---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO FOOD AND DRUGS -- UNIFORM CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT (Replaces 2016 opioids guidelines with the 2022 opioid guidelines. Exempts medical professionals from criminal and civil liability or disciplinary action for prescribing medically appropriate opioids.)"
description: "AN ACT RELATING TO FOOD AND DRUGS -- UNIFORM CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT (Replaces 2016 opioids guidelines with the 2022 opioid guidelines. Exempts medical professionals from criminal and civil liability or disciplinary action for prescribing medically appropriate opioids.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2023"
identifier: "SB 793"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 793 (2023)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Business & Professions", "Criminal Procedure", "Food and Drugs", "Medical", "Opioids"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Britto", "Cano", "DiMario", "Euer", "Lauria", "Lawson", "Miller", "Murray"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 19
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2023-03-23"
last_action: "2023-06-23"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9903ea97-d2d3-44ab-b0b2-28f1eb06c73d"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "b36ce2ad866cbb35b2ca6387c2b3aababc05485cebf584b345a1393c33753114"
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 793 (2023) — AN ACT RELATING TO FOOD AND DRUGS -- UNIFORM CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT (Replaces 2016 opioids guidelines with the 2022 opioid guidelines. Exempts medical professionals from criminal and civil liability or disciplinary action for prescribing medically appropriate opioids.)

## Version chain

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

1. **793 SUB A** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText23/SenateText23/S0793A.pdf)

## Votes

- Passage — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- IN CONCURRENCE — **71–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Britto — primary (person)
- Cano — primary (person)
- DiMario — primary (person)
- Euer — primary (person)
- Lauria — primary (person)
- Lawson — primary (person)
- Miller — primary (person)
- Murray — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-03-23** 03/23/2023 Introduced, referred to Senate Health and Human Services `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2023-04-14** 04/14/2023 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration
- **2023-04-17** 04/17/2023 Meeting postponed (04/20/2023)
- **2023-04-20** 04/20/2023 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (04/27/2023)
- **2023-04-27** 04/27/2023 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2023-05-23** 05/23/2023 Scheduled for consideration (05/25/2023)
- **2023-05-24** 05/24/2023 Proposed Substitute `substitution`
- **2023-05-25** 05/25/2023 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-05-26** 05/26/2023 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/01/2023) `reading-3`
- **2023-06-01** 06/01/2023 Senate passed Sub A `passage`
- **2023-06-02** 06/02/2023 Referred to House Health & Human Services `referral-committee`
- **2023-06-06** 06/06/2023 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (06/08/2023)
- **2023-06-08** 06/08/2023 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2023-06-09** 06/09/2023 Scheduled for consideration (06/12/2023)
- **2023-06-12** 06/12/2023 Committee recommends passage of Sub A in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-06-12** 06/12/2023 Placed on House Calendar (06/13/2023) `reading-3`
- **2023-06-13** 06/13/2023 House 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/9903ea97-d2d3-44ab-b0b2-28f1eb06c73d`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).