---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE-- PROCEDURE IN PARTICULAR ACTION -- SMALL CLAIMS AND CONSUMER CLAIMS"
description: "Simplifies the assessment of filing fees required to appeal from small claims and consumer matters adjudicated by the district court."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 7643"
citation: "Rhode Island HB 7643 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Donovan"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2026-02-11"
last_action: "2026-06-24"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/7b094d53-23b4-44f1-8420-23473a8132d4"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "5e75199b997f4d4e0f22e4c363d781eff8862746d74b85ae6a88a2d3f1e5c815"
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 7643 (2026) — AN ACT RELATING TO COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE-- PROCEDURE IN PARTICULAR ACTION -- SMALL CLAIMS AND CONSUMER CLAIMS

Simplifies the assessment of filing fees required to appeal from small claims and consumer matters adjudicated by the district court.

## Version chain

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

1. **7643** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText26/HouseText26/H7643.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **69–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Donovan — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-02-11** 02/11/2026 Introduced, referred to House Judiciary `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2026-02-19** 02/19/2026 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (02/26/2026)
- **2026-02-26** 02/26/2026 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2026-04-03** 04/03/2026 Scheduled for consideration (04/09/2026)
- **2026-04-09** 04/09/2026 Committee recommends passage `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-24** 04/24/2026 Placed on House Calendar (04/28/2026) `reading-3`
- **2026-04-28** 04/28/2026 House read and passed `passage`
- **2026-05-01** 05/01/2026 Referred to Senate Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2026-05-26** 05/26/2026 Scheduled for consideration (05/28/2026)
- **2026-05-28** 05/28/2026 Committee recommends passage in concurrence `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-06-05** 06/05/2026 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/09/2026) `reading-3`
- **2026-06-09** 06/09/2026 Senate passed in concurrence `passage`
- **2026-06-16** 06/16/2026 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2026-06-24** 06/24/2026 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/7b094d53-23b4-44f1-8420-23473a8132d4`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).