---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- PAYMENT OF WAGES (Increases the criminal penalties for wage theft and employee misclassification.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- PAYMENT OF WAGES (Increases the criminal penalties for wage theft and employee misclassification.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2023"
identifier: "SB 1079"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 1079 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Criminal Offense", "Employment Security", "Fees", "Labor", "Wages"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Kallman"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 15
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2023-05-25"
last_action: "2023-06-22"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c46d4882-2b6c-4cc8-9559-094df6233f27"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "20eeba71c6fd6461cef6b0bf524851f58dc955e83f20c07f0d3d9531a5cd3b3f"
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 SB 1079 (2023) — AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR AND LABOR RELATIONS -- PAYMENT OF WAGES (Increases the criminal penalties for wage theft and employee misclassification.)

## Version chain

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

1. **1079 SUB A as amended** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText23/SenateText23/S1079Aaa.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE OF AMENDMENT — **70–0** (pass) · upper
- AS AMENDED — **68–2** (pass) · upper
- Passage as Amended — **30–7** (pass) · upper
- Approval of Amendment — **34–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Kallman — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-05-25** 05/25/2023 Introduced, referred to Senate Labor `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2023-05-26** 05/26/2023 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (05/31/2023)
- **2023-05-31** 05/31/2023 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-06-01** 06/01/2023 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/08/2023) `reading-3`
- **2023-06-08** 06/08/2023 Senate passed as amended (floor amendment) `passage`
- **2023-06-09** 06/09/2023 Referred to House Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2023-06-11** 06/11/2023 Scheduled for consideration (06/13/2023)
- **2023-06-12** 06/12/2023 Proposed Substitute `substitution`
- **2023-06-13** 06/13/2023 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-06-13** 06/13/2023 Placed on House Calendar (06/14/2023) `reading-3`
- **2023-06-14** 06/14/2023 House passed Sub A as amended (floor amendment) `passage`
- **2023-06-14** 06/14/2023 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/15/2023) `reading-3`
- **2023-06-15** 06/15/2023 Senate passed Sub A as amended in concurrence `passage`
- **2023-06-19** 06/19/2023 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-06-22** 06/22/2023 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/c46d4882-2b6c-4cc8-9559-094df6233f27`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).