---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL PROCEDURE -- PROTECT OUR COURTS ACT"
description: "Protects people attending Rhode Island court proceedings from civil arrest without a judicial warrant, ensures court access, sets enforcement rules, and provides remedies for violations."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ri"
legislature: "Rhode Island General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "SB 2045"
citation: "Rhode Island SB 2045 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Acosta", "Bissaillon", "Ciccone", "Euer", "Kallman", "Mack", "McKenney", "Murray", "Quezada", "Zurier"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 14
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2026-01-09"
last_action: "2026-06-22"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/23981567-77f7-4c06-bfff-5882260aaeab"
source_url: "https://status.rilegislature.gov/"
source_hash: "0d78b425e4a70220c042e3edcaa467e130e88a885dcd9185c1f9717613927094"
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 2045 (2026) — AN ACT RELATING TO CRIMINAL PROCEDURE -- PROTECT OUR COURTS ACT

Protects people attending Rhode Island court proceedings from civil arrest without a judicial warrant, ensures court access, sets enforcement rules, and provides remedies for violations.

## Version chain

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

1. **2045 SUB A as amended** (committee substitute) — [source](http://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText26/SenateText26/S2045Aaa.pdf)

## Votes

- Passage — **33–5** (pass) · upper
- Passage — **32–6** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Acosta — primary (person)
- Bissaillon — primary (person)
- Ciccone — primary (person)
- Euer — primary (person)
- Kallman — primary (person)
- Mack — primary (person)
- McKenney — primary (person)
- Murray — primary (person)
- Quezada — primary (person)
- Zurier — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-01-09** 01/09/2026 Introduced, referred to Senate Judiciary `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2026-05-01** 05/01/2026 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (05/05/2026)
- **2026-05-05** 05/05/2026 Committee recommended measure be held for further study `committee-failure`
- **2026-05-30** 05/30/2026 Scheduled for consideration (06/02/2026)
- **2026-06-01** 06/01/2026 Proposed Substitute `substitution`
- **2026-06-02** 06/02/2026 Committee recommends passage of Sub A `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-06-04** 06/04/2026 Placed on Senate Calendar (06/11/2026) `reading-3`
- **2026-06-11** 06/11/2026 Senate passed Sub A as amended (floor amendment) `passage`
- **2026-06-11** 06/11/2026 Senate voted to reconsider
- **2026-06-11** 06/11/2026 Senate passed Sub A as amended (floor amendment) `passage`
- **2026-06-11** 06/11/2026 Placed on House Calendar (06/11/2026) `reading-3`
- **2026-06-11** 06/11/2026 House passed Sub A as amended in concurrence `passage`
- **2026-06-18** 06/18/2026 Transmitted to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2026-06-22** 06/22/2026 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/23981567-77f7-4c06-bfff-5882260aaeab`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Rhode Island legislature records).