23/H5517A.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **60–9** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Cotter — primary (person)
- Donovan — primary (person)
- Edwards — primary (person)
- Fenton-Fung — primary (person)
- Kislak — primary (person)
- Newberry — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-02-10** 02/10/2023 Introduced, referred to House State Government & Elections `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2023-03-10** 03/10/2023 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration
- **2023-03-14** 03/14/2023 Meeting postponed (03/14/2023)
- **2023-03-14** 03/14/2023 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (03/17/2023)
- **2023-03-17** 03/17/2023 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2023-04-28** 04/28/2023 Scheduled for consideration (05/04/2023)
- **2023-04-28** 04/28/2023 Proposed Substitute `substitution`
- **2023-05-04** 05/04/2023 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-05-12** 05/12/2023 Placed on House Calendar (05/16/2023) `reading-3`
- **2023-05-16** 05/16/2023 House passed Sub A `passage`
- **2023-06-08** 06/08/2023 Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar (06/13/2023) `reading-3`
- **2023-06-13** 06/13/2023 Senate passed Sub A in concurrence `passage`
- **2023-06-14** 06/14/2023 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-06-19** 06/19/2023 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/d6bdc13e-75b7-4dc7-a3ff-820a1ba3498d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).