---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY -- VITAL RECORDS"
description: "Provides that public historical vital records maintained by the state archives shall not be amended."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2025"
identifier: "HB 5871"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 5871 (2025)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Cortvriend", "Dawson", "Handy", "McGaw", "Shanley", "Tanzi"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2025-02-28"
last_action: "2025-07-02"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/6030a6d0-f7ac-4b7b-a70a-aa071136a6c6"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "7ce9f9331b480aa6548087e5562e5c37bfb08c677731c6590c007edc825bfd50"
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 5871 (2025) — AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY -- VITAL RECORDS

Provides that public historical vital records maintained by the state archives shall not be amended.

## Version chain

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

1. **5871** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText25/HouseText25/H5871.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **69–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Cortvriend — primary (person)
- Dawson — primary (person)
- Handy — primary (person)
- McGaw — primary (person)
- Shanley — primary (person)
- Tanzi — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2025-02-28** 02/28/2025 Introduced, referred to House State Government & Elections `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2025-02-28** 02/28/2025 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (03/06/2025)
- **2025-03-06** 03/06/2025 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2025-03-14** 03/14/2025 Scheduled for consideration (03/18/2025)
- **2025-03-18** 03/18/2025 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-04-04** 04/04/2025 Placed on House Calendar (04/08/2025) `reading-3`
- **2025-04-08** 04/08/2025 House read and passed `passage`
- **2025-05-02** 05/02/2025 Referred to Senate Health and Human Services `referral-committee`
- **2025-06-16** 06/16/2025 Scheduled for consideration (06/18/2025)
- **2025-06-18** 06/18/2025 Committee recommends passage in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-06-18** 06/18/2025 Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar (06/20/2025) `reading-3`
- **2025-06-20** 06/20/2025 Senate passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2025-06-27** 06/27/2025 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2025-07-02** 07/02/2025 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/6030a6d0-f7ac-4b7b-a70a-aa071136a6c6`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).