Rhode Island Ordinances (2026)

Rhode Island state law (R.I. Gen. Laws Section 45-24-73) requires municipalities to allow accessory dwelling units by right in defined circumstances on residential lots, preempting…

Garage-to-living-space conversions in Rhode Island are governed by the State Building Code (R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-27.3) and uniform energy and fire codes; municipalities enforce but…

Rhode Island's State Building Code (R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-27.3) governs shed construction uniformly statewide, exempting accessory structures 200 square feet or smaller from building…

Every apiary in Rhode Island must be registered annually with the Department of Environmental Management by March 1 under R.I. Gen. Laws § 4-12-12. Beekeepers report their bees, hive…

Rhode Island law expressly prohibits municipalities from enacting breed-specific dog regulations. Under Section 4-13-43 and Section 4-13.1-16, no city or town may adopt or enforce…

Rhode Island treats horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs running loose on any highway or common as animals at large. Under RIGL § 4-15-3 the town surveyor of highways must take up the…

Rhode Island state law requires dogs to be under control or restrained when off the owner's premises. Title 4 establishes statewide rules for dog confinement, and owners are liable…

Rhode Island law restricts importing, possessing, and exhibiting wild and exotic animals through DEM permits under Title 4. Many species including big cats, primates, bears, and…

Rhode Island licenses tobacco and electronic nicotine-delivery system (ENDS) retailers through the Division of Taxation under R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 44-20, requires age-21…

Rhode Island licenses cannabis retailers statewide under RIGL Chapter 21-28.11 through the Cannabis Control Commission, with a one-time municipal opt-out window and statewide siting…

The Rhode Island Cannabis Act, R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 21-28.11, lets adults 21 and older cultivate a limited number of cannabis plants at home. Section 21-28.11-22 allows up to three…

Recreational drone use in Rhode Island is governed primarily by FAA Part 107 and 49 USC 44809, with state law under RIGL Chapter 1-4 limiting where municipalities can regulate flight…

Rhode Island sets minimum wage statewide under RIGL Chapter 28-12, which reached $16.00 per hour effective January 1, 2026, generally preempting local minimum wage ordinances.

Rhode Island requires paid sick and safe leave statewide under RIGL Chapter 28-57, the Healthy and Safe Families and Workplaces Act, providing employees up to 40 hours of leave…

The Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) under RIGL Chapter 46-23 holds primary jurisdiction over development within the coastal zone, preempting inconsistent local…

Rhode Island requires erosion and sediment control on land-disturbing activities under RIGL Chapter 45-46 and the RI Soil Erosion and Sediment Control Handbook, with statewide…

Rhode Island enforces floodplain construction standards through the State Building Code under RIGL Chapter 23-27.3, adopting NFIP minimums uniformly statewide so municipalities cannot…

Rhode Island regulates stormwater under RIGL Chapter 46-12 and the RIPDES program administered by DEM, applying uniform statewide design and permitting standards that municipalities…

Rhode Island General Laws section 34-10-20 declares any fence over six feet that is maliciously erected to annoy a neighbor a private nuisance. Affected adjoining property owners may…

Rhode Island permits only ground-based and handheld sparkling devices statewide; aerial and explosive consumer fireworks remain illegal. The State Fire Marshal's office uniformly…

Rhode Island generally prohibits open burning under the Air Pollution Control Act (R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 23-23) and DEM Air Pollution Control Regulation No. 4. Burning leaves…

Rhode Island bans burning flammable material on or adjacent to forest land without a written permit from the Department of Environmental Management director, under RIGL 2-12-6. During…

Rhode Island operates a dual-track concealed carry licensing system under RIGL 11-47-11 and 11-47-18, with both the Attorney General and local licensing authorities issuing permits…

Rhode Island General Laws section 11-47-58 establishes limited statewide preemption of firearm regulation, reserving most licensing and possession rules to state law while allowing…

Rhode Island technically permits open carry of handguns only with a license under RIGL 11-47-8, making the practice rare and effectively unavailable to most residents without permits.

Rhode Island General Laws section 11-47-8 makes it a felony to carry a pistol or revolver in a vehicle without a Rhode Island concealed carry license, with limited exemptions for…

Rhode Island requires all mobile food establishments to hold a state Department of Health license under the Food Code. Trucks must meet uniform sanitation, equipment, and operator…

Rhode Island's substituted design criteria table sets weathering at Severe, termite risk at Moderate to Heavy, required ice shield underlayment, and a winter design temperature that…

Rhode Island sets frost depth at 3 feet 4 inches, 40 inches, in 38 of its 39 municipalities, with New Shoreham on Block Island the single exception at 2 feet 6 inches.

Rhode Island lists a ground snow load for each of its 39 cities and towns, from 25 psf on Block Island to 40 psf in the northern communities, with 30 psf covering most of the state.

Rhode Island's state table gives each municipality a flat roof snow load alongside its ground snow load, so the roof figure does not have to be derived from the ground value.

Rhode Island allows casino gaming at exactly two sites: Bally's Twin River in Lincoln and Bally's Tiverton, both licensed pari-mutuel facilities under R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-61.2-2(b). No…

Rhode Island lets only registered charitable organizations run bingo, raffles, and similar games of chance, under R.I. Gen. Laws § 11-19-30 et seq. The State Police Charitable Gaming…

Rhode Island's core gambling statute, R.I. Gen. Laws § 11-19-1, makes it a felony to set up, promote, or draw any lottery, chance game, or device "publicly or privately." Unlike many…

Rhode Island legalized sports wagering in 2018, but only as a state-run monopoly. RIGL 42-61.2-2.4 puts the Division of Lotteries in full operational control, hosted exclusively at the…

Under Rhode Island's Common Interest Ownership Act, an association has an automatic lien on a unit for unpaid assessments and fines. The lien carries a six-month super-priority over a…

A Rhode Island condominium association must hold at least one meeting of the unit owners every year, and notice of any meeting must go out not less than 10 nor more than 60 days in…

Rhode Island law lets a condominium executive board fine a unit owner, but it caps the amount: no more than $100 per day for a continuing violation in a residential condominium and no…

Rhode Island gives a condominium association a statutory power of sale. Under R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-36.1-3.21 the executive board may sell a defaulting unit at public auction without…

Rhode Island's Cottage Food law, R.I. Gen. Laws Section 21-27-6.2, lets residents register with the Department of Health for $65 a year to sell nonperishable baked goods made in a home…

Rhode Island licenses family child care homes through the Department of Human Services under RIGL Chapter 42-12.5, and RIGL 45-24-37 protects licensed family daycare from exclusionary…

Rhode Island never created a microenterprise home kitchen permit, so you cannot register a house to cook meals to order for the public. What the state does have is narrower and…

The Rhode Island General Assembly has never passed a sobriety checkpoint or roadblock statute. The words roadblock, checkpoint and sobriety checkpoint appear nowhere in the Criminal…

Rhode Island never enacted an express right to record the police. A full-text search of the General Laws titles where such a provision would sit, Criminal Offenses, Criminal Procedure…

Rhode Island has a stop-and-identify statute, R.I. Gen. Laws § 12-7-1, and it is older and blunter than most. A peace officer who has reason to suspect that a person out in public is…

Rhode Island does not merely tell drivers they may refuse a consent search. R.I. Gen. Laws § 31-21.2-5(b), part of the Comprehensive Community-Police Relationship Act of 2015, forbids…

Rhode Island's food-waste ban (R.I. Gen. Laws Section 23-18.9-17) requires large organic-waste generators located within 15 miles of a composting or digestion facility to divert food…

Rhode Island law protects public shade trees on highway rights-of-way. RIGL 2-14 prohibits removal or substantial damage to public trees without written permission from the local tree…

Since chapter 19.6 of title 31 took effect on July 1, 2024, a registered low-speed vehicle has an affirmative statutory right to use any Rhode Island public highway posted at…

Aircraft operations and noise in Rhode Island are governed almost exclusively by the Federal Aviation Administration. The Rhode Island Airport Corporation operates state airports but…

Rhode Island General Laws Chapter 42-136 requires state-funded outdoor lighting to be fully shielded, energy efficient, and designed to minimize light pollution and glare. The statute…

Rhode Island General Laws Chapter 31-42, the Abandoned Motor Vehicles law, sets uniform statewide procedures for declaring, removing, and disposing of abandoned vehicles on public and…

Rhode Island regulates EV charging infrastructure through the State Building Code under RIGL Chapter 23-27.3 and state utility law, with statewide standards municipalities must apply…

Rhode Island lets a property owner have a trespassing vehicle towed without going to court, but only through a certificated tower retained in writing, and the impoundment lot must be…

For nonpayment, R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-18-35 lets a landlord send a demand only after rent is 15 days in arrears, then the tenant has 5 days from mailing to cure before the lease…

R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-18-22 requires landlords to keep rentals fit and habitable, meet building and housing codes, maintain common areas and major systems, and supply running water…

Rhode Island's Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18) establishes uniform eviction grounds and procedures statewide, including no-cause termination of…

Under R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-18-26, a Rhode Island landlord must give the tenant at least two days' notice before entering the unit for inspections, repairs, services, or showings, and…

Rhode Island sets no statutory cap on rent late fees, so the amount is governed by the lease. There is no formal late-fee grace period in the Act, but R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-18-35 bars…

Under R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-18-37, either party may end a month-to-month tenancy with at least 30 days' written notice, or a week-to-week tenancy with at least 10 days' written…

Rhode Island has no rent control, but R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-18-16.1 requires a landlord to give written notice at least 60 days before any residential rent increase takes effect…

Rhode Island law limits a residential security deposit to one month's periodic rent. After the tenancy ends, the landlord has 20 days to return the deposit and provide an itemized…

Rhode Island allows title by adverse possession after 10 years of continuous possession under R.I. Gen. Laws Sec. 34-7-1, one of the shorter periods nationally. The possession must be…

Rhode Island supports agricultural zoning through RIGL Chapter 2-23 Right to Farm provisions and RIGL Chapter 45-24 zoning enabling statutes, encouraging municipal agricultural…

Rhode Island's Right to Farm Act under RIGL Chapter 2-23 protects qualifying agricultural operations from nuisance lawsuits and overly restrictive municipal ordinances when farms…

Rhode Island requires statewide registration of short-term rental units rented for under 30 nights with the Department of Business Regulation under R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-63.1-14. Hosts…

Rhode Island taxes short-term rentals at 7% state sales tax and 5% statewide hotel tax, plus a local hotel tax that rose to 2% on January 1, 2026. A new 5% tax applies to whole-home…

Rhode Island has no standalone political-sign statute. Signs along state highways fall under the Outdoor Advertising law, RIGL § 24-10.1-3, which bans all outdoor advertising except…

Rhode Island enacted a statewide plastic carryout bag ban effective January 1, 2024 under RIGL Chapter 23-92, the Plastic Waste Reduction Act, prohibiting most single-use plastic…

Rhode Island has not enacted a comprehensive statewide ban on expanded polystyrene foam food containers, leaving regulation to municipalities while DEM encourages voluntary phase-outs…

Rhode Island has never enacted a statute voiding covenants that ban or restrict rooftop solar, and the Rhode Island Condominium Law says nothing about solar collectors anywhere in its…

Rhode Island bans operating any swimming pool without a Department of Health license under R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-22-6. RIDOH sets safety and sanitation rules, inspects pools, and can…

Rhode Island requires building permits for in-ground and most above-ground pools under the statewide building code. Local building officials issue permits but enforce uniform state…

Rhode Island prohibits the sale of tobacco and vapor products to anyone under 21 under R.I. Gen. Laws Section 11-9-13, aligning with federal Tobacco 21 standards and applying to all…

Rhode Island bans the sale of flavored electronic nicotine-delivery system products other than tobacco flavor through a Department of Health regulation, and enforces the federal…

Rhode Island prohibits disposal of designated bulky and hazardous items in regular trash statewide. Mattresses, electronics, mercury devices, and tires must be diverted under separate…

Rhode Island requires statewide source separation of recyclables under RIGL 23-18.9. Residents and businesses must separate designated materials; the Resource Recovery Corporation sets…

Rhode Island writes auxiliary lighting as a closed permission list with hard counts. R.I. Gen. Laws chapter 31-24 allows not more than two spot lamps, not more than two road or fog…

Rhode Island never wrote the list of permitted windshield attachments that several states use to make dash cams expressly lawful. Nothing in the General Laws mentions a camera, a…

Rhode Island never wrote a lane-splitting statute in either direction: title 31 neither authorizes filtering between lanes nor bans it by name. What makes the practice unlawful is the…

Rhode Island has no statute that mentions license plate covers, shields, frames or tinted lenses by name. The rule that reaches them is R.I. Gen. Laws § 31-3-18(b), which requires…

Rhode Island has never legislated about radar detectors in passenger cars. The word radar does not appear anywhere in the Motor and Other Vehicles title, the Criminal Offenses title or…

Studded snow tires are legal in Rhode Island only between the fifteenth day of November and the first day of April, and only if the studs are flat-headed and project one-sixteenth of…

Rhode Island runs one of the tightest tint rules in the country and it is not graduated. R.I. Gen. Laws chapter 31-23.3 bans sunscreening material outright and then exempts film that…